response 1 of 25:

Jan 8 21:33 UTC 1997

Here's the deal.  We currently have 13 phone lines and enough error correcting
modems to put on all of them.  But not all of our modems support a secure
"dumb mode" so we can't use some of them safely until we disable outgoing
calls on our lines.  There fore we only have 9 modems hooked up right now,
and some of them don't do error correcting.

So the problem is getting outgoing calls disabled on those lines.  When we
moved to the Pumpkin, we changed to a class of phone service which
theoretically allows us to set that up.  But it took months of fighting with
Ameritech to get the correct password so we can log in to change settings on
our lines.  Then the computer that you change settings from turned out to have
a different command language than we knew about, and we couldn't get any
documentation out of Ameritech.  When we got the commands, we discovered they
didn't work, because Ameritech hadn't set up the capability to do this on our
lines after all (i.e., they screwed up again).  Now we are trying to convince
them to fix our lines the way they were supposed to be.

Meanwhile, Ameritech is billing us right now for $1000 of installation charges
from the move that they had promised to spread over the next year.

Nephi has been doing a lot of the figuring out of Ameritech Centrex, and
STeve has been doing a lot of negotiating with Ameritech people, and
Valerie has been doing a bit of both too, while Mark scowls at the bills
and shut-off notices (they tell us they don't really mean to shut us off -
their computers just do that) that Ameritech sends us.

So yeah, we need more phone lines, but lord only knows when we'll get them.

response 3 of 25:

Jan 9 19:14 UTC 1997

Thanks for the summary.  The difference between 9 and 13 modems sounds
pretty substantial--I hope that will open things up pretty well.  If you
can ever get the phone lines!  (Another case when all the time staff puts
into these things is much appreciated.)

response 7 of 25:

Jan 14 15:48 UTC 1997

ummm, a while ago i sent staff email about the potential of trading
some of my dumb-able (by jumper) 14.4s for their not-dumbable-enough
14.4s. 
  
no answer. i guess the offer is still alive.

response 11 of 25:

Jan 17 20:22 UTC 1997

and,. for some  soem samll change, i can get some 28.8 hardware-dumable modei
as well, both new and used... 

response 13 of 25:

Jan 19 19:06 UTC 1997

the chipset in the two modei that i have in my fingers are the
rockwell chipset. i don't have the specific number at
this locatio though. i seem to remember that the prom is v 3.02 or
someting similiar ...close.
  
the other modei i am not sure about, vis-a-vis the internals.
  
however, in direct response to the "hardware dumbable" capability
the answer was "yes." there was some other term used (i really dislike
using the wrong terms) but the physical capacity exists for strapping the
modem into "totally dumb, answer-only."  these other modei have
all the manuals with them, i was told. 
  
but first thigns first, teh others are currently vapor, what about
the two thatare hardware-in-hand?
  

response 15 of 25:

Jan 22 23:34 UTC 1997

sure, , for the first time ina couple of years (!) i'm not working
wednesday night ...i'll brng one w/manual and ps.
  
ummm, what is teh chance for getting a swap of one tonight? ? all
this is temporary, i realize that of course. if theywork for grex
the swap can be officiallysanctioned. if they don't, well, i tried,.
  
is there any software for those grex modei? adn manual?
  
even if *everything* doesn't get swapped immediately, that' fine, 
there is no time pressure on myend.
  
 oh, .... teh term i was missing is:  hardware locked

response 17 of 25:

Jan 24 00:48 UTC 1997

We have AOL disks?  That's a riot.  I wonder when AOL is going to come out
with a version for Sun OS... :)

response 19 of 25:

Jan 24 19:09 UTC 1997

Yeah, but they're so poor quality disks that it's not worth using them.

response 21 of 25:

Jan 25 15:20 UTC 1997

(I've had better service from AOL disks than some our department bought
new!)

response 23 of 25:

Jan 27 21:02 UTC 1997

(Aside:  I'll take any CD-ROMs from AOL or the like that people want
to let go.)