From: hugh@ecotone.toad.com (Hugh Daniel)
Date: Wed, 18 May 94 08:51:05 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Notes on getting a business on the Internet
Message-ID: <9405181549.AA00436@ ecotone.toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain




  At the April San Francisco Bay Area Cypherpunks meeting I gave a
talk on what it takes to get a small business on the Internet to
provide some service.  Most of the talk was on very technical gnunk
dealing with telecom equipment & lines as well as finding and starting
up IP service.
  I have been asked many times for the notes, lists and tables I used
in the talk, so after (not enough) editing and some expansion so that
they would make some sense out of the context of the meeting here they
are.
  Do note the new section on Frame Relay, as I got updated on the
changes in Frame Relay after the April meeting.

		||ugh Daniel
		hugh@toad.com

#
#  notes.on.internet  --  A list of questions and resources.
#                     by  ||ugh Daniel <hugh@toad.com> 1994/04/09
#
#  RCSID $Id: notes.on.internet,v 1.6 1994/05/18 15:48:08 hugh Exp $
#
#  Copyright 1994 by Hugh Daniel
#  Permission is granted for non-profit net distribution.
#  Comments, questions, permission, consulting or correspondence works
# best with me over the net, use hugh@toad.com or hugh@xanadu.com.  I
# I can also be reached via telephone at +1 415 473 0669 or by snail
# mail via:  
# Hugh Daniel, 210 Clayton Street, San Francisco, California 94117-1914


		Getting_your_biz_on_the_Internet


  If you are thinking of doing that bright new network business idea of
yours, here are a few questions to lead you through some of the maze that
is the networking world of today.  Mostly this note focuses on one of the
middle parts of the problem, getting your self on the net in such a way
that you can provide that great new network service.
  There are many ways to get on today's Internet, and things are
changing fast, what was a good idea or product last month is often the
slow dumb way to do things this month.  Keep asking questions, watch
out for new services and tariff's as they might be much better or
cheaper that what you are planing right now, even if you got it out of
these notes!
  Note that you might be able to buy the networking services you need
from a vendor currently on the net, and this note does not deal with
that.  You can likely also find someone, maybe in the role of a consultant,
who can help you do much of this work, this can be a very valuable
service. 
  After you are on the net there is much left to do, and hopefully there
are a few useful pointers here to get you going in the right direction.
  This file was built out of my notes for a talk given in April 1994
about how to get a small business on the Internet and providing a
service.  Remember that its usefulness and your mileage will vary.
  Good luck!

* Contents
	Getting Hooked Up
		Get your idea and business structure together first
		Decide whom your first target market should be
		What sort of connection do you/they need to each other?
		Which IP provider do you want to buy from?
		Questions to ask prospective IP providers
		Netiquette
		Provide information about your service via the net itself!
	Resources
		An example of comparing IP providers
		Frame Relay
		Acronym's
		Phone number de-construction
		Leased line providers in the SF Bay Area
		SF Bay Area IP providers
		Some National IP Providers
		Useful Books and Readings
		Government
		Service Providers
		Datacom Hardware
		Beam Cast & Broad Cast systems
		PacBell ISDN Questionnaire
		Online Resources
			UseNet NetNews Groups
		Telecommunications speeds
	

*  Getting Hooked Up

**  Get your idea and business structure together first

	If you do not know what you want to do, then you will be lost
from the get-go.  Write up your idea, see if others get the idea,
ask them if they would buy (don't stop if they say no, but this gives
you an idea who your market is and is not).
	Your biz idea needs to be clear to yourself, as you will need
to explain it to many folks along the way (like the folks who are
working for you trying to do it!).
	Get your business act together, in the USA this can seem (and
likely is) a huge waste of time and effert, but having a structure
that you can work with as things grow is important.  It just might
keep the government off your back as well.

**  Decide whom your first target market should be

	Do you have the software?, networking protocols?
	Do they have the money to pay?
	Etc.	

**  What sort of connection do you/they need to each other?

	Look at whom you wish to serve with what.
		Where are they?
		How are you going to reach them?
		What do they already know how to do?
		How far can you push them (new tech.) before they burn out?
		Will they buy faster modems/ISDN/FRAD's to talk to you?

**  Which IP provider do you want to buy from?

	Ok, you have thought about things and decided that you need to
put your shiny new service on the Internet your self.  Now you have to
decide on whom to purchase your IP feed from, and that can be tricky
to say the least.
	Here are some questions to ask your self, and then some more
to ask of IP providers, phone company etc.

