|
Grex > Coop13 > #358: Member initative: Stop paying for dial-up | |
|
| Author |
Message |
scholar
|
|
Member initative: Stop paying for dial-up
| 
Sep 4 04:34 UTC 2006 |
I am a member in good standing, and this is a member initative.
Here's the proposal: Cyberspace Inc. will cease to pay to provide dial-up
access to Grex.
|
| 52 responses total. |
steve
|
|
response 1 of 52:
|
Sep 4 04:36 UTC 2006 |
Why?
|
scholar
|
|
response 2 of 52:
|
Sep 4 04:38 UTC 2006 |
The dial-up lines cost Grex about half as much as the colocation fee, yet
support many fewer users, and there's no doubt they could continue to access
Grex if the lines were cut off.
I endorse taking this proposal to vote.
|
scholar
|
|
response 3 of 52:
|
Sep 4 04:39 UTC 2006 |
re. 1: slip.
|
steve
|
|
response 4 of 52:
|
Sep 4 04:41 UTC 2006 |
What about the people who don't have net access already? It's certainly
a shrinking number; at one time we had what, 13 lines, but I question if we
should kill them alltogether. There will be a time when we can phase them
out, yes, but are we there yet?
|
scholar
|
|
response 5 of 52:
|
Sep 4 04:44 UTC 2006 |
How many dial-up lines are there right now?
|
aruba
|
|
response 6 of 52:
|
Sep 4 17:42 UTC 2006 |
We currently have 2 dialup lines.
Providing dialup access is a significant part of Grex's charitable mission,
and part of what we reported to the IRS when we applied for tax-exempt
status. So removing the dialup lines would mean telling the IRS that we no
longer provide access to the internet for people in the Ann Arbor area who
cannot otherwise afford it, and it could mean losing our 501(c)3 status.
So I will vote to keep dialin access, if this goes to a vote.
|
kingjon
|
|
response 7 of 52:
|
Sep 4 17:45 UTC 2006 |
As will I.
|
cross
|
|
response 8 of 52:
|
Sep 4 22:33 UTC 2006 |
Regarding #1; Cost vs. benefit.
Regarding #6; It could, but I would tend to doubt it. Grex has lots of other
things going for it.
|
tod
|
|
response 9 of 52:
|
Sep 5 04:11 UTC 2006 |
re #6
Isn't Ivars in the process of getting wifi throughout all of Ann Arbor?
What's the point of dialup then?
|
aruba
|
|
response 10 of 52:
|
Sep 5 04:18 UTC 2006 |
Dunno, maybe none. But wifi isn't all over Washtenaw County yet, and when
it is I doubt it will be free.
|
tod
|
|
response 11 of 52:
|
Sep 5 07:27 UTC 2006 |
"Late last week, the Washtenaw County Board approved Wireless Washtenaw
Advisory Board's recommendation of 20/20 Communications to cover the entire
county with wireless by the end of 2007. This includes Ann Arbor, the home
of University of Michigan and future home of Google's Adwords division. The
wireless network will be free for speeds up to 85kbps and $35/month for
500kbps. 20/20 Communications estimates it will take around 6,000 radios to
cover the county.
This initiative is being funded without taxpayer dollars and is one of the
most ambitious wireless deployments in the U.S. Will it succeed or will it
fail? Check out the county's wireless website for updates on the project."
-by Hemos on Mon Aug 07, '06
http://wireless.ewashtenaw.org/
Wireless Washtenaw is a county community coming together to provide free or
lower-cost access to the Internet for anyone in Washtenaw County, regardless
of their location or economic status. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of
Wireless Washtenaw is that the extraordinary collaboration of the private and
public sectors will mean that this wireless network will be available
county-wide, with no taxpayer dollars spent on its construction, maintenance,
and operation.
|
nharmon
|
|
response 12 of 52:
|
Sep 5 12:23 UTC 2006 |
Yeah, but me thinks there will still be an excuse for not getting rid of
the modems.
|
aruba
|
|
response 13 of 52:
|
Sep 5 13:23 UTC 2006 |
THanks for the news, Tod. On the contrary, Narthan, if that's really in
place by 2007, and it works and covers all of Grex's local calling area, I
don't see any point in having dial-in lines anymore. But if we drop them,
we'll have to update with the IRS, and I do think there's a possibility
we'll lose our 501(c)3 status. I don't really know what the odds are.
|
nharmon
|
|
response 14 of 52:
|
Sep 5 14:08 UTC 2006 |
Mark, while you probably wouldn't do this, I do see people fighting to
keep dialup access alive.
|
tod
|
|
response 15 of 52:
|
Sep 5 17:12 UTC 2006 |
Its a matter of board responsibility to assume fiduciary responsibility. If
part of that means managing expenses wisely then perhaps the board should
revisit the logic behind the dialups. It might make more sense to align Grex
with the WifiMax initiative.
|
remmers
|
|
response 16 of 52:
|
Sep 5 17:23 UTC 2006 |
The Board does monitor dialin line usage and has been dropping the
number of dialins as demand has dropped. Since they're the ones who
have the fiduciary responsibility, as Todd points out, and have been
conscientious about it, I think it makes more sense to leave the
decisions re dialin lines in the board's hands rather than make a member
initiative out of it. So I won't endorse taking this proposal to a
member vote.
|
tod
|
|
response 17 of 52:
|
Sep 5 18:14 UTC 2006 |
Where can members view records of line usage?
|
steve
|
|
response 18 of 52:
|
Sep 5 18:35 UTC 2006 |
The last command. The tty's are 00 and 01. Not looking very
completely I think we have about 53 accounts that have used the
dialins this year, with seven of them being members as of right
now. Given our local user base, I'd say thats significant. We
probably want to stare at the usage more closely and see if we
should take one of the lines down, but it sure looks like we
have folks using the dialins now.
Remember, we've shaved lines off before. I believe we were
at 13 dialins at one point, with several reductions in that
number over time. As technology changes, so does Grex (slowly).
The wireless plan for coverage of Washtenaw county may be a
real change for us, who knows.
|
krj
|
|
response 19 of 52:
|
Sep 5 19:00 UTC 2006 |
Probably the question will be, how cheap/feasible will wireless
access be for users of obsolete/salvaged computers?
|
tod
|
|
response 20 of 52:
|
Sep 5 19:04 UTC 2006 |
re #18
Thanks STeve
re #19
USB wifi isn't too mysterious
|
kingjon
|
|
response 21 of 52:
|
Sep 5 20:11 UTC 2006 |
Re #20 par. 2: My one experience with USB wifi is that it isn't all that fast
when it works at all, requires much shifting of reception hardware to be able
to get a signal at all, and requires some driver configuration. Beyond that,
the sort of people who are dialing in exclusively are possibly using computers
without USB ports.
|
tod
|
|
response 22 of 52:
|
Sep 5 20:53 UTC 2006 |
For the love of everything decent in the world, why would people waste so much
electricity running any dinosaur that doesn't at least have a USB port let
alone one that relies on a dialup modem?
|
krj
|
|
response 23 of 52:
|
Sep 5 20:56 UTC 2006 |
Because they got it for free off the corner, or from a friend.
|
cmcgee
|
|
response 24 of 52:
|
Sep 5 21:54 UTC 2006 |
I know of at least 3 regular contributors to Grex who are limited to that kind
of equipment.
|