Netcom provides reliable access to the majority of Internet functions for a fixed monthly fee, which includes a generous disk allocation (5 Mb). Since Netcom now offers access lines in the East Bay, as well as the Peninsula, Contra Costa county, San Jose, and Santa Cruz, the system has become very popular in the Bay Area. High speed V.32/V.42 access is supported.
Currently Netcom offers access to full-screen mail and news reader software. These include elm for mail, and nn (No News is good news) for USENET. However Netcom does not offer access to chatting via irc (Internet Relay Chat) or news wires via the ClariNet news groups. If you are interested in these services, you should consider getting an account on HoloNet or World instead.
In addition to dialup accounts, Netcom also offers network services at some of the lowest rates available anywhere. These include registration of your host name (domain name registration), direct Internet hookups via SLIP (Serial Line IP), UUCP mail, and USENET news feeds. Joe BMUG says “check it out!”For more information on this, please refer to Appendix B – Choice Products.
NSFNet restrictions
Netcom is directly connected to NSFNet (National Science Foundation Network), which means that traffic passing over the NSFNet backbone to and from Netcom must conform to the NSFNet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).
The AUP was created in order to insure that government funding for NSFNet would not be diverted to subsidizing commercial projects, but would instead be used for its intended purpose, which is to support research or instruction at not-for-profit institutions of research or instruction in the United States. The AUP prohibits use of the NSFNet for commercial purposes by for-profit instituions. However, use for research or instruction at for-profit institutions may or may not be acceptable, and is subject to review by the NSF Project Office on a case-by-case basis.
In practice, this means that NSFNet may not be used for passing packets in pursuit of activities such as product advertising and mass mailings, employee recruiting, and commercial transactions such as order processing and billing . Since Netcom is connected to NSFNet, users must sign an agreement to conform to the AUP.
While the AUP restrictions are probably not aconcern to most hobbyists, they do affect commercial businesses looking to commercial activities such as product support online. Such users should get an account on a system (such as World) connected to the Commercial Internet eXchange network (CIX, pronounced “kicks”), a commercial competitor of NSFNet. Since World does not route packets over NSFNet, World users do not have to sign an AUP agreement.
In order to enforce the restrictions, access to telnet and ftp is not available on the “inner” netcom machine, netcom.netcom.com. To get access to these commands you will need to sign an AUP agreement, whereupon you will be given access to the “outer” machine on which the commands are enabled.
How to get an account
To open an account on Netcom, you login as guest, with settings of 8-1-N, and VT100 emulation. A sample session is shown below:
ATDT 14154240131
CONNECT 2400
netcom login: guest
Last login: Sun Feb 23 21:59:04 from CALNet-pa1.netco
SunOS Release 4.1.1 (SERVER) #3: Sun Jan 5 13:55:30 PST 1992
Netcom On-line Communication Services
>>>>
>>>> Several T-3000 modems are available at $550.00.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Please use the following email addresses
>>>>
>>>> Account/Billing questions: accounting
>>>> Netnews related questions: netnews
>>>> E-Mail problems/bugs: netmail
>>>> General questions: support
>>>>
>>>> A network problem was responsible for poor response
>>>> time on the SF POP. The problem has been resolved.
>>>>
You have new mail.
Account Verification
Account Status : Active
Account type : System or uucp account
Username: guest
This disk usage summary is for the last 29 days.
Your average usage to date is: 0.00 meg
At this rate your disk charge will be: $ 0.00
Welcome to Netcom's Guest Account
The guest account supports the following terminal types:
[ 1] vt100 - Most Common
[ 2] Sun - Sunview Window
[ 3] sgi - Silicone Graphics
[ 4] hp150 - Typical HP terminal
Which terminal: 1
How to register
At this point, your display will present a menu. To get information about aspects of netcom, you can move among the topics using the up and down cursor keys on your keyboard. Pressing <return> will bring up the topic on your screen. In order to create your account, you will need to select the Registration topic and answer the questions that follow.
 
Netcom
Dialup Account (autobilled) $15/month, unlimited use
USENET/UUCP service $45/month, unlimited use
Personal SLIP (9600/14400) $50/month
Dedicated port SLIP (9600/14400) $160/month plus $650 setup fee
SLIP leased line (9600/14400) $180/month plus $650 setup fee
SLIP leased line (19200) $250/month plus $650 setup fee
SLIP leased line (38400) $275/month plus $650 setup fee
Netcom is the Bay Area’s most reasonably priced USENET/Internet service provider. Since they have access lines in Alameda, San Jose, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, and Santa Cruz, you will probably be able to access their services while only paying for a local call.
Netcom Online Communications Services, 4000 Moorpark Avenue, Suite 209, San Jose, CA 95117;(408)554-UNIX, Fax:(408)241-9145, email: info@netcom.com; Dialin access:
Alameda: (510)865-9004; San Jose: (408)241-9792; Palo Alto: (415)424-0131; Pleasanton: (510)426-6860, Santa Cruz: (408)459-9851