*** Questions to ask yourself first:

	Do you know enough to run your own Box (Un*x or what ever) at
		as commercial service?
	Do you know enough about networks, firewalls, telecom and the
		like to do set this up?
	Do you understand overbooking?  (It's standard in networking)
	What sites are best for a POP?  Is it near a RBOC CO?
	What city's have the largest local area coverage?
	What types services might you be providing, what data rates.
		Interactive? Batch? Client/Server? FrontEnd/BackEnd?
	Do you understand Through put vs. instantaneous transfer rate.
		(100K per hour vs. Latency, say 56K=10ms or T1=3ms,)
	Do you know how to set up a secure, stable, central POP?
	Do you need a Service Provider or a Network IP Provider.
		Some things can be done just fine at a service (they
		run a machine for you on the Internet).
	Are you willing to learn enough to do all this?
	Know you major wire telecom methods:
		Modem
			300bps thorough 28.8k bps
			dial-up or full time
		Leased line
			56k bps or T1
		ISDN
			2B+D 64k, 112k, 128k, 142k
		Frame Relay
			56, 128, 348, 512, T1 (Pacific Bell)
		Beyond common `current' Needs...
			T3/DS3, FDDI, ATM/SONET, X.25, BeamCast
	Now go shopping for a:
		IP Provider
		Wire (Leased Line, Microwave, etc.)
		POP (secure room)
	judge on:
		contract
			Can you do what you biz needs under this contract?
		price
			Is the products value to your biz worth the cost?
		support:
			Structure  (Do they have an organization that can
				handle both executive and technical problems
				so that you have little or no down time?)
			Do they have skilled People
			Do they provide Guarantees? (a guarantee says that
				if they screw up you get something beyond
				"sorry", the service is backed up with 
				more then the sales persons word.)

	Before calling around for hardware, leased lines and IP do
		your homework, read up in NetNews, some of the books
		and poke around some of the better WWW and FTP servers
		educating your self.  (See later in this file for some
		useful references.)  You will ask better questions.

*** Questions to ask prospective IP providers:

		--- Wiring questions:
		Where is your nearest POP to my site?
		Do you have a 24 hour staffed trouble hot line?
		What is your trouble reporting and tracking system?
		How far is it from my wall plug to first point where a
			single point failure will NOT interrupt
			my service from you?
		Will you provide both a logical and physical a map of
			your IP interconnect to other the IP networks?
		--- IP questions:
		Do you provide the leased line, DSU/CSU, and/or IP router?
			(Some will sell/lease these to you for extra $$)
		Do you require that I have a certain DSU/CSU or Modem?
		Do you require that my gateway router be from some vendor?
		How many routes will you advertise to the net for me?
		Can your system route the MBONE to our router?
		Do you have any restrictions on how I use my IP feed?
		Are you a CIX member?
		Do you have a WWW/FTP or gopher site?
		Do you have email to your NOC, sales or executive employs?
		--- Contract questions:
		What service guarantees do you provide?
		Under what circumstances will you pull my IP feed?
		Will you email/www/snailmail a copy of the IP service
			contract now (so you can pick nits in it and
			maybe ask them to CHANGE it for you!)?
		What is your policy on overbooking of bandwidth, when will
			you put in more bandwidth to me if my line if way
			too overbooked?
		How much is the install price of <56K, T1, etc.> service?
		How much is the monthly price of <56K, T1, etc.> service?
		Do you have alternative payment plans (pay ahead,
			pay install costs over X months, etc.)?
		Which (if any) PUC tariff is this service offered under?

	Do more homework, is there a better tariff that your PUC forces
		your phone company to sell but they did not tell you
		about?
	Build a spread sheet of the possible, make your choices.
	Sign your contracts for POP space, leases lines, IP etc.
	Make sure you have more then one person who can get into
		the POP to fix things, 24hours a day even!
	Remember now that physical security is the first step to a
		secure and well run system.
	Time to Buy things for your POP:
		VOM Tester
		DSU/CSU
		Router
		Service Box (UNIX, terminal servers, etc.)
		UPS
		Remote control
		Rack
		Fire Extinguisher.
		Lots of cables
		Labeler gun

	Register your self with the DNS.
	Getting things up can take days, allow time for it.
	Get your service machine up.
	Do your first security pass BEFORE your net connection comes up.
	Now is the time to install crypto protocol services.
	Do a backup BEFORE you get on the net...
	Get your connection up, trace wire problems from the ends in.
	Get IP packets flowing, routing.
	Test your IP throughput, know what its parameters are as your line
		may never be this idle again.
	Get your email working first, you need these aliases:
		postmaster
		info
	  and your users will likely want:
		admin
		support
	Get your WWW working (or advertise else how on the net).
		Get listed on the various WWW Biz pages:
			http://www.eit.com/demos/storefronts.html
			http://tns-www.lcs.mit.edu/commerce.html
	Get listed in the IBP (Internet Biz Pages) (info@msen.com)
	Do backups.
	Tune into Net Culture, there are some netnews groups with
		cultural norms, read up on them now:
		news.announce.important
		news.announce.newusers
	Constantly test your service, as it's better you find a problem
		that to have a user report it.  Use it your self, in
		the same way your users would.
	Make every customer very happy...
	Join the EFF.
	Sell your service, provide value and reap profits from a job
		well done.
	Use Free Strong Cryptology!
	

**  Get your your self on the net, learn its ways (Netiquette)

	Get on a Usenet site and read the postings in
news.announce.newusers, it is full of useful information on good
Netiquette.  You can do this by buying a shell or other type of
account that gives you access to the net for email and netnews,
downloading etc. before your biz is on the net.

