Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 11:50:46 -0400
To: jp@midcoast.com
CC: Larry Campbell <74171.3646@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Washington phone lines
Hello,
If possible, I would like this message that follows to be distributed
among all of the Town of Washington Midcoast Internet Service users.
Read on and you will see why..... I appreciate your time.
Message follows:
For several years, Washington has been cursed with substandard phone
service and line quality. The town is plagued with problems such as
failure to connect after dialing (everyone is probably very familiar
with the messages "Please dial all 7 or 10 digits and try again", or "We
have a problem in completing your call...."), interruption of dialing
with the same message, no matter how fast or slow one is dialing, and
consistent problems with connection over data devices such as modems and
fax machines. Transfer rates, even to local numbers, can be seen to
plunge as low as 300 characters per second, not even a fourth of the
"expected" rate of transfer for a 14.4kbps modem or fax machine, as the
built in error correction struggles to provide a semi coherent file or
fax transmission. Those of us not so blessed with top-of-the-line
modems and fax machines find that files come in as little more than
scrambled bits of numbers -- a bit like putting a book into a paper
shredder and trying to read the results....... Through personal
experience, I have found that one in five files arrive unusable due to
corruption, whether the file comes from local or distant sources (both
out of state and in state BBSes, the Prescott CLN, our local (Yay!)
connection to the internet, etc....), and I have heard many more such
tales from friends and neighbors who live in the vicinity.
Through perseverence, members of the Washington community were
able to bring internet access to Washington and to enlist enough members
so that an upgraded, 12 user, 56k line will be installed during the next
few weeks. This higher speed internet connection may help eliminate
problems calling the Midcoast server, but the line conditions will still
be the same, and will certianly limit the speed at which one can reliably
connect to ANY point. What good will this improvement be if, due to the
prevailing problems with the phone system, we are not able to make full
use of it?
A local resident put forth a complaint to the local phone company,
and the public utilities commision. He was told that they would need to
get more complaints from the public in order to make further investigation
and action concerning the state of the lines viable. Washington is
currently routed through five to ten "stops" before reaching Portland, the
central "hub" of the telephone company. There also supposedly exists a
direct fiberoptic connection to the "hub" which we could be using within
the proverbial "flick of a switch."
Therefore, I ask that anyone who has noticed these or other problems
make a complaint to the following number: 342-9911. It should cost you
no more than a few minuites; the line is toll free. If enough people
report these problems, perhaps we can get some improvements.
Thank you,
Leander Hasty
Jason Philbrook Replies
Check with the PUC about what speeds the phone company *must* provide as far as modem speeds go. We had a couple lines here in Owls Head which would not hold a connection. Nynex couldnt do 2400 baud on it, so they got their collective **** in gear and I made them fix it ASAP. Now we get a pretty consistent 24000,26400,28800+ bps on the same lines.
We expect our new multi-user link to be of higher quality than the current one. (as it goes through portland to get to our server). If you have problems with your phone lines and modem, try it at another phone line, even if it means moving the computer to another house for a couple hours, and report your findings to the telco.
Telephone systems are very complicated and expensive systems. Due to the rural location, there is probably nobody in the immediate area qualified to make it work and keep it working in top notch condition.