response 487 of 561:

Oct 6 19:15 UTC 1996

   It would help if I didn't have to read 300 responses at a time
when dealing with Grex's moving. ;-)  Sigh.

   OK: we've signed the contract with Ameritech too, and that was
the last part that we had to do, setup wise.

   We're going to get a Centrex system, and its going to cost us
about the same as the current system we have, but with lots of
advantages with the new system.

   First, we've locked the price of the phons for seven years.
The total monthly bill is going to be $283.55; the installation
charges + Centrex inisitalization ($630 and $200) are going to
be paid by us over a one year period.  Phones cost $17.57 each;
there os $20/mo Centrex account charge added to that.

   We got a price break with going for the seven year contract,
so we'll not have an increae in phone rates for some time.  Next
year, probably by March a "1MB" business phone will go up $8 a
month.  We'll be able to avoid that...

   We also have control over the phones, too.  I'll be taking
an Ameritech course somewhere, that will show me how to call
up an Ameritech computer such that we can change the truck 
hunt ourselves, disable phones, disable outgoing dialing, and
other things, ourselves.  I'm looking forward to that one.

   The only downside here, is that we're looking at about
15 days to get the lines changed over.  When this happens,
Grex is going to be off the air.  For a little while 761-3000
won't even exist, and then a little later it will again, but
as the start of the hunt group for us.  Ameritech *wisely*
decided to let us keep *all* the phone lines we currently
have: at one point I said that I only really wanted 761-3000
kept, but did remind them that all our other numbers would
be rather useless for a long time to come, given that they
are all known.  They thought about it a little, and came to
the conclusion that it would be a Good Thing for us to keep
the numbers.  Also, we have a block of another 20 numbers
reserves for us, for expansion.

   We can add new phone lines under the terms of the current
contract, too.

   Should we move during the contract, no problem.  We'll just
have to pay the standard $42/line install charge and we can move
anywhere within the range of our Central Office.  I'm working
on getting a *map* os that, such that in the future we'll know
exactly what our boundaries are.

   I'm going to be in close range with the Ameritech people
during the switch over.  I've pounded my pager number into a
number of people's heads, along with the statement that they
(Ameritech) have screwed up ever single order except the
first (moving to the Dungeon went OK) one.  I think there might
be some attempt here to try and beat that record on this one.

   There is a 25 pair phone cable coming just to the Pumpkin;
with any luck at all we can get that other end of the cable
activated, such that we have a 25 pair cable installed for us.
That will take some more talking with Ameritech, but I think
it can be done.

   The building is really pretty interesting.  There have to
be 500 lines coming into that building, handling either a
telemarketing or alarm company.

   The exernal ventilation system works; we checked that.  There
is a duct blowing air in at the top, and another that can suck
air out.  I don't know if the top blower motor is strong enough
for us, but I did talk to the landlord, and he said that we could
install a more powerful motor (which he has) if we need to.

   The celing is not false; people can't get into the room by
breaking into another room and crawling over the walls.  I have
seen no signs of water damage anywhere, which I've been looking
for.

   All in all, I'm very pleased with things.

   Given how Ameritech works, I think we'll very likely be down for
a full day, as the changeover won't be as easy as it was moving
to the Dungeon.  I'm going to try and have the changeover done
no later in the week than Thursday, becuase basically I'm planning
on their being some wonderful screwup that causes the install to
not go well.

response 489 of 561:

Oct 6 22:33 UTC 1996

Is that 15 business days, or 15 days?  If the former, we need to
contact the Building Variance Board and tell them we need more time
to move.  (Having a signed phone contract and lease should help.)

response 491 of 561:

Oct 7 04:25 UTC 1996

Popcorn, call me in the morning.  I don't have your number and don't knwo
how many more times I can turn on this monitor.  It's clear now, it was a 
mess when I first started it up.  I'll see you tomorrow, if everything is ok.

response 493 of 561:

Oct 7 21:16 UTC 1996

   Good news on the phone installation.

   The date for the changeover is now either October 18th (Friday)
or October 17th (Thursday).  If it's possible to do this on the
17th, it will happen then.