**  Provide information about your service via the net itself!

	Check out the Usenet biz.* groups, this is where you can do
business on the Usenet, like advertise your services and/or products.
	Check out the various WWW servers that have lists of commercial
internet WWW sites, see if you can get yours added.  Places currently
doing such things are eit.com, the GNN (ora.com) and msen.com.
	Check out the lists of lists and as the -owner's of lists that
are related to your biz if it's ok to post an informative message
about your service.  Ask (politely!)that a reference to your biz be
added to the lists FAQ if any.


*	Resources

  Here are some random notes, tables and lists that might help you
find things you will need.  Most of this is targeted to the San
Francisco Bay Area, as that is where I have been doing consulting on
these topics, though the basic ideas are useful no matter where you
are doing telecom.

**  An example of comparing IP providers

  Below is some info that I collected in the process of setting up
a site to go in the internet.  First there is an example of collecting
and comparing some of the data gathered.
  There there are several sections of useful information that follow.



--------  Example Internet Service (IP/TCP) Q&A array -------------------------
Quest/Whom     |TLG	Sprint	BARRNet	Alter	Netcom	ANS	PSI	CERFnet
---------------+---------------------------------------------------------------
Called         |
  on date      |	02/29	02/29	02/29	02/29	never	never	never
  status       |	yes	message	message	message
  responded on |*1	Mar-03		Mar-03	Mar-07
               |
Nearest POP    |MV	SJ		SJ	SJ
               |
Whos Equipment |
Near DSU/CSU   |cust	either		cust	netcom
Far  DSU/CSU   |cust	either?		alter	netcom
Near Router    |cust	either		cust	netcom
Far  Router    |TLG	Sprint		alter	netcom
Whos LeasedLine|Cust	Sprint		Alter	cust
               |
Service	       |
24hour HotLine |Nope	Yes		Yes	Yes
               |
SellDownStream |Yes	Yes		No	No
               |
56K Install    |$1500	$ 750		$   0	$1995
56K Monthly    |$ 325	$1000		$ 795	$ 400
               |
T1 Install     |$1600	$1000		$5000	$6000
T1 Monthly     |$ 800	$2700		$1250	$1000
               |
Totals:        |---------------------------------------------------------------
	       |

  *1  ==  All TLG info was on the tlg WWW/FTP server and it took 
	  only minutes to get all the info needed except leased line
	  info, which had to come from GTE & PacBell in my example.

-------- DSU/CSU line drivers (Modem like things) ----------------------------
Speeds		Company		Model		Price
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T1		Tylink		ONS-150		$1200 each
56K		Motorola			$500
56K		BAT				$250

-------- IP Routers ----------------------------------------------------------
Company		Product		Price
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Livingston	IRX	
Cisco		(any)		(high end, with quality)

-------- Terminal Servers ----------------------------------------------------
Company		Product
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Livingston	2 & 2e
Cisco		(any)		(high end, with quality)

--------  Example Leased (digital) lines prices  -----------------------------
Quest		TLG	Sprint	BarNet	AlterNet
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nearest POP	MV	??	??	??

Mileage		14

PacBell
ADN0 56K
Install		$1240	
Monthly		$184.10	
Delay		17wkd

ADN1 T1
Install		$2648
Monthly		$794.18
Delay		1wkd

POP		444
Mileage		36?

MFS
ADN 56K
Install	$675.00
Monthly		$327.15

ADN1 T1
Install		$813.50
Monthly		$1038.51

POP		55 S.Market SJ
Mileage	

MFS
ADN1 T1
Install		$1140.30
Monthly		$455.31

Sprint
POP			SanJose
ADN0 56k
Install			$935
Monthly			$327.87

ADN1 T1
Install			$1699
Monthly			$1074


--------  Leased Lines
	PacBell leased line pricing (new for 1994 it seems!):
	$6 per mile.  Node (each end point) $50.05
	Some credits might be given back to you via some CPUC Mandated
	rebates.

**	Frame Relay

	  This section is totally new to these notes, and is likely to
	be new even to many folks who have been doing leased line
	and other methods of getting IP moved about, as PacBell has
	just gotten a new tariff on Frame Relay services, making them
	much more useful (and affordable, all this as of early 1994).
	  Frame Relay used to be cost effective only if you had many
	sites that were far (over 50 miles) apart from each other.
	Now it seems that if you have three sites, most any distance
	from each other other then Frame Relay is likely for you.
	  Quickly, Frame Relay is a system that lets you have a
	digital line (it's really a leased line) more directly into
	the phone company's digital transmission cloud then a leased
	line.  You pay for a single line into each site you want to
	wire ONCE, and then pay for routing to each other site in
	your group of Frame Relay drops.  You get one bill for N
	sites, and it is simpler for the RBOC to deal with too (both
	on a billing and on a technical level).
	  You will need to get a Frame Relay capable router (Frame
	Relay is its own protocol) sometimes called a FRAD, these are
	about $2000, but some of the standard IP routers already know
	how to deal with Frame Relay.
	  Here are the current prices that I think PacBell is charging
	as of 1994/05.  There are three parts to the charges, #1 is
	the leased line you have to rent from your site to PacBell,
	though it seems they do NOT change per mile for this.  #2 is
	the cost of Frame Relay its self, and #3 is the cost of them
	adding more entry to their routing tables.  Note that #3 is
	very small unless you want to have many sites DIRECTLY talking
	to many other sites, if you go though a few hubs you can keep
	the cost down.
	  As of right now there are no time user or per packet
	charges for this service.

