 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Internet Newsletter No 11 George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au |
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Status Report
All of our services have been performing very well and we have no real
problems of any type. We are constantly monitoring many aspects of the services and all are performing well.
Although our main wholesale supplier of data, EISA, has been in the news, it has not affected their
performances in any way. Also we have contingency plans in place to switch to alternate sources should
problems arise.
We are the best in Victoria, and the second best in Australia
In "Computer Choice" magazine, July/August 2000 issue there was an extensive survey of ISPs in
Australia. Melb PC came second, just beaten by SE Net in SA. Some other the bigger ISPs did not come close to
our scores. Telstra came 7th, OzEmail 9th and EISA 13th. In the connection speed satisfaction we came second
and we were a very clear winner, by a large margin, in the total cost.
I would like to congratulate all the hard working members of the Internet team for this great result.
Further Improvements to our Service
The Internet team is continuing to improve the service while actually dropping the price. We have absorbed
the GST increase while the majority of ISPs have passed the on additional cost to their subscribers. The main
improvement is increasing the minimum access time to four hours per day, if you logon before noon. Over the
peak period it will remain at two hours per day. This means the timer will run at half speed from 8.00 am to
4.00 pm.
To remind our users about the details of how this works. The agreement that you all signed states two hours
per day will be available. However, as there is currently spare capacity at night and during the day we have
implemented a "clock" called our timer that runs at different speeds at different times of the day. You will
have 120 timer minutes allocated . Over the peak period, 4.00 pm to 2.00 am, one real minute equals one timer
minute. Between 2.00 am and 8.00 am, the timer runs at one tenth of the speed. This means that if you are
connected during these six hours you will use only 36 timer units. (6 x 60 minutes / 10).
From 8.00 am to 4.00 pin the timer will now run at half speed and give you four hours if you connect before
noon. If you connect from 2.00 pm until 4.00 pm you will use 60 timer minutes, leaving your remaining 60
minutes for the peak period.
There will possibly be increased time during the weekends as well and this will be announced in the
future.
Effect Of "Bonus Time"
May was the first full month since bonus time was introduced and this was well received. Below are the main
points of interest for June 2000.
- Longest connect time on any single day was 13 hours.
- Twenty users achieved total connect times of 10 hours or more
- Twenty-nine users enjoyed between nine and ten hours, and 98 between eight and nine hours.
- The highest total bonus hours for the month was 58 hours.
- 1301 users (25%) enjoyed bonus time on one or more days.
Many of you would have noticed the effect when we disabled the timer on Saturday 1 July and allowed unlimited access. This was done partly to give our users more for their money and partly to monitor the effects of such an offer. The result was amazing.
Probably the most noticeable effect was the very poor response. This was due to the fact that our line to EISA had completely saturated by 9.00 am and stayed saturated for 16 hours, until 1.00 am on Sunday. The phone lines were saturated for about 12 hours.
A few users managed to stay on for over 15 hours and many had over 10 hours.
Average user time/day on line was 103 minutes (The normal figure is amazingly constant and is usually in the range 63 to 65 minutes, month after month.)
The number of different users in this period was 2662. This is slightly down on an average Saturday, possibly because all the phone lines were busy. On an average weekday 3,200 different users log in.
This experiment gave us a very clear indication that we cannot offer a completely unlimited time service.
Inactivity Timer
There is still some confusion, possibly due to lack of information, on the inactivity timer. It is used to disconnect an inactive line. Our inactivity timer is set for 20 minutes.
All ISPs have an inactivity timer. This is to prevent the phone lines being tied up if someone forgets they are connected. It can happen when you close down your e-mail and forget to log off.
Also you should be aware that most Web browsers have an inactivity timer that can be set by the user. It terminates the connection from the users end at their request. The maximum inactivity time would be the lesser of our timer and their own.
The only real or practical disadvantage of this timer is when reading and then replying to mail. If you have decided to reply and you are typing a long letter, there will he no data being sent to or received from the server. So it's possible to be disconnected in such an event. The only solution is either to write your letter offline and then post your mail when you re-connect or have a browser open and every 15 minutes click on a link or click in the Refresh icon to create some activity.
Reprinted from the August 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
