IT: FAQs: Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

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FAQs: Elimination of Statewide Dial-up service


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	What happened to statewide dial-up service?
	What is Merit?
	How is my email affected?
	What other services are affected?
	What are my off-campus options?
	How much do ISP services cost?
	Who do you recommend I use as my ISP?

What happened to statewide dial-up service?

Due to the economic pressures of maintaining an aging dial-up infrastructure, used only by a small percentage of the academic community, a committee consisting of representatives from all universities within Michigan unanimously decided to discontinue support for Merit’s statewide dial-up service.

Effective July 1st 2007, Central Michigan University, in accordance with the committee’s decision, will discontinue support for Merit’s pool of statewide dial-up access numbers.

Under the reduced service plan, CMU will preserve dial-up Internet access for all users in the local calling area. Local users may access the university network by dialing 774.2224. Though this service may incur toll costs for non-local users and has been steadily reduced in size over the past few years, it is not affected by this announcement, and there are no immediate plans to discontinue this