Chris Carman wrote:
>
> 30 unused modems on the Hamilton line, 54 unused modems on the off-campus
> line... maybe someone should consider shifting modems over once the 1-7700's
> problems are fixed?
 
Chris,
 
Here's what I found out:
 
The modems come in a chassis -- 48 modems per chassis.  We have to buy
phone lines in groups of 24. In order to get good pricing from GTE, we
had to commit to a long-term contract.  In order to change the modems
from one phone number to another, we'd have to move them in large
groups and pay for additional phone lines without the ability to
discontinue the contract we signed for the lines no longer being used.
So, there is a fairly high-cost penalty to changing the modems around.
 
There was careful consideration given to the decision of modem
allocation.  For the Oxford campus, the decision was made to allocate
96 modems for use by about 10,000 off-campus students (ratio of about
100  students per modem), and 48 modems for 4,000 students in 21
non-wired residence halls (ratio of about 83 students per modem).  If
the 2,700 students in the wired halls are included, the ratio becomes
about 140 students per modem.
 
The 2,700 on-campus students in the wired residence halls are strongly
encouraged to connect via Ethernet, since it's 100 times faster than
PPP, more reliable/less problematic to configure and use than PPP, you
don't have to contend for an available modem, and your phone line is
not busy while you're connected.  Currently, it appears that more of
these 2,700 students are using PPP than we anticipated, thereby
putting an unanticipated load on the modems at 1-7700. Many students
don't yet understand the avantages of Ethernet.  And we realize that
students close to graduation may no want to buy an Ethernet adapter
when there isn't an Ethernet resale market yet estabished by students.
 
We truly think that this disproportionate load on 1-7700 is an anomaly
that will work itself out as more students move toward using the
Ethernet connection. And of course, beginning next August, plans call
for the remaining residence halls to be wired. Long-term, we believe
we need more modems off-campus.  If that turns out not to be true, I
presume we will need to reevalate.  I hope this helps answer your
question.
 
Thanks for the question
 
Debi Allison
MCIS Assistant Director for Client Services