Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!news.sdsmt.edu!news.mid.net!mr.net!newshub.tc.umn.edu!spool.mu.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in3.uu.net!netnews.nwnet.net!symiserver2.symantec.com!usenet From: tedm@agora.rdrop.com Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: AT&T Worldnet with ijppp Date: 21 Aug 1996 04:13:43 GMT Organization: Symantec Corporation Lines: 41 Message-ID: <4ve2dn$p4r@symiserver2.symantec.com> References: <4v24i9$1vh@atlantis.utmb.edu> <4v79j6$75t@wa4phy.async.com> Reply-To: tedm@agora.rdrop.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 198.6.34.1 X-Newsreader: IBM NewsReader/2 v1.2.5 In <4v79j6$75t@wa4phy.async.com>, sam@wa4phy.async.com (S.W. Drinkard) writes: >bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu (M. L. Dodson) writes: > >>Hmmm. Posted this to the questions mailing list but did not get many >>responses. Maybe more people on this ng have experience with >>Worldnet. Any info would be helpful. [some deleted] >I don't know about you Bud, but when ATT first announced the worldnet >program, I called their tech support to ask if other software ie., FBSD, or >other means of handling a PPP connection would be supported. At that time, >they told me no, however if they see a demand, it might be supported in You must have gotten a unknowledgeable rep then. The point is moot, at least here in Portland OR, where unlimited Internet access is advertised in 1/4 page adds in the daily newspaper for $5 a month. In my opinion, Worldnet is great for the traveller using it from a laptop, since you can call into an 800 number, but not for a fixed desktop In any case, my Dad (a traveling rep) has Worldnet service, all they use is standard PAP ppp. You do have to run their configuration program to set up your account, but once it is set up any ppp client that knows PAP should do the trick. That is also consistent with what the tech-support rep at AT&T told me back in February when I called them. I also found out from my AT&T rep that AT&T expected 20,000 users to signup the first month that the service was in operation. In actual fact, they got 20,000 users signed up the first _DAY_!!! AT&T has also had a lot of difficulty disseminating information about Worldnet to their internal sales staff, most of whom make their living by selling long distance leased-line services. In April I attended a Worldnet presentation hosted by the AT&T group that put the service together, and they were all very aware of the need to connect other operating systems to Worldnet, this is why they selected PPP to begin with. They wanted to design a service that had the value-addition of a Compuserve, yet was built from off-the-shelf commodity software pieces.