In the process of expounding on the wonders of Grex at work, I have
been asked by a colleague who happens to live in Livonia:
Since calling Grex in AA is a long distance call, what should he do
do obtain access to system that provides Usenet news?

Obviously, he is going to have a lot of trouble finding a system there
that is as nice as ours :-) but what options does he have that involve
only local calls from western Wayne county?

I think he is primarily interested those features that Grex offers for
free (Usenet reading and email). Free solutions are most interesting,
naturally, but other solutions could be worth considering.

19 responses total.

I think there's a group setting up a Detroit FreeNet.  I'll try and find
that info.

Thanks, Dan.

Assuming Merit can be called locally from there, there are lots of things he
could do from there.  Type "msu-gopher" at the which host prompt, and from 
that it is possible to get to numerous freenets, and News can also be accessed
right from the gopher.

Thanks, Steve. I'll pass your suggestions on to him.
I think Merit may have a local dial-in for him.
(Additional suggestions also welcome.)

There is a MiBell Livonia number (313/425-6250), on which caller-paid
calls require a NUI (call 800/831-6854 to get one of those). There is
no MichNet number in Livonia. 

What is an NUI?
I am confused by #5.
Did you mean there is no MichNet number anywhere that is a local
call from Livonia (that's a lot of places) or just Livonia?

An NUI is a Network Users ID, issued by MI Bell. You make a local call
to access MichNet, but get charged on your phone bill for the purpose.
I have not used this service, but I would hope it is cheaper than a long
distance call! I can't answer the question of what MichNet or MIBell
numbers might be local calls in "Greater Livonia". You give me a
prefix, and I'll tell you if there is a MichNet/MIBell/AutoNet/SprintNet
number with that prefix. OK: I just figured out the list. Calls from
the exchanges 261, 42x (except 420), 52x and 937, to MiBell @ 425-6250,
or from exchanges 420, 464 and 591, to MiBell @ 420-2890, are local
MiBell network calls though with network charges. These two nodes
support 300-9600(v.32) baud. This information is from _MIchNet News_,
Fall 1993. You can obtain _M N_ online, send e-mail to 
mnn-requst@merit.edu

Thanks Rane. I'll pass this on. I'm pretty sure he is looking for a 
truly local call though, as opposed to something that will accrue charges.

Is Detroit local to Livonia?  If so, there must be a Michnet number there.

I am pretty certain that he can call to Detroit locally. I'll ask him.
He's off looking for MichNet numbers himself, so he may have found 
one by now. Perhaps there's a directory of Michnet access numbers I
can ftp from somewhere? I have gophered around Michnet a bit, but
I haven't stumbled on this list yet.

Steve, see #7 above. The list is *in* _MichNet News_. Send e-mail to
mnn-request@merit.edu (I'm sorry I misspelled that in #7.)

Oh, yes: the Detroit MichNet numbers are: 313-577-0335 (300-1200(Bell
212A only)), or 577-0321 (2400). Hmmm - no high speed dialins. How
about Dearborn (to 9600 v.32): 593-5335.

 As a former resident of Detroit, I can honestly vouch for this fact.
Livonia and Detroit are local. From the east side, there might be a 
zone charge, but since it is a 577 exchange, (from WSU) it should be
no problem. It's about 16 miles tops.

If you type help at the "Which Host?" prompt, the numbers are in one of the
menus.  I forget which menu it was, but I remember it being pretty obvious.

THanks you for all the info. I will pass it on.

Could someone post an explanation of _exactly_ what michnet is, and what,
if anything, it costs to use?  I've been trying to figure this out from
context, but all the discussions Ive read sort of assume that the reader
has knowlege of these various dail-in networks, whereas I have never used one
in my life (I don't think) (unless I'm using one when I call GEnie.  Hmmm...)

I am not the expert on this, so if anyone want to add, subtract, or change
this info, please feel free:

MichNet is the name of the Network of computers run by Merit.
You can dial into MichNet for free, with no authentication, and perform
a limited collection of things, which I don;t have time to explain
here. What I suggest you (and everyone else who has never done this) try is to
dial into the Michnet numbers in Ann Arbor: 998-1302 for 2400 baud 998-1303 for
9600 baud 998-1304 for 14400 (V.32bis) At the terminal type prompt you probably
want to use   vt100 At the "Which Host?" prompt, try (1) Help - then explore
that, and
                                 (2) um-gopherblue
Which is a gopher server. This facility provides, along with other gophers
all around the internet, a system of hierarchical menus that provide
useful information and connectivity. You can connect to the MSU gopher
from this system and they have a News-to-gopher gateway there that
permits you to read UseNet. There's lots more, you should explore it.

Remember, anyone can do this, and it's free. Your PC/Mac/Whatever should
be able to do vt100 emulation.

My first free use was accessing the UM library catalog. Enter mirlyn
at the Which Host? prompt. One of my latest was to access the University
of California Library. 

I use Mich-Net a lot doing research for my wife in Psychology. I have 
accessed MSU, EMU, & UM library's looking for articles in Psychology
journals, also books. It is very useful to be able to access a library's
on-line catalog to do research from home. We have even driven to Lansing
to copy articles in journals that only MSU has.

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