   The not great ws is that we aren't going to know when exactly
to make the move for a while.  But at least we have it narrowed
down to a two day window, leaving one business day (Monday the
21st) as a sort of horrible cushion if the installation falls flat
on its face Friday.

response 497 of 561:

Oct 8 06:24 UTC 1996

about the resident lines in teh pumpkin  (great fun today) ... 
  
there is one hot pots line in the wall covered by a plate. that is the
perfume ppl's line.
  
inside that little alcove/closet are two (or one cut at the alcove) 50pr
cables. the end of one is punched into 66-blocks and the lines out 
are/were for an internal phone switch. 
  
the other 50pr is not terminated - i skinned of some insulation to
use my toner (a  toy ?timothy? (kami's kid) had fun with while i was
installing batteries and showing him how it allworks) on the cables.
 
the building is fed with a 300pr cable flown into the 2nd story, proceeding
to the east side and then droppingot the phone closet in the basement.
 
the basement is also fed with 3 25pr underground cables. 
  
the good news is that all four cables are hot! dial tone and battery all
over the place. 
  
the (dammit) bad news is that neither ends of the 2 50pr cables in our
alcove shows up in the (dammit) phone closet! shit! sorry, i'm ticked.
 
there is one section of the building, though, that i couldn't check.
 
the 300pr cable enters the phone room through a horizontal, 3" dia,
conduit. also through that conduit go several sets of 25/50 pr inside
wiring. 
  
there might be a secondary phone closet somewhere on the other side of 
that wall. dunno, that's on the side toward the landlord's office adn
he wasn't in late this afternoon.
  
i got to meet *several* of the tenants of the pumpkin today whilst
tracing the cables. i think this is an excellent location with a nice
above-ground room and sufficiently reasonable security. there are two ways
into our hallway though, and the one door that leads to the east side
of the building needs to be checked. the pathway tothe south entrance
(the one directly on huron) is much more easily checked adn probably
more used as well.
  
very good news on the phone co. steve - sure wish i could finagle a
way to go to those classes with you. hey -ya need a backup, right? 
let's let them train two of us.
  
anyway, there is a longer string on the light inside the alcove - at 
least i was able to improve that situation.
  
.............. and painting was great fun. 

response 501 of 561:

Oct 9 03:50 UTC 1996

Actually, if STeve and TS are able to find a mutually
agreeable time, what Ameritech will most likely do is
send out a person to <wherever> to do the training.
Don't expect this person to be very knowledgeable,
though.  We were very unimpressed with the person that
Ameritech sent to us.
 
At any rate, make *sure* that the Ameritech training
person *leaves the Centrex Mate manual*.  It is that
manual which will have the answers to all of your
questions.  Also, given that I manage all the Centrex
lines for our company, and given that you'll get an
800 number to dial, I can help you manage the hunt
from here.  <grin>  And don't forget to put cfdtn on
each of the lines.  8^)

response 503 of 561:

Oct 9 09:19 UTC 1996

a reasonable portion of my support *does* come from direct telephone
work, and adding more qualifications to assist grex as well as me would
appear to be more advantageous that 'randomly interested,' if taht was
part of the implication, above. <g>

response 505 of 561:

Oct 9 19:10 UTC 1996

I just read the entire discussion (1st time) because I wanted to check
moving date since my pick-up truck has asked for the chance to do the
move (not only computers have ego's ;) )  I wlts that I am impressed
 y wht has gone in to this effort.  I do have an idea for the desk.
It would possibly be a viable "statement" for Joe tiboni in his front
yard.  I am sure he could do something with it.  Thanks for being
such a great process!

response 507 of 561:

Oct 10 00:36 UTC 1996

   Ben, with the new place, we'll have plenty of room for the
desk.

response 509 of 561:

Oct 11 14:42 UTC 1996

   Another cool feature of Centrex, nearly eliminating people
crashing into a dead modem.

response 511 of 561:

Oct 11 17:26 UTC 1996

Nope, moving is *next* Thursday or Friday.  And moving was rather
forced, but it still wasn't a bad idea :-).