	Service
	Costs:		Startup		Monthly
	---------------------------------------------------
	#1 Local Access Line (your leased line into the data cloud)
	56Kbps		$ 620.00	$  50.05
	1.536Mpbs	$1,324.00	$ 162.59

	#2 Network Port Connections (Frame Relay its self)
	56Kbps		$ 375.00	$  75.00
	128Kbps		$ 375.00	$ 150.00
	384Kbps		$ 375.00	$ 400.00
	1.536Mbps	$ 375.00	$ 500.00

	#3 Data Link Connection Identifiers (routing table entry)
	1				$ ---.-- (No Charge)
	2-6				$  15.00
	7-11				$  10.00
	12+				$   5.00

	  Lets do a quick example.  I have 4 sites I want to hookup on
	my own little net.  I want T1 between Site A and B, 384Kbps
	between site B and C, and 56Kbps between Site B and D.  I want
	the high speed ports to talk directly to each other, but the
	low speed port to just talk to the B hub site.  So I get:

Service	 		Units @		Startup		Units @	Monthly
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
#1
3 T1 leased lines	$1,324.00	$3,972.00	$162.59	$  487.77
1 56K leased line	$  620.00	$  620.00	$ 50.05 $   50.05

#2
2 T1 Frame Relay Ports	$  375.00	$  750.00	$500.00 $1,000.00
1 384Kbps FR Port	$  375.00	$  375.00	$400.00 $  400.00
1 56Kbps FR Port	$  375.00	$  375.00	$ 75.00	$   75.00

#3
1 3 DLCI Ports (site B talk directly to A,C,D)		$ 15.00	$   15.00
2 2 DLCI Ports (sites A & C talk to A,B,C)		$ 15.00 $   15.00
1 1 DLCI Port  (site D talks only to B)			$  0.00	$    0.00
-------------- Totals ---------------------------------------------------
					$6,092.00		$2,042.82

	You will have to add in the cost of a DSU/CSU (now called a
	TSU) at each site.  If you want to make a change (say run the
	384Kbps line up to T1) just making the change costs $30.00.

	  You will want to compare such these numbers to the cost and
	pain of installing 4 separate leased lines, more DSU/CSU's etc.


**	Acronym's

ADN	=  Advanced Digital Network
ASCII	=  American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ATM	=  Asynchronous Mode Transfer
CCITT	=  Consultive Committee for International Telephone and Telegraph
CDS	=  Circuit Digital Service (CDS 56)
CIX	=  Commercial Internet eXchange
CO	=  Central Office (phone company switching building near you)
CPE	=  Customer Premise Equipment
CPUC	=  California Public Utilities Commission
CSU	=  Customer Service Unit (now allays DSU/CSU)
Cust	=  Customer
DAML	=  Digital Access Multi Line (Field T1 Phone Mux unit)
DDS	=  Digital Data Service
DLCI	=  Data Link Connection Identifiers (FR routing table entry)
DS0	=  Data service grade 0 (56kbps line)
DS1	=  Data service grade 1 (1.544mbps line)
DS3	=  Data service grade 3 (45mbps line)
DSU	=  Digital Service Unit (now always DSU/CSU)
E1	=  A 3.088 mbit/sec channel?
FCC	=  Federal Communications Commission
FDDI	=  Fiber Distrubited Digital Interface
FRAD	=  Frame Relay Access Device?
FTP	=  File Transfer Protocol (runs on top of TCP)
HDLC	=  High-Level Data Link Control
IP	=  Internetworking Protocol (TCP/IP)
ISDN	=  Integrated Services Digital Network
Kbps	=  Kilo (base 2) bits per second (x 1,024)
LAN	=  Local Area Network (1-2 kilometers)
LATA	=  Local Area TA? (Baby Bell monopoly region)
M&P	=  Methods and Practice (Standard Operating Procedures)
MAN	=  Metro Area Network (10's of kilometers)
Mbps	=  Mega Bits Per Second (base 2) (x 1,024,000)
MBONE	=  Multicast BackBone (Protocol suite on top of IP, also a Net)
MPO	=  Minimum POint of entry (the RBOC wire closet in the basement)
MTBF	=  Mean Time Before Failure (or Between Failures)
NNX	=  N=2-9 X=0-9 == Old pre +1 exchanges
NOC	=  Network Operations Center
NPA	=  Numbering Plan Area == Area Code
NXX	=  N=2-9 X=0-9 == Modern (post +1) Exchange 
PAN	=  Planetary Area Networks (1000's of kilometers)
POP	=  Point of Presents
POTS	=  Plain Old Telephone Service
PPS	=  Public Packet Switched (PacBells term for there X.25 network)
PRI	=  Primary Rate Interface (T1 bulk feed for 24 ISDN B channels)
PUC	=  Public Utilities Commission
PVC	=  Permanent Virtual Circuit
RBOC	=  Regional Bell Operating Company's (Baby Bells)
RFC	=  Request For Comment (Internet Tech standards)
SAN	=  System Area Networks (10's of light hours)
SDS	=  Switched Digital Service (SDS 56)
SMDS	=  Switched Multi-MegaBit Digital Service
SNA	=  Systems Networking Architecture (IBM WAN technology)
SONET	=  Synchronous Optical NETwork?
T1	=  A 1.544 mbit/sec channel
T3	=  A 45 mbit/sec channel
TCP	=  Transmission Control Protocol (TCP/IP)
TDM	=  Time Division Multiplexing
TSU	=  Terminal Service Unit (a DSU/CSU)
UDP	=  User Datagram Protocol (a protocol on top of IP)
V.35	=  A almost never used specification for 48kbit modems
V.35	=  Serial Line software/hardware protocol (something like RC232C)
WAN	=  Wide Area Network (100's of kilometers)
WDM	=  Wavelength Division Multiplexing
WWW	=  World Wide Web (One-Way HyperText protocol suite)
X.25	=  Old packet switching system
baud	=  discrete signaling events/sec (used wrong, you want to use bps)
bps	=  Bits Per Second
gbit	=  Billion (giga) Bits Per Second
kbit	=  Thousand (kilo) Bits Per Second
mbit	=  Million (mega) Bits Per Second
sec	=  Second, 1/60 of a minute
wkd	=  Workings Days (Monday through Friday)


