noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (Noel Del More) (04/01/89)
When I set up uBBS-NH as a bbs/archive, I thought I would be smart and
save myself some bucks by having measured service on the three incoming
lines to this site.
New England Telephone requires that all lines to a residence have the
same level of service, and since measured service had always saved us
money on our "regular" telephone, and since I originally thought that I
would have mainly incoming calls on the bbs/archive, I had the same
service installed.
Well things have changed, ubbs-nh is slowly becoming a mail hub for the
area, and yesterday I received a shocking phone bill, the majority of the
charge being for excessive "units".
Seems to me that I have only a couple of choices:
1. Convert to standard service. Which would increase the
monthly bill for the three lines to about $100.00 a
month, which I really cannot afford.
2. Convert to standard service and charge for access, news
feeds etc. Which, since it was provided to me "free" I
really don't want to do.
3. Ask my feeds, those I feed, other connections to poll me
while I store work until they do. It's still costing
them money, time etc.
4. Hold a work until preset times and then spit it out
in one big chunk at night. Which will just increase the
lag time between someone firing off mail and getting a
reply.
5. Figure out some other way.
I'd appreciate any thoughts/solutions that you may have to my problem. I
knew that running this thing was going to cost something, but...
The ideal situation would be to have one line full service, for outgoing
calls, the others incoming only or for systems polling me.
In the event the #3 and #4 turns out to be the most like and affordable
solution, I'd appreciate specific configuration specifications for HD
uucp under SCO 386. Which, as near as I can tell, appears to have no
reasonable means to get uux to hold work until called for by the uusched
script.
Many thanks!
Noel
--
Noel B. Del More | {decvax|harvard}!zinn!ubbs-nh!noel
17 Meredith Drive | noel@ubbs-nh.mv.com
Nashua, New Hampshire 03063 | It's unix me son! `taint spozed tah make cents jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) (04/02/89)
In article <289@ubbs-nh.MV.COM> noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (Noel Del More) writes: [deleted] >solution, I'd appreciate specific configuration specifications for HD >uucp under SCO 386. Which, as near as I can tell, appears to have no >reasonable means to get uux to hold work until called for by the uusched >script. In the Systems file, simply specify the times allowed to call out. An example is below: uunet Any0400-0650,Any1200-1215,Any1700-1715 ACU 1200 P5551212 (login script deleted) This says that the system can call out in three different time periods: 1. Any day between 0400 and 0650 2. Any day between 1200 and 1215 3. Any day between 1700 and 1715 (5 pm to 5:15 pm) Any work which is sent to uucp is held until these times. You will need to have cron start up uudemon.hour periodictly as the following examply shows: 8,38 * * * * /bin/su uucp -c "/usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.hour" > /dev/null This starts uudemon.hour up every hour at 8 minutes past, and at 38 minutes past the hour. To force the polling you will need the following entry: 0 * * * * /bin/su uucp -c "/usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.poll" > /dev/null This starts uudemon.poll up every hour on the hour. Sorry if this answered more than you were looking for. I figured that if anybody else had questions I might be able to answer them in advance. JB -- Jonathan Bayer Beware: The light at the end of the Intelligent Software Products, Inc. tunnel may be an oncoming dragon 19 Virginia Ave. ...uunet!ispi!jbayer Rockville Centre, NY 11570 (516) 766-2867 jbayer@ispi.UUCP
peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (04/03/89)
In article <289@ubbs-nh.MV.COM>, noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (Noel Del More) writes: > 2. Convert to standard service and charge for access, news > feeds etc. Which, since it was provided to me "free" I > really don't want to do. Why not? It doesn't seem to bother uunet. -- Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation. Business: uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter, peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180. Personal: ...!texbell!sugar!peter, peter@sugar.hackercorp.com.
davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (Wm. E. Davidsen Jr) (04/04/89)
Why not have them poll? I have a number of sites which poll sixhub, and
they don't complain. Just set time to call as Never. You can also
replace the "Any" keyword in Systems with a time range, such as
0300-0500 to keep calls to a cheaper time, although there may be
multiple calls in that timeframe. You can add day of week qualifiers,
too.
Another way is to specify Never as the time to call, then run a script
which checks for work, and if work is present starts uucico with the -S
(as opposed to -s) option, forcing a call.
Finally you can probably get "untimed message service" in which you pay
by the call, regardless of length of call. Anyone renting a room at your
place is entitled to a phone in their name with whatever class of
service they want. You do have a boarder, don't you? Well, get one.
I found that untimed message service kept my bills down to what I
consider acceptable. By owning all of the wiring, etc, I paid a hefty
installation charge, but only once. My monthly bill runs about $12/line.
NYNEX gives a "hunt group" for no charge on multiple lines, and there is
a "secondary line" designation which is only $7/mo *per line* after the
first. Makes extra lines pretty cheap.
I just converted to Micom 2400 baud MNP4 modems, and some of the people
who were having real noise problems are a lot happier. I picked them up
for $125, and they're on sale for $150 to the public. I assume you can
get the same prices locally if you ever want to, and uucp throughput on
the noisy lines went from ~140cps to ~210. That helps message units,
too.
I see no reason why you should pay the phone bill when you're giving
people a service.
--
bill davidsen (wedu@crd.GE.COM)
{uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me