Telecom-REQUEST@MIT-XX.ARPA (Moderator) (08/26/85)
TELECOM Digest Sunday, August 25, 1985 10:18PM
Volume 5, Issue 26
Today's Topics:
US Robotics Courier 2400 modem update
PC Pursuit
GTE Telenet PC Pursuit - additional info available
PC Pursuit
PC Pursuit
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Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1985 22:58 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Subject: US Robotics Courier 2400 modem update
I received this on my RCPM today:
Msg#: 88 Date: 08/13/85 10:44 AM
From: TOM TCIMPIDIS
To: ALL
Re: ROBOTICS 2400 UPDATE
For those of you using the U.S. Robotics 2400 baud modem
(I have two on my system), you should call U.S. Robotics (800 dial
usr) and request the ROM update. The new version is 242 (you can use
the ATI command to check yours) and fixes many problems and incorporates
a number of additions suggested by users. The update is free (try that
with Hayes). For the record; my experiences with U.S. Robotics have
been excellent. They are responsive and seem to care about their
product and its users. I highly recommend their Courier 2400 mod
(and the half=price sysop offer is still in effect).
-Tom Tcimpidis (The MOG-UR's EMS 818-366-1238)
P.S. The MOG-UR is now multi-user with two lines in rotary.
****************************************************************************
Notes aded by Paul Foote - 08/17/85
Thanks to Tim T. for letting us know about the Courier ROM upgrade.
I too own two Couriers and am delighted with their performance. By using
the ATI0 command in terminal mode, I found out one had ROM vers. 240,
while the other was vers. 241. So I called USR Technical Service (their
direct phone number is 312-982-5151, in case you have problems with the
800 number), and they said they would send two vers. 242 plug-in ROMs by
UPS two day air. They also gave me simple instructions for installing
the new ROMS, and requested that I send them back the old ROMs after
I verified the new ones worked. I was most impressed with their friendly
and professional helpfulness. By the way, the USR rep. said they
believe all of the Courier 2400's distributed in their SYSOP offer have
the vers. 242 ROM, but you may want to check anyway.
------------------------------
Date: 21 Aug 85 12:41:46 GMT
From: km.emory@CSNET-Relay.ARPA (Ken Mandelberg)
Subject: PC Pursuit
[This message may be a duplicate. With the recent problems and
issue 23 not making it out, I suspect that if I repeat this article
there is at least a chance that nobody has seen it. --JSol]
GTE/TELENET is offering a new service called "PC Pursuit". It allows
unlimited 1200 baud modem calls between 12 major cities for a flat fee
of $25/month. The calls can on|y be made after 6PM or on weekends.
Currently the cities supported are: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas,
Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San
Francisco, and Washington DC.
Only the originator of the call has to be signed up with GTE, the
destination can be any answering modem in the 12 supported cities. The
$25/month buys the right to originate the calls from one fixed number.
GTE imposes this as follows: You call a local number, identify yourself
and make the destination request. GTE drops the line, calls the
destination, and when successful calls you back at your registered
number. They guarantee to call you back withing 30 seconds of carrier
at the destination.
GTE is marketing this to PC users who want to access out of town
databases. However, it strikes me that this service could cut
UUCP/mail/netnews and other phone based networking costs way down. The
service appears to be transparent to the destination, but clearly the
connection software would have to be hacked to accomodate GTE's call
origination scheme.
GTE will provide information about the service at 800-368-4215.
I have no connection with GTE, and the above exhausts my knowledge
of the service. I don't know, for example, if the data path provided
is really a full 8 bit path, or if there are timing issues that
would interfere with some protocols. I would guess they run their
own error correction for the long haul part of the circuit, and
the subscriber would only have to worry about errors on the local
circuits at the endpoints.
