Seattle 56k, and Western WA...

[Robert Dinse <nanook@eskimo.com>]

     Several important tidbits of information to relate regarding Seattle 56k
access as well as 56k access in Western Washington.  A portion of this is
technical but the long and short is that 812-1399 is not being immediately
disconnected, and I am working on an alternate solution to that problem, the
problem of being able to provide direct terminal connections, dedicated access,
and more than one static IP in Western WA, and the problem of being able to
provide 56k/ISDN to areas east of Tacoma and Seattle that are too far east to
be local to Seattle/Tacoma. 

     First regarding the Seattle MegaPOP access situation:

     I am now being told that MegaPOP will >NOT< disconnect 812-1399 right
away.  They tell me that the issue is that they need to move anybody who CAN
use 299-0155 to that number because they can't get more lines from ELI
immediately and they can't use the 2nd POP to augment capacity in Everett and
Tacoma yet, so they need to move as many Seattle users who CAN use 299-0155 to
that number to free up circuits in the other POP for Everett and Tacoma.

     They also want to resolve issues with the second POP and that can't happen
unless people are using it.

     They tell me they have done a battery of tests and their testing reveals
nothing wrong with the second number when testing from Illinois (calling in
long distance), so they believe it is a telco issue.

     They want me to collect the originating numbers and times of failed calls
from people who are experiencing problem with the 206-299-0155 number.  If you
get any type of call failure or substantially lower connect rates (more than
2k), please let me know your originating number and the times that calls failed
so I can provide this information to them. 

     I personally do not believe it's a telco issue becuase I've seen this
pattern in every city in which Cisco comm servers have been installed.  Rather,
I believe they simply do not work under marginal line conditions, and in this
region local loops of 35,000 cable-feet and pair gain devices are not uncommon. 

     However, in order for them to arrive at a rational conclusion we need to
go through the process and supply them this information.  So please use
299-0155 in favor of 812-1399 if you can, and if anything goes wrong trying to
use 299-0155 be sure to include the number you are calling from and times that
calls failed in your trouble report.

     Second: Regarding future plans for Western Washington Dial Access

     I have decided that I want to build a Seattle 56k/ISDN POP to serve
Western Washington and replace all the existing V.34 lines.  There are a number
of contributing factors, the most significant of which is that a CLEC has made
an offer to me that would allow us to do this cost effectively.

     Another factor, MegaPOP is dragging their feet with respect to getting
service in some of the areas that we need, most significantly a Bellevue,
Buckley, and Enumclaw numbers so we can provide 56k/ISDN to all of our existing
dial access area.  The CLEC that I've talked to has service in Bellevue now and
will have in Buckley and Enumclaw in 30-60 days (which it would take that long
to get a POP in place anyway).

     This would also allow us to provide service in much of Western Washington
that we don't presently cover.

     My intent is to setup a Radius server for authentication, calls to our POP
will authenticate directly, MegaPOP calls will use Proxy-Radius
authentication, so the same authentication server with the same information
will serve both our own dial-ups and MegaPOP dialups.

     The intent here is to get rid of V.34 altogether except in as much as the
V.90 lines will support it, but get rid of the old analog modems, lines, and
communications servers and make 56k/ISDN available everywhere seemlessly.  Our
dial access customers will have access to both modem pools and the access will
be transparent in so far as PPP connections using PAP authentication are
concerned.

     However; Livingston PM-3's do have the ability to do PAP authentication
and then fall back to a menu, and it is my intent to use this capability to
provide the direct terminal connection capability that we have with our
existing v.34 modem pool.  So scripted logins will be different between MegaPOP
and our pool. 

     It is also my intent to use this POP to offer dedicated 56k and ISDN
connections in Western Washington with the ability to route multiple IP
addresses, something we presently can not do using MegaPOP. 

     All of that said; I'm looking for good deals on Livingston PM-3's equipped
with enough modem cards to cover 48 ports and an ISDN STAC compression card. 
I'm looking for a price lower than $100/port ($4800/unit or less).  I've seen
them go on E-bay for less than this on occasion.

     I haven't figured out how I am going to handle the data side of the POP
yet, whether I'm going to get seperate backbone, use frame relay to backhaul
here, or a combination of both.