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|
| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 115 responses total. |
slynne
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|
response 89 of 115:
| 
May 7 21:17 UTC 2010 |
It depends. If grex can get 4 or more additional memberships (i.e
memberships that grex would not otherwise get) because of a dial up line
then it would make sense to keep it.
why? 12 mos x $20 = $240 and 4 x $60 = $240
|
mary
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|
response 90 of 115:
|
May 7 21:53 UTC 2010 |
A single line residential line is $39 and change, after taxes and fees.
If I see Mark Conger tomorrow I'll ask about Grex's phone bill.
|
keesan
|
|
response 91 of 115:
|
May 7 22:14 UTC 2010 |
My residential phone line is $29 including fees and taxes. Ask Mark to
contact us about a reel-to-reel tape deck Jim fixed for him to use.
|
kentn
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|
response 92 of 115:
|
May 7 22:18 UTC 2010 |
Thanks, Mary.
If we could get usage statistics from the last 6 months that'd give us a
better idea of actual usage. What we've heard up to now is that usage
is so abysmally low (24 minutes in one month) that it doesn't justify
paying for the lines or having the staff potentially spend time to keep
them working for dialup. Even if the lines were paid for, we'd still
require staff to maintain them (such as previous discussion of better
modems).
Can staff give us such a report? Or are we limited to just the last
month?
|
slynne
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|
response 93 of 115:
|
May 8 01:49 UTC 2010 |
resp:90 Is that because Grex is not eligible for the $19.75 residential
plan advertised on ATT's web site?
|
rcurl
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response 94 of 115:
|
May 8 04:38 UTC 2010 |
I bet that's for 6 months...
Re #89: that just pays for the dialin - it doesn't support the rest of Grex,
which the dialins would still be using.
|
mary
|
|
response 95 of 115:
|
May 8 10:52 UTC 2010 |
I'd like to hear from someone who comes in on dialup (or has a modem) if
dialinfree works. If it does, cool, it's time to make the move. If it
doesn't, we'll have to decide whether we can afford to maintain even one
line for so few users.
I really don't want to move into anyone paying for a specific service.
That just seems wrong and then puts us into contract mode where we're
obligated to support this access, possible ahead of everything else our
volunteer staff has to cover.
|
slynne
|
|
response 96 of 115:
|
May 8 13:08 UTC 2010 |
resp:94 I guess but I pay around $30 for my land line and I have a lot
of features grex doesn't need. I suspect there is probably a different
pricing structure for business vs residential customers.
Regardless, if it is more like $40/mo than the marginal increase in
memberships per year would have to be 8. I thought 4 would be a stretch.
I don't think 8 is very likely.
I agree with Mary that outright charging people for dial up service is
probably a bad idea.
|
keesan
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response 97 of 115:
|
May 8 15:50 UTC 2010 |
I pay $29 without any features. I have been using dialinfree with grex for
years now.
|
kentn
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response 98 of 115:
|
May 8 19:44 UTC 2010 |
As a non-profit, we can take donations with a purpose and put them
toward a service. It does not need to be seen as charging people for a
service.
If we do try to get a new machine and use it as fund-raiser, that would
be no different.
|
cyklone
|
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response 99 of 115:
|
May 8 21:03 UTC 2010 |
I doubt the costs associated with "maintaining" dialup access are all
that great in terms of time and money. If a subgroup of users are
willing to cover the costs, then I can't see any good reason for grex to
ignore such efforts by that group.
|
glitch
|
|
response 100 of 115:
|
May 9 02:37 UTC 2010 |
I'd certainly be willing to become a full, paying member if it'd help keep
the dialins up -- my girlfriend and I use them when we're traveling and can't
get to a free Internet connection, since many of our relatives live out in
the country. While I'm geographically distant from the actual servers, I'd
also be willing to donate time in keeping the dialin managed.
|
keesan
|
|
response 101 of 115:
|
May 9 03:46 UTC 2010 |
Do your relatives live in Michigan? One month's membership is only $5 or $6,
not enough for one phone line.
|
rcurl
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response 102 of 115:
|
May 9 04:32 UTC 2010 |
If you get enough users donating to cover the cost of one dialin connection,
won't they have frequent conflicts of use, and perhaps find the service
unsatisfactory for that reason?
|
glitch
|
|
response 103 of 115:
|
May 9 05:00 UTC 2010 |
@101: no, but i've generated a script for minicom that allows the use of a
calling card with dialins. Usually you're stuck with lower speeds, but for
signing in to check e-mail and such it's fine.
With as little dialin access as has been reported, I wouldn't think that there
would be enough use to make a single line inconvenient. Even if two people
called at the same time, with 24 min/month, you'd just have to wait a few
minutes and call again.
|
mary
|
|
response 104 of 115:
|
May 9 10:21 UTC 2010 |
Mark said Grex's phone bill comes to between $50 and $60 a month, for the
two lines.
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keesan
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response 105 of 115:
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May 9 15:34 UTC 2010 |
Can you instead of calling grex using TCP/IP and call dialinfree?
|
glitch
|
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response 106 of 115:
|
May 11 21:43 UTC 2010 |
Sure, I can call through a free dialup service, but it's often faster to
connect directly to grex due to poor connection quality out in the country.
I've put the word out to see if there's any interests in subscribed
memberships on a few of the Internet forums I frequent. Both of them have a
strong vintage computer following, so they're the sort of people who are
likely to be interested in dialin public UNIX (many of them use SDF).
|
cross
|
|
response 107 of 115:
|
Jul 11 14:40 UTC 2010 |
Another issue with maintaining dialin lines is that it makes moving to a
virtualized hardware solution somewhat more difficult.
|
lar
|
|
response 108 of 115:
|
Jul 11 15:19 UTC 2010 |
there's cross...fuck you richard
|
madmike
|
|
response 109 of 115:
|
Jul 12 02:58 UTC 2010 |
Remember dial-up BBS? Notice the "Remember" at the beginning of this
post? Seems like a no-brainer to me. (but I get that alot)
Are the dial in lines supposed to be to allow free internet access? or
free access to grex? If I needed to connect to grex via dial-up it would
not be free for me. I think if grex is going to keep dial in lines it
should also offer a toll free number or frankly, I don't get it.
If it is just a service for Local residents of Ann Arbor then it can all
go back to someones basement (and their dreams.) What _was_ the dream
anyway?
|
tsty
|
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response 110 of 115:
|
Jul 20 04:53 UTC 2010 |
att ahs yet to resppod .. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
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tsty
|
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response 111 of 115:
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Jul 23 23:24 UTC 2010 |
att has responded ... in theory (he siad) the 2nd line is no w toast.
|
tsty
|
|
response 112 of 115:
|
Jul 24 06:37 UTC 2010 |
howeer, as jsut noted in another item, the line stil answers with
modem noixes ... but, accordint to the rep, the billing has stopped.
we shall see
|
tsty
|
|
response 113 of 115:
|
Jul 31 22:04 UTC 2010 |
we saw .. no longer in service
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