--
Ken Mandelberg
Emory University
Dept of Math and CS
Atlanta, Ga 30322
{akgua,sb1,gatech,decvax}!emory!km USENET
km@emory CSNET
km.emory@csnet-relay ARPANET
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 1985 12:35 MDT
From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Subject: GTE Telenet PC Pursuit - additional info available
GTE Telenet has an 800 number to call for more information on "PC
Pursuit". It turned out to be a modem connected to a "FIDO" bbs
system. I downloaded all the info files and made a transcript of the
terminal session. It's available from SIMTEL20 as:
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory MICRO:<CPM.GENDOC>
PCPURSUT.LBR.1 BINARY 13184 FC34H
If you are unable to access Simtel-20 because of network restrictions
this file is available for downloading (using the XMODEM protocol) on
my RCPM Royal Oak (MI) which may be accessed at 300 baud using the
103a modem mode or 1200 baud using either the 212a or Vadic 3400
modes. The telephone number is (313) 759-6569. The file is on the D:
drive.
Additional notes: There is a one-time sign-up fee of $25 for "PC
Pursuit". Also, it's unlikely that you'll be able to access bbs
systems in the distant city if they are "message-unit" calls for the
Telenet dial-out node. Unfortunately this IS the case here in the
Detroit area where my RCPM is located. PC Pursuit users will probably
not be able to access it since it's a "near-zone" message unit call
from the Telenet node.
The GTE Telenet FIDO number is (800) 835-3001.
--Keith Petersen
Arpa: W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA
uucp: ...!{decvax,unc,hao,cbosgd,seismo,aplvax,uci}!brl-bmd!w8sdz
uucp: ...!{ihnp4!cbosgd,cmcl2!esquire}!brl-bmd!w8sdz
------------------------------
Date: 25 Aug 1985 00:20:34 PDT
Subject: PC Pursuit
From: Eliot Moore <SWG.ELMO@USC-ISIB.ARPA>
I've been using PC Pursuit for a few days now, and have mixed feelings.
The price is right, but-
The call-setup time is aggravating; approximately 25 seconds are consumed
in the initial dialing & dialogue, plus 20 waiting for the call-back,
and about 30 more waiting for "Connection complete" (hopefully) or
"Requested number busy"... if you intend on calling a popular system,
good luck!!
PC Pursuit also has no exact method to deal with disconnected numbers;
the only way for you to confirm a system is to dial it yourself.
Throughput is rather good, at least compared to what I've seen on the
Arpanet for the last few years.
The out-dial modems do not have vadic compatibility. 2400bps operation
promised in October; no word whether it will be MNP or X.PC compatible.
Have fun!
Elmo
------------------------------
Date: 23 Aug 85 22:29:11 GMT
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@Rand-Unix.ARPA>
Subject: PC Pursuit
There are some significant limitations to this service that people
should be aware of (I talked to one of the system designers)...
1) Calls are limited to one hour.
2) While they haven't implemented the restrictions yet, they are
likely to limit both the originating and terminating ends of the
calls to phone numbers that are a LOCAL CALL from their dialout nodes.
This might mean, for example, that a person in West L.A. couldn't
use the service since they are not local to the dialout node
(which is in downtown L.A.). The problem is that the service
must dial out at both ends, and they are apparently unwilling to
eat the ZUM/toll charges indefinitely. When and how restrictions
would be implemented (and on what basis) is still unclear, but they
told me that something would definitely happen in the area of
restrictions.
3) The service is really designed for individuals, not for
commercial use. They aren't trying to screen out the companies at
this time and will let them sign up, but it isn't clear what will
happen if commercial users start clogging things up.
4) Capacity is limited. In L.A., for example, there can only be
a maximum of 24 users on the service at any given time.
They can obviously expand this within some limits, but not
indefinitely.
5) It isn't clear how good the response is going to be for many
applications. TELENET is always very bursty and subject to
pretty slow throughput much of the time (as any TELENET user
will tell you).
It's certainly an interesting service, but seems mostly oriented toward
what they originally said -- people sitting there typing at remote BBS's.
--Lauren--
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End of TELECOM Digest
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