______________________________________________________________________________ Modems: What kinds we have, and how to use them Q. What kinds and speeds of modems do you have? A. What follows is a description of the modem pools available for DIal Up Analog and ISDN users. Our "Modems: Telephone Numbers and Long-Distance Options" FAQ is required reading if you hope to understand much of what's in this FAQ; we don't get into the details of local numbers here, but we do in that FAQ. This FAQ has the following sections: - Usage Guidelines - Bellevue and Everett Modem Pools - Olympia Modem Pool - Special 9600bps 4-Hour Modem Pool - 28.8kbs (V.34) Pool Entry Point - What About ISDN? - How the Modems Answer, and How Long to Wait - Reporting Problems With Modems - Related FAQs Usage Guidelines ---------------- All Personal Dial up accounts (analog only) must follow a four-hours-on/two-hours-off guideline when using our modem pools. (Keep on reading, however, if your needs sometimes require connections longer than four hours at a time). This ensures that all users get a fair chance to log in. A few users who log on for five or six hours in prime-time each night can severely affect availability for a much larger number of users. We try to give good value for your flat-rate fee. Unlike many other big commercial providers, we don't charge an hourly rate to discourage users from monopolizing the modems. We call this a "guideline" because it's your responsibility to monitor your time on line and disconnect when you've used your four hours. You also need to make certain that you wait two hours before connecting again. While there are some automatic programs that may warn and disconnect you if you're over the limit, the responsibility to monitor your time and disconnect when you've reached the limit for session belongs to you. We appreciate your attention to this guideline, and your fellow users will appreciate your consideration. If you really need unlimited connect time, we *do* sell 24-hour access for a reasonable rate; send us mail and ask about it, or send mail to sales@nwnexus.net for a flier. Our Modems ---------- The modems we use for almost all of our dial in lines are Lucent Portmaster 3's. They support the 56k standard v.90 protocol, as well as v.34 and K56Flex (old proprietary 56k protocol, check out http://v90.nwnexus.com for info). These are digital modems that also support dial in ISDN connection. This means they will connect at 14.4, 28.8, 33.6, up to 56k speeds for regular modems. ISDN modems connect at 64k per channel. This is the equipment currently being used for our sites in the greater Puget Sound area, Spokane, and Portland. Mt. Vernon and Olympia are also using this equipment. Currently the only exception is our Chehalis site, which uses the same modems as the old Bellevue line below. Bellevue 28.8 Modem Pool (425-455-8455) ------------------- All the modems in this pool are US Robotics WAN Network Hub models; they support V.32, V.32bis, V.42, and V.42bis. This means they connect at up to 33.6kbs; with data compression, higher transfer rates are possible, depending on what's being transferred. Reporting Problems With Modems ------------------------------ If you have trouble connecting to any modem, please send mail to us at support@nwnexus.net with - The make and model of your modem - The modem initialization string you're using - The DTE (computer-to-modem) speed you're using - The software you're using to connect with us - The line number you connected with when you had the trouble - The time and date of your call - The telephone number you called Related FAQS ------------ The following Northwest Nexus FAQs may be of interest: Modems: Getting busy signals Modems: Mac disconnects \ during file transfers Modems: Mac doesn't hang up modem when disconnecting with InterSLIP Modems: Making them play right with SLIP and PPP Modems: Redial/hang-up dialing script for InterSLIP (Mac) Modems: Telephone numbers and long-distance options Modems: Why did I get disconnected unexpectedly? (15-Sep-95/modwkwh/MJT) ______________________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1998 Northwest Nexus Inc. All Rights Reserved. This document may not be reproduced nor redistributed in any form without express permission; contact us at support@nwnexus.net with questions.