**	Phone number de-construction

	POTS, Plain Old Telephone Service
	Phone numbers in the USA have these components:

		 +<country code> <area code> <exchange> <line>

	or if you live at the phone company:

		+<??> <NPA> <NXX> <line>

	an example:

		+1 415 555 1212

	remember other country's have different systems (bogus British
	example):

		+44 20 22 2121

  The idea behind the plus (+) format is that there were a lot
of formats for phone numbers that were different even if the phone
number format was the same, folks just like doing their own, and this
was confusing.  The plus format is simple, a plus followed by the
country code followed by the phone number.
  So to dial a random phone number you look at the +??? country code,
if you are not in that country then you will need to dial a
international access code (different depending on where you are) and
then everything after the +.
  An example:  If I am in the USA and have to call +44 22 234 3213,
then I would have to dial 011 (connects me into the international
phone net) and then the country code 44, and then the phone number 22
234 3213 and if I wanted to be really fancy I could dial a # to tell
the phone company that I was done with the number (no more digits).

**	Leased line providers in the SF Bay Area

Metropolitan Fiber Systems	(+1 415 362 3300) <>
Pac Bell			(+1 800 974 2355) <>
GTE				(+1 800 487 5000) <>


**	SF Bay Area IP providers

SprintNet		(+1 415 357 5500) <>
BarrNet			(+1 415 725 1790) <info@barrnet.net>
AlterNet		(+1 703 204 8000) <alternet-info@uunet.uu.net>
Netcom			(+1 408 554 8649) <info@netcom.com>
ScruzNet		(+1 408 457 5050) <info@scruz.net>
NorthBayNet		(+1 415 472 1600) <info@nbn.com>
Internex		(+1 415 473 3060) <internex@internex.net>
Wombat Internet Guild	(+1 415 462 8800) <>

**	Some National IP Providers
	AlterNet	Service area: 	US and international
		Contact:	Alternet Sales
		Voice:		800-4UUNET3, 703-204-8000
		email:		alternet-info@uunet.uu.net
		FTP more info:	ftp.uu.net:~info/alternet

	ANS CO+RE Systems, Inc.
		Service area: 	US and international
		Contact:	Inside Sales
		Voice:		800-456-8267, 313-663-7610
		email:		info@ans.net
		FTP more info:	ftp.ans.net:/pub

	BARRNet       Service area: 	Northern & Central California
		Contact:	R.J. Goldberg
		Voice:		415-723-7003, 415-322-0602
		email:		info@barrnet.net
		FTP more info:	ftp.barrnet.net

	CERFnet	Service area: 	California and International
		Contact:	Sales Manager
		Voice:		800-876-2373, 619-455-3900
		email:		help@cerf.net
		FTP more info:	nic.cerf.net

	Global Enterprise Services
	 	Service area: 	US and International
		Contact:	Marketing Dept
		Voice:		800-35-TIGER
		email:		market@jvnc.net
		FTP more info:	N/A

	InterNex Information Services Services inc.
		Service_area:	Palo Alto/San Jose California
		Voice:		(+1 415 473 3060)
		Services:	IP over ISDN, WWW homing,

	MSEN
		Service area:	Michigan
		Voice:		+1 313 998 4562
		Fax:		+1 313 998 4563
		Snail:		320 Miller Ave. Ann Arbor MI 48103
		WWW more info:	www.msen.com

