Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/hold me in your arms/Nexus/nexus.business/20.questions

Text File | 1994-04-11 | 14KB | 277 lines

Questions You Should Ask Your Internet Provider

The following is a questionaire that we have prepared at MCSNet in helping
you to decide on the best Internet Provider for you.  There are no answers
to be found here, as the "right" answers are different for each individual
or company.  However, there are some distinctions outlined, and the
consequences of some of the answers possible are explained.

A list of some of the terms and their definitions is to be found at the end
of this document.

FOR THE INDIVIDUAL USER:

1)      What kind of accounts do you offer?  Some typical account types
        include the traditional "shell" account, which provides Unix shell
        access and (typically) access to Internet electronic mail and Usenet,
        a "full Internet" account, which provides access to "synchronous"
        services such as FTP, Telnet, gopher, lynx, irc and other Internet
        items, and finally, SLIP and PPP accounts which provide full
        Internet connectivity all the way to your desktop.

2)      What are the costs for these accounts?  Do you offer both timed
        accounts (ideal for the low-volume user) and flat-rate (ideal for
        the heavy user) options?  What, if any, fees are added on to the
        base charges?  Is there an initiation charge?  What forms of
        payment do you accept, and are any of those surcharged?  Can you
        switch easily between account types (ie: timed to flat-rate, etc)
        and on what terms is this permitted?

        If you're investigating a timed account, how is usage billed and
        how do you track your account "balance"?  (Beware of systems which
        add a "fudge factor" to sessions; some providers add 2 minutes, for
        example, to each connection's time!  This can make a 10-second
        "mail check" daily into an hour's worth of time in a month --
        where it should be more like 5 minutes of actual use!)

3)      For shell accounts, how much disk space am I allowed to use on
        your systems?  Is there a charge if I go over that amount?  How is
        this usage measured (average daily use, sampled at a given time,
        sampled randomly, etc)

4)      For PPP or SLIP accounts, is a shell account included in the basic
        price or do I need to buy that separately?  If the account is not
        included, how is electronic mail handled?

5)      For all PPP and SLIP accounts, how do you handle mail?  Do you
        offer both SMTP and POP electronic mail options?

6)      For SLIP and PPP accounts, is this a FIXED ADDRESS account (where
        the IP address never changes) or are the addresses dynamically
        assigned (which means they change from session to session).  If
        fixed, is my system's name visible, and is reverse address
        resolution provided?  (this is critically important for some FTP
        sites to work!)  If the addressing is dynamic, is reverse address
        resolution available?  All other things being equal, fixed
        addresses are preferred.

7)      Can I choose between SLIP and PPP, and what is involved in changing
        between the two?

8)      If you have multiple points of presence (dial-in points) will my
        account operate <transparently> at all of them?  This can be
        critically important in particular for SLIP and PPP accounts.

9)      If you have multiple points of presence, what is the connection
        speed and load between them?  If access is not transparent, then
        is sufficient performance available to allow you to call into any
        of the POPs and use your account efficiently?

10)     What is your policy on busy signals?  Other system overloads?

11)     How do you handle system backups?  If you lose a disk drive, how
        much data do I have at risk?  What if your building burns to the
        ground?

12)     What is your policy on the interception of, or viewing of, customer
        data.  Under what conditions will you take such actions?  If you do
        take such actions, what statement are you willing to make with
        regards to employee confidentiality of what they see?  (Note that
        anyone who says "never" is misrepresenting the truth; there are
        ALWAYS situations under which you must look at what is on a disk to
        solve system problems of various kinds.  What you're looking for is
        a comfort level with your provider's policy on privacy.)

13)     What is your position what I can, or cannot, do with this account?
        Is commercial use acceptable?  Is shared use acceptable?  Is having
        more than one session, more than one window, more than one modem
        port in use acceptable?  Can I be online 24 hours a day?  Where
        are the lines drawn?

14)     Can I buy an account on "approval" for some period, or is there a
        free demo account available?

15)     For SLIP and PPP accounts, do you have qualified technical support
        available to assist in the configuration of my software on my
        machine?  If so, what systems can you assist with?

15)     For shell accounts, can you help me through the system the first
        few times?  Do you have a user's guide?  If I don't know Unix, can
        I actually use this thing and will you help me?  If so, during what
        hours and in what forms?


FOR ALL ACCESS FORMS - INCLUDING INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE CONNECTIVITY

1)      What is your backbone speed to the rest of the net?  Is it a
        14.4kbps analog line, a 56kbps digital line, a T1 (1.544Mbps) line,
        multiple T1 lines and multiple connections, or some other layout?

2)      What does your internal topology look like (network topology)?  Do
        you publish this for inspection?  Can you explain why you did what
        you did with the topology?  How heavily loaded is your network
        topology, and how large can you grow with your present set of
        choices?

3)      What assurances can you make on reachability to other network
        providers and their customers?
        a)      If you are purchasing a shell account, is this provider a
                customer of a CIX member?  (If so, then you have
                agreed-by-contract access to all other CIX member's direct
                customers).
        b)      If you are purchasing a SLIP, PPP or any form of leased
                line account, is this PROVIDER a CIX member.  (If so, then
                you have agreed-by-contract access to all other CIX
                member's direct customers).  Note carefully the distinction
                here between (a) and (b) -- it is important!

4)      How many customers do you have of the type that I am considering
        becoming?  If that is a low number, what makes you think you can do
        this and make it work for me?

5)      How long have you been in business, and what experience does your
        staff have in doing this kind of work?

6)      What is your policy on system problems, as well as evenings and
        off-hours access to technical support?  Do you have a defined
        "standard of excellence"?  What if you don't meet it?  (If you're
        intending to use the account or access professionally, this is a
        critical question.  You then want to ask about service contracts,
        assurances of fix times, UPS equipment at headquarters, etc)

7)      If you are considering a leased line connection, does your provider
        have his or her own "AS" number?  (This allows a provider to
        "announce" your IP network to the rest of the net him or herself,
        without asking someone else to do so for you.)  If the answer is
        "yes", who do you peer with (ie: who will pick up the announced
        routes you advertise).

8)      Do you have NSFNet connectivity?  Can I, as a customer get it if
        I am willing to sign an AUP compliance document?

9)      Do you believe that if your provider of choice grows by 200% over
        six months (and if they're doing access right they very well
        may do so) that they will be able to support the growth?  Is there
        a defined, and believable, growth path?  Can your provider of
        choice articulate specifically what is on the horizon to manage
        this problem?

10)     If you're buying a Frame Relay Interconnect, what is the CIR of the
        line?  If its less than the line speed you are purchasing, what is
        the average load of the links in the path between me and the places
        I want to reach?  Is there a reason that you are running a CIR on
        this link of less than the line speed?

11)     What is your policy on the type of system and connection that I
        am and the use I intend to put this connection to?  Can I run a BBS
        on this link?  Can I resell connectivity?  Can I share my link with
        my friends?  Are there any restrictions on my use?  If so, what are
        they?

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Definitions


FTP     - File transfer protocol.  A commonly used Internet protocol to
          transfer files between Internet-connected computers.

Shell   - The Unix command interpreter.  Actually denotes any of several
          "shells", or command interpreters, including "csh", "ksh", "bash",
          "zsh" and others.  Also a type of account on a Public Access Unix
          system providing the user with the ability to use one of the
          system "shells".

Internet- A loose confederation of Service Providers, Corporations,
          Universities and Governments cooperating to provide networked
          access to the TCP/IP protocols which are made avaialble to users
          both within and outside of their respective boundaries.

PPP     - Point-to-Point protocol, used largely (but not exclusively) for
          low speed serial communications.  Can be and commonly is employed
          at up to T1 rates as well for leased circuit communications.
          Largely thought of as "faster" or more efficient than "SLIP", but
          this is actually untrue.

SLIP    - Serial Line IP; a very simple means of transferring IP protocol
          packets over asynchronous (ordinary serial) lines and modems.  In
          its most modern form, CSLIP (SLIP with Compressed headers) it is
          roughly equal in performance and efficiency to PPP.

TCP/IP  - A misnomer actually, the correct name for the protocols which run
          on the Internet is "IP".  "TCP/IP" is one of three common subparts
          of the IP protocol stack, the other two being "UDP" and "ICMP".

TCP     - A reliable, sequenced, connection-oriented data delivery protocol
          which is a part of the "IP" set.  Common uses for this protocol
          include FTP, Telnet, and SMTP (Internet email).

UDP     - An unreliable, unsequenced, connectionless data delivery protocol
          which is part of the "IP" set.  Common uses for this protocol
          include DNS (domain name resolution), NFS, NTP and other system
          services.

ICMP    - The "traffic cop" of the IP protocol stack, ICMP is used primarily
          to transmit information about the use of other protocols in the IP
          family. For example, an "ICMP host unreachable" message may be
          sent in response to attempting to access a host on the Internet
          which is offline.

Frame   - A connection form which is characterized by the interleaving of
Relay     many customer's packets on a given line in pre-defined "frames"
          of traffic.  A fairly common type of long-distance connection,
          and becoming increasingly so.  SEE ALSO CIR.

CIR     - Committed Information Rate.  On a frame relay connection, the
          rate at which you are guaranteed to be able to insert packets
          into the network.  It is possible from many carriers to purchase
          Frame Relay Service which has a CIR of less than the line rate.
          Example: You buy a 56kbps line, but it has a 16kbps CIR.  Thus
          you signal on the line at 56kbps, but you are only <guaranteed>
          16kbps throughput on your connection.  You may use up 56kbps only
          if the carrier has the bandwidth available.  Note that if you
          desire to use 56kbps of bandwidth but can only get 16kbps data
          may be dropped or queued, resulting in significant transmission
          delays over what you would originally expect.  Frame Relay service
          with a low CIR is almost always cheaper than traditional
          dedicated line service, but these are not really identical
          services since you may not be able to use all the bandwidth
          you might think you can.  To compare Frame Relay at 56kbps
          with a traditional dedicated 56kbps line and be truly equal,
          ask for the price of the link with a 56kbps CIR.


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This document was prepared by Macro Computer Solutions, Inc, and Karl
Denninger in the hope that it will be helpful in selecting an Internet
provider that meets your needs.  Free, unaltered distribution of this
document in electronic form is permitted and encouraged within the
following limits:

1)      You may not alter this document in any way, shape or form.

2)      You may not excerpt it or use it in promotional material for
        any Internet service.

3)      You may not obliterate or otherwise confuse the authorship of
        this document, or attempt to claim it as your own work.

4)      You may not sell, trade, or otherwise engage in the use of this
        document for commercial profit or monetary gain in any form.

5)      If you wish to print this document on a permanent media (paper, etc)
        or include it in any compilation, please contact us for permission.
        Within reasonable limits, we will permit this use.

Copyright 1994 Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. and Karl Denninger
All Rights Reserved.

To reach the author:    [e-mail]    - Email
                        312-248-8649    - Voice or fax

MCSNet is a CIX Member in Chicago providing Internet connectivity to
business and personal users.