home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
Text File | 1993-07-25 | 6.2 KB | 160 lines | [TEXT/ttxt] |
-
-
- Text
- From:
- Subject:
- To:
-
- Introduction to Pacnet
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Pacnet is a service run by Telecon that lets you connect to a network that
- extends world wide. It has many benefits over regular toll calls.
-
-
- Some of the most important benefits are:
-
- 1) It's a lot cheaper. To call anywhere in New Zealand is around $2.50 per
- hour, plus 50c per 64k of data transferred in off peak times, or 70c
- per 64k on peak. This works out to about 4c per minute, compared with
- anything from 22c to 50c per minute via tolls. International calls work out at
- about 23c per minute, plus a charge of $13.70 per every 64k transferred. This
- compares favourably with the toll charge to most countries of $2.72 per minute.
-
- 2) There is less line noise. The national and international links are fully
- error corrected-the only line noise being introduced between your modem and the
- nearest Pacnet exchange. This is an essential if you are using a non
- error-correcting modem!
-
- 3) It's also lots more fun!
-
-
-
- Before you can use Pacnet you must have an NUI (Network User Identity). This
- is supplied to you upon applying for one at a Telecom branch.
-
-
- Connecting to Pacnet
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- To connect to Pacnet is toll free from anywhere in New Zealand. You dial a
- number relating to your baud rate.
- 1740 for 300 baud
- 1741 for 1200/75
- 1742 for 1200 baud
- 1743 for 2400 baud.
-
- The Pacnet PAD (for Packet Assembler/Disassembler) will respond with a message
- that says something like:
-
- PACNET AKL 021 PORT 14
-
- It will only be readible if you have your data format set to 7E1.
-
-
- NUAs (Network User Addresses)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- An NUA is simply a number which identifies to Pacnet the target system you are
- calling. You can think of it as being the telephone number of your target
- system. If the NUA has a zero as the first number then it is an international
- number. If not, it is a New Zealand number. Different prefixes identify
- different target countries. Some are listed below. (These prefixes are referred
- to as DNICS)
-
- France: 2080/02081/2624
- Germany: 2740
- Iceland (IcePak): 2680
- Portugal: 6550
- South Africa (SAPONET): 3134
- US (AT&T): 3110/03127
- US (SprintNet): 3106
- US (Tymnet): 5301
-
- If you see 05301 in front of an NUA then strip it off as it does not apply to
- calls within New Zealand. If you see an NUI with one of these prefixes without
- an 0 at the front, add one. It'll work a whole lot better!
-
- Some example NUAs are:
-
- National Library: 47000048
- Otago University: 24000016
- Uninet South Africa: 0655011101207
-
-
- Making a Pacnet Call
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- To instruct Pacnet to make a connection to a target system, you must use either
- of the two formats below.
-
- ?N<nui>-<nua> or ?R-<nua>
-
- For example, if your NUI was "MYNUI1234" to call the National Libary you would
- type: ?NMYNUI1234-47000048
-
- Unfortunately the National Libary requires a password before you can do
- anything.
-
-
- Reverse Charging
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- A system which accepts reverse charging means that you do not need an NUI to
- call it - either the target system pays the bill or Telecom do not charge for
- the connection.
-
- An example of a system which does not require an NUI is Government Print in
- Wellington. It's NUI is 47000028. To call it you use the second command format
- as listed above:
-
- ?R-47000028
-
- Unfortunately Govt. Print also requires a password before you can do anything.
-
-
- Data Format
- ~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- Pacnet itself uses a data format of 7E1 (7 data bits, even parity, 1 stop bit)
- However most BBS's you will be used to use a format of 8N1 (8 data bits, even
- parity). All Pacnets prompts are sent in 7E1, but Pacnet will accept commands
- in either format. You can also switch in mid call. Most systems on the network
- don't care which format you use, however many of the BBS s get very
- uncomfortable if you don't use 8N1.
-
-
- The Sort of Systems on Pacnet
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- Pacnet has all sorts of computers attached to it. Some are just normal
- bulletin boards like this one; some are university computers; some are business
- user systems such as Compuserve; some are databases such as GEnie, Dialog; and
- there are many more obscure systems on the net.
-
- Some examples follow.
-
- Paxus Faxnet - NUI=9500001313. This is a commercial system run by Paxus
- Services. It is of particular interest to people outside Auckland and
- Wellington as it allows you to dialout from the system to BBSs and other
- systems within those two cities, with the Pacnet bills much less than the toll
- bills to call those cities. It only costs $9 per month.
-
- Villa BBS - 0274011991000. This is just a regular BBS, in Iceland. It's an
- international number so it costs a lot more to call this system than it does to
- call New Zealand systems.
-
- Altos Munich - 026245890040004. This is a system in Germany. If you enter
- "guest" at the login prompt you can enter a conference system where you can
- chat to other users of the system. You may have to stay up quite late to do
- this though - they are about 11 hours behind us!
-
- Dartmouth Library - 031106030002007. This is the catalogue system of the
- Dartmouth Library. From here you can get information on all the books in their
- catalogue.
-
- Washington Post - 0310600584401. If you enter the password "kron" you can get a
- summary of all of the day's news stories, and by typing in the number of the
- story you can actually read it. Note that it is a breach of copyright to
- actually publish any of this material.
-
- There are of course many more-much of the joy of Pacnet is finding the most
- interesting ones out of the thousands on the net!