	NETCOM On-Line Communication Services, Inc.
	 	Service area: 	Nationwide
		Contact:	Desirree Madison
		Voice:		408-554-8649 x2603
		email:		info@netcom.com
		FTP more info:	ftp.netcom.com

	PSINet	Service area: 	US  and International
		Contact:	Inside Sales
		Voice:		800-827-7482, 703-620-6651
		email:		info@psi.com
		FTP more info:	ftp.psi.com, cd ~

	SprintLink	Service area: 	US
		Contact:	Bob Doyle
		Voice:		703-904-2167
		email:		bdoyle@icm1.icp.net
		FTP more info:	N/A

	The Little Garden
		Service area: 	Northern California
		Contact:	Tom Jennings (admin@tlg.org)
		Voice:		+1 415 487 1902
		email:		info@tlg.org
		FTP more info:	ftp.tlg.org
		WWW more info:	www.tlg.org

**	Useful Books and Readings

	"Connecting to the Internet"
		by Susan Estrada
		published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
		ISBN	1-56592-061-9

	"The Online User's Encyclopedia: Bulletin Boards and Beyond"
		by Bernard Aboba
		published by Addison-Wesley
		ISBN 0-201-62214-9

	"Practical Internetworking with TCP/IP and UNIX"
		by John S. Quarterman and Smoot Carl-Mitchell
		published by Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1993)

	"DNS and BIND"
		by Paul Albitz & Gricket Liu
		published by O'Reilly & Accosiates
		ISBN 1-565692-101-4

**	Government

	  Much of the telecommunications system of the USA is still
	controlled by government, so many of the services of your RBOC
	are what they have been told to give you, which is often
	different from what the RBOC's would like to sell you and even
	more different from what you want.
	  There are two bodys that control most of the telecom in the
	USA, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and your
	states PUC (Public Utility's Commission, here in California its
	the CPUC).
	  Note that it is always interesting to go and READ the
	tariffs, as often you will find great deals in them the the
	RBOC's don't advertise...
	
	CPUC:
	General Information	+1 415 703 1282, +1 800 848 5580
	Complaints		+1 415 703 1170

	CPUC Tariffs:
	CPUC B5		ADN lines
	CPUC B9		High Capacity (T1 and the like)
	CPUC A18	Frame Relay?
	CPUC 175	More T1 stuff

	FCC:
	FCC-128		Cheaper leased line rates for out of state traffic


**	Service Providers

	  Here is a list of company's who provide various services on
	the internet: shell accounts, www pages homing, email,
	tele-conferencing and what ever the market can bare.  
	
	Access InfoSystems
		Voice:		(+1 707 442 1034)
		Email:		info@commnuity.net
		Service_Area:	Solano County (NE of the SF Bay area)
		Services:	Internet Access, UseNet, IP, WWW pages
				Maillist, MUDs, etc.

	CCnet
		Service_Area:	Contra Costa County (E of the SF Bay area)
		Voice:		+1 510 988 0680
		Email:		info@ccnet.com

	The Well
		Services:	Unix Shell Accounts, UUCP, Internet access,
				conferencing, UseNet
		Service_Area:	Local to SF, Berkeley, Marin.
				Nationally via CPS network.
		Voice:		+1 415 332 4335
		Email:		info@well.com

	Netcom
	Msen
	Internex
		See above.


**	Datacom Hardware

	Capella Networking
		Voice:		+1 415 591 3400
		Service:	Sells telecom equipmemt.

	Morning Star Technologies Inc.
		Voice:		(+1 614 451 1883) (+1 800 558 7827)
		Online:		www.morningstar.com or ftp.morningstar.com
		Service:	

	Livingston Enterprises
		Voice:		+1 800 458 9966
		Service:	Manufactures network routers and
				terminal servers.

	Cisco Systems
		Voice:		+1 415 326 1941 or +1 800 553 6387
		FAX:		+1 415 326 1989
		Online:		http://www.cisco.com
		Service:	Manufactures network routers and
				terminal servers.


**	Beam Cast & Broad Cast systems

	  More work needs to be done on private Beam and Broad cast
	systems.  The state of the art (or at least it's use by us
	Internetworkers) is maybe a decade behind our use of leased
	lines, and we NEED this stuff.
	  Here are some buzzwords to get you dreaming...

	Packet Radio
	IR Laser
	Mircowave
	Spread Spectrum
		  There are some cool .8W SS Raido modems that can do
		1.3Mbit over short distances (~5 miles) I have herd
		rumors of from Cylink?)

