Time limits to be placed on dial-in access account users

By ANDY MCILVAINE
Collegian Staff Writer

"I think that's very inconvenient," said Gers (senior-management science and information systems), an off-campus resident with a dial-in access account.

Students, faculty and staff who have dial-in access accounts, meaning they use a modem and a telephone to connect their computers with the University's computer network, are now limited to an hour of access at a time.

The time limit has been put in place because some users tie up the system by staying logged on to the University's modems when they do not need to be, said Jim Kerlin, deputy director of the Center for Academic Computing.

"It's not necessary to stay logged on to the modem when you're answering E-mail," Kerlin said. "The only time you need to be logged on to the modem is when you're transmitting and receiving, and that should only take a couple minutes."

Students using the modems to access the Internet should keep track of the time, Kerlin said. After 60 minutes, the system will automatically disconnect from the modems, and users will have to log back on to the system. The time limit is effective from noon to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, noon to 6 p.m. Fridays and 6 p.m. to midnight Sundays.

The University only has 128 modems to serve the approximately 47,000 students and faculty with access accounts, Kerlin said.

Although the congestion should ease a bit once the CAC completes installation of 64 additional modems, the time limit will remain in place indefinitely, Kerlin said.

"It's a matter of time management," he said.

The time limit does not apply to students who use the campus lab computers to navigate the information highway because those computers are wired directly to the University network.

Chuck Burg, who has a dial-in access account, thinks the new time limit could be an inconvenience for users.

"I use my account for downloading software, and that takes awhile sometimes," said Burg (senior-electrical engineering).

Although students living off campus who wish to access the University network from home must use the dial-in accounts, dorm dwellers can bypass the modems entirely by using an "individual backbone connection" along with an Ethernet card available from the CAC, Kerlin said.

Students who wish to use that service must verify that their computers have "10BASE-T Ethernet cards." If not, they may rent an Ethernet card from the CAC, he said.

"By taking advantage of this service, students will be able to use their access accounts without tying up phone lines and the modems," Kerlin said.

Most off-campus students will not have that option available to them in the near future. Several State College apartment rental agencies said they had plans for installing similar connections in individual apartments.

"We haven't thought about it as a marketing tool yet, although we may consider it in the future," said Diane Lindberg, manager of State College Park Apartments, 349 W. Clinton Ave. "We see more and more students coming in with their own computers."

Marc Lieberman, a computer lab attendant in the Sparks Building lab, thinks the time limit is a good idea.

"It can be a problem when all the modems are tied up with people using their access accounts," Lieberman said.