(fwd) Netcom adds access in Denver area
Cyphertentacles and Extropiates, Here's a convenient list of the latest Netcom sites, which span the U.S. I've been happily using it (well, they changed to a new emacs yesterday and now my autowrap doesn't work....I hate having to spend a couple of hours on such a trivial matter) for a year and a half and I conservatively estimate I've influenced at least 30 people to sign up for it....too bad I don't get any usage credits for it. The best things about it: flat monthly fee ($17.50), unlimited connect time, full range of services (much better than most universities have, folks tell me), and--best of all--your Netcom account won't change when you change jobs! And posting with Netcom presumably won't run the risk of angering your employer. I'm thrilled that Netcom is expanding so rapidly. --Tim Newsgroups: netcom.general,co.general,ba.internet,alt.internet.access.wanted From: glee@netcom.com (Glee Harrah Cady) Subject: Netcom adds access in Denver area Distribution: netcom,usa Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1993 17:22:36 GMT NETCOM On-line Communication Services, Incorporated is pleased to announce the expansion of the NETCOM backbone into the Denver, CO metropolitan area. To reach the service, using a VT100 terminal emulator dial 303-758-0101 with your modem set to 8,1,N, and hardware flow control. Denver's new Point of Presence (POP) joins our nationwide backbone in supporting a full range of network services including: o Internet Connections (T1 & 56kb, dedicated and dialup) o News/Mail feeds with Domain service o Business Dial-up access (news / mail / ftp / telnet / shell) o Host dial access (International and National News, news / mail / ftp / telnet / shell) o Personal Network (SLIP or PPP) Connections (PNC) o FrameConnect Internet Services NETCOM can be your gateway to economical global communications. A connection to the NETCOM state-of-the-art network will deliver connectivity at very affordable prices. NETCOM offers Internet connections, news feeds, electronic mail, local access points throughout the United States, source archives, telecommunications consulting, discounts on purchases of communication equipment, and other services. NETCOM offers a guest account to provide more information about its services. To access the guest account via your modem and personal computer, dial a local access number from the list below. After you connect, at the Login: prompt, type "guest". You need not type in a password. Remember, you must use lower case letters. If you prefer, you can also log in via telnet to netcom.netcom.com or to the IP address of 192.100.81.100. Here are a few of the local access 1200/2400/9600 V.32/V.42 numbers: 206-547-5992 Seattle 214-753-0044 Dallas 310-842-8835 Los Angeles 303-758-0101 Denver 404-303-9765 Atlanta 408-241-9760 San Jose 408-459-9851 Santa Cruz 415-328-9940 Palo Alto 415-985-5650 San Francisco 503-626-6833 Portland 510-426-6610 Pleasanton 510-865-9004 Alameda 617-237-8600 Boston 619-234-0524 San Diego 703-255-5951 Washington DC 714-708-3800 Irvine 818-585-3400 Pasadena 916-965-1371 Sacramento VOICE: (408) 554-8649 FAX: (408) 241-9145 Local Access Numbers: (800) 488-2558 _____________________________________________________________________________ - info@netcom.com (408) 554-8649 NETCOM On-line Communication Services, Inc.
Cyphertentacles and Extropiates,
Here's a convenient list of the latest Netcom sites, which span the U.S.
I've been happily using it (well, they changed to a new emacs yesterday and now my autowrap doesn't work....I hate having to spend a couple of hours on such a trivial matter) for a year and a half and I conservatively estimate I've influenced at least 30 people to sign up for it....too bad I don't get any usage credits for it.
The best things about it: flat monthly fee ($17.50), unlimited connect time, full range of services (much better than most universities have, folks tell me), and--best of all--your Netcom account won't change when you change jobs! And posting with Netcom presumably won't run the risk of angering your employer.
I'm thrilled that Netcom is expanding so rapidly.
I don't want to bash netcom here.. I have an account and I'm *quite* happy with it. (The accounts I have at my university are very nice, but when 20 people have root, there's *no* security.) I have doubts, however, about how good a thing it is to have *one* public access provider with such a wide net. It *is* a great thing that now a netcom account doesn't mean that much about where I'm located, so further privacy is available through that indirection. (Of course, where I'm located is available via finger, but I provide that information myself.) The problem I fear is a centralization of the net. If netcom is the major provider for the entire country, then there's much more risk of "network-disaster" if netcom dies for some reason. (Not Imminent Death of the Net, but if, say, 20% of all users of the internet who use a commercial provider use netcom, then a death of netcom would be a serious blow to the net-population.) There's some aesthetic beauty, I think, in localized network providers, but I can't root out a rational basis for that one. The fact, however, that I can be in any major city and *still* have access to my netcom account with a local (or rather cheap) phone call, is a *very* good thing, however. I *have* heard, though, that the POPs outside the bay area only have 56K connections to the netcom computers.. (From ping times to these sites, a friend of mine who runs an *excellent* public access network site in Chicago, estimated these things.) Has anyone who used both the Bay Area POPs and long-distance POPs noticed a difference? File transfers? (Those in Chicago looking for network access, should look into MCSNet-- Personally I prefer the level of service there to netcom, but I've been with the guy for multiple years, so there's a level of bias in there. [And I *think* there's a reference credit on MCSnet.. for every person I get to subscribe for 3 months I think I get 2 weeks or something like that.] 312-248-0900.. He will soon have a T1 and T1 POPs all over the Chicago area.)
As someone who has gotten some pretty crusty mail for posting issues related to the social and cultural aspects of encryption -- "stay on the subject! this place is about encryption, not politics!" -- may I ask -- very politely, of course -- what these plugs for netcom are doing here? I'm using a different provider, and am very happy with them. But should I be plugging them (or dinging them) on this list?
Arthur Chandler writes:
As someone who has gotten some pretty crusty mail for posting issues related to the social and cultural aspects of encryption -- "stay on the subject! this place is about encryption, not politics!" -- may I ask -- very politely, of course -- what these plugs for netcom are doing here? I'm using a different provider, and am very happy with them. But should I be plugging them (or dinging them) on this list?
As you all may have noticed, I discuss political issues here on the List when I think the topic is appropriate. I notice others do as well. Yes, some folks complain when non-technical stuff comes up, when the discussion moves away from Mersenne primes and thermite bombs. Yes, the mantra of "Cypherpunks write code" is oft-repeated. Of course, I notice that very few of us are writing any code these days. Some of the remailer wizards are still revising their code, and a few C-punks are trying to implement DC-Nets in code. But the vast majority of the 500+ folks on this List are either not writing crypto code, or are keeping silent about it. The intent of the "Cypherpunks write code" line, if I can venture a motivation (it was of course Eric's line), is that we are more interested in seeing the Brave New Crypto World happen than in just jawboning about export laws, the Zimmmermann case, and whether libertarians are right and socialists are wrong. Some of us are socialists, some are anarcho-capitalists, some of us are Trotskyites, and so on. So what else is new? The kind of political rancor we have largely been successful in avoiding is the traditional libertarian vs. everyone else debate that afflicts so many other groups. I am pleasantly surprised by this. Crypto has massive implications, for so many areas: privacy, taxation, national borders, data havens, export laws, redistribution of income, and on and on. Cypherpunks should write code, if they can, but in any case they ought to have some idea of where they're going. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.
But the vast majority of the 500+ folks on this List are either not writing crypto code, or are keeping silent about it. There are undoubtedly a fair number of the latter; probably better than 50% of the cypherpunks subscribers I know around here (including myself) get paid to (among other things) work on software related to network security through cryptography. Random Rant (preaching to the choir, but..): The same day that I spent far too many hours attempting to get our DES-using products in synch with what we believe is a correct interpretation of the export regulations, I saw a post in sci.crypt from someone in Italy announcing that he had a copy of my HP48SX DES implementation (which is available for anonymous FTP from soda.berkeley.edu; disclaimer: it does ECB encrypt mode only, that's all I needed). - Bill
participants (4)
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Arthur Chandler -
Sameer -
sommerfeld＠orchard.medford.ma.us -
tcmay＠netcom.com