	Cylink corp.
		Voice:		+1 408 735 5800


**	PacBell ISDN Questionare

	From: Rob Rustad <info-isdn@pacbell.com>
	Newsgroups: ba.internet
	Subject: PACIFIC BELL - ISDN FOR CALIFORNIA INTERNET USERS
	Date: 29 Apr 1994 00:08:44 GMT
	Organization: Pacific Bell
	Lines: 108
	Distribution: world
	Message-ID: <2ppj6c$isv@gw.PacBell.COM>
	NNTP-Posting-Host: rjrusta.srv.pacbell.com
	Mime-Version: 1.0
	Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
	Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
	X-UserAgent: Nuntius v1.1.1d27
	X-XXMessage-ID: <A9E590CAE00432F4@rjrusta.srv.pacbell.com>
	X-XXDate: Thu, 28 Apr 94 16:11:54 GMT
	
	PACIFIC BELL - ISDN FOR CALIFORNIA INTERNET USERS
	
	Hi.  To better serve you, we at Pacific Bell are attempting to forecast
	demand 
	for ISDN services within the Internet community of California.  We would 
	like to accelerate deployment of our digital services, but we need help
	in 
	determining the level of future interest and need for those services
	among 
	our California customers.  Our current plan is to offer digital services
	to 
	virtually all of our customers by 1997, but we would like to provide them 
	sooner where a need exists.
	
	We would like to hear directly from you regarding your needs for higher 
	speed digital access (digital 56kbps and above) to the Internet and other
	on-
	line services.  The most important information for us is the area code
	and 
	prefix of the telephone number(s) for which you probably would want ISDN 
	services.  
	
	Please help us by filling out any or all of the form below and e-mailing
	it to 
	isdn-info@pacbell.com.
	-----------------------------------------------------------------------
	--------------
	To:  isdn-info@pacbell.com
	
	Subject: ISDN Services
	
	Yes, I would like Pacific Bell to be able to offer me ISDN.
	
	Area Code: xxx
	
	Prefix (first three digits of your seven digit telephone number): xxx
	
	I would like to be able to communicate digitally with (IP Provider, other
	On-
	line Service, my company LAN,  other):______________
	
	Time frame - (ASAP, within 6 months, within 2 years): ____________
	
	Other:
	
	-----------------------------------------------------------------------
	--------------
	The information you provide will be strictly confidential and you will
	not be 
	contacted by Pacific Bell unless you indicate in your message that we may 
	contact you.
	
	For additional help:
	
	! isdn-info@pacbell.com
	
	! 510-277-1037 - BBS with ISDN Information.
	
	! Pacific Bell Gopher Server is available with ISDN information.
	
	! 800-995-0346 - ISDN Availability Hotline (automated audio response)
	
	! 800-662-0735 - ISDN Telemarketing (ordering information - please bear
	in 
	mind, these people have no information on "pending" products like Home 
	ISDN)
	
	Pacific Bell ISDN Basics:
	Pacific Bell has two ISDN Basic Rate Services to choose from -- SDS ISDN, 
	Centrex ISDN.  A third, Home ISDN, is a proposed product scheduled for 
	availability on 8/2/94.  All three provide circuit switched end-to-end
	digital 
	connectivity for customers at speeds up to 112 kbps.  Currently, over 60%
	of 
	California has access to ISDN services.
	
	SDS ISDN
	Monthly Service:                $26.85*
	Installation:                   $70.75**
	Usage: usage is billed at regular business voice rates on a per B-Channel
	basis
	* this price will be lowered to $22.85 on 8/2/94.
	** a $150 installation fee is waived for a 2 year service commitment.

Centrex ISDN
Monthly Service:                $31.65
Installation                    $225.00***
Usage: usage is flat-rated within the Centrex account.  Outside the
Centrex 
usage is billed at regular business rates.
	*** Centrex Establishment Charges apply for new systems $200.

Home ISDN(Proposed)****
Monthly Service:                $22.95
Installation                    $40.00
Usage: billed at regular business rates Mon-Fri 8am-5pm.  All other time, 
zone 1 and 2 usage is flat-rated.
	**** proposed tariff pending CPUC approval, sales effective date
estimated to 
be 8/2/94.

ISDN Terminal Equipment:  prices for ISDN terminal equipment have been 
dropping over the last year.  It is currently possible to purchase a PC
card, NT1 
and power supply for under $500 that allows you to communicate at 112kbps 
uncompressed.  For purposes of communicating over the Internet, it will
be 
important to coordinate with your IP provider.

	

**	Network Resources

  Here are some good WWW and FTP sites to explore on the net, looking
though these sites can give you an idea of what networking is turning
into.

	www.msen.com		Good site to explore, lots of info
	www.tlg.org		Good site to explore, lots of info
	ftp.tlg.org		(same as the www.tlg.org site)
	ftp.netcom.com		List of IP services /pub/miperrey/???
	www.eit.com		List of commercial services
	ftp.internic.net	RFC's, policies and procedures files
	www.cisco.com		Lots of good info on networking
	gw.pacbell.com		Gopher site with digital telecom info.
	www.pacbell.com		WWW Interface to the gopher site.

***	UseNet NetNews Groups

ba.internet
	  Questions and announcement about accessing and using the 
	internet in one of it's hottest hotbeds, the San Francisco
	Bays Areas

comp.dcom.*
	  Computer Data Telecom, each of the groups in this sub-tree
	deals with a different aspect of digital telecom.

	comp.dcom.telecom
	comp.dcom.telecom.tech
		  General telecom questions, answers and talk on
		issues from the cheapest long distance service to
		what billing software interfaces to what phone
		switches. 

	comp.dcom.modems
		  Every stupid question (and some *real* good ones)
		you ever wanted asked and answered about modems.

alt.dcom.telecom
alt.dcom.telecom.ip
	  These two groups are much like the comp.dcom.* groups,
	though 	a lot more free from and with information on telecom
	from parts of the world outside of the USA.

biz.comp.services
biz.comp.hardware
	  The biz groups are where you can talk about services (ie.
	shamelessly advertise your service!).  A good place to find
	products to use (hardware) or places that might do some of the
	work for you (services).

alt.internet.services
	  A great place to find out about what services are out there
	on the net already.  Lots of talk about how services work,
	what are the different access methods, how to stop or start
	flame wars...
	  
comp.internet.*
	  This is where internet protocols, usage and even its
	future are gone over an over and over...

alt.security
	  As Vernor Vinge said, it's "the net of a thousand lies...".
	Cyberspace needs to be secure, and here is one forum that goes
	into security of the net and the machines on it.


**	Telecommunications speeds

	  The first time I gave a talk based on these notes I spent
	close to a third of the time going over the various physical
	communications methods, modems, leased lines, fiber, beam and
	broad cast systems, and then the data standards you can run
	over these media.  It seems that folks are very interested how
	how the basic telecom happens, but get very confused over all
	the possibilities.
	  To attempt to clear things up a little here is a table of
	many of the  various current methods of digital data telecom:

Bits/Second     Nick Names	Wire Method	Telecom Protocol
-------------------------------------------------------------------
             0	Direct Current, little interesting data transmission...
            50					50-600 are very old
            75
	   110
           134
           134.5
           150
           200
           300			POTS Modem	Bell 103, V.21
           600
         1,200	1200 baud	POTS Modem	Bell 212A, V.22
         1,800
         2,400	2400 baud	POTS Modem	V.22bis
         4,800	4.8 Kbps	POTS Modem 	V.32, V.32bis
         7,200			POTS Modem 	V.32bis
         9,600	9.6 Kbaud	POTS Modem	V.32, V.32bis
        12,000			POTS Modem 	V.32bis
        14,400	14.4 Kbaud	POTS Modem	V.32bis
	16,000			ISDN		D channel used for signaling
        19,200					A usefull benchmark
        28,800			POTS Modem	V.34, (aka. V.FAST)
        38,400
        56,000			Leased Line	AND0, DS0
        56,000			Frame Relay
	56,000			ISDN		PacBell's idea of 64k?
	64,000			POTS		Digital POTS voice line
        64,000			ISDN		(1 B channel)
       112,000			ISDN		2 B channels minus a D channel
       128,000			Frame Relay
       128,000			ISDN		(Fully both B channels)
       238,000			AppleTalk	(A useful benchmark)
       384,000			Frame Relay
       512,000			Frame Relay
     1,017,000			SMDS
     1,536,000  1.536 Mbps	Frame Relay	
     1,544,000	1.544 Mbps	Leased Line	T1, ADN0, DS0
     1,544,000			Frame Relay
     3,088,000			Leased Line	E1 ??? (uncommon)(2.048mbit?)
     4,000,000			SMDS
    10,000,000	10 Mega bit	EtherNet 	(A useful benchmark)
    10,000,000			SMDS
    16,000,000			SMDS
    25,000,000			SMDS
    34,000,000			SMDS
    45,000,000			Fiber|Coax	T3, D3
    60,000,000			Fiber|Coax?	ATM ??? (soon?)
   100,000,000			Fiber		FDDI ??? (LAN)
   135,000,000			3DS3		Microwave Standard
   155,000,000	155Mb/s		OC3c		ATM
   600,000,000			Fiber		ATM ??? (someday?)
   622,000,000			OC12c		ATM
 1,000,000,000	1 Gigabit	Fiber...	Future networks...
 3,400,000,000	3.4x10^8 bps	Fiber		High Speed AT&T Trunks
      20x10^12  20 Terabits	Fiber		Theoretical limit (ie. a guess)

		POTS is a two wire standard (a copper pair)
		Digital POTS, a voice line that gets digitised at the CO
		  8000 times a second with 8 bit samples.
		Leased lines are 4 wire standards (two copper pairs)
		Frame Relay is a leased line with a different
		  telecom protocol on it that can run at many
		  different speeds
		AppleTalk is a twisted pair LAN
		EtherNet is a Coax or twisted pair LAN standard
		FDDI is a Fiber optics (glass wire) standard
		ATM really is a protocol and not really a wire
		  standard
		SONET
		SMDS

	Protocol levels:
	wire		What sort of electricity/photons are used.
	telecom		What the bits look like on the wire
	software	What is done with the bits (IP, SNA etc.)

**	Emacs Outline-Mode

	  Note that the format here is GNU Emacs Outline mode, if you
have emacs you can use outline mode on this document and it might be
easyer to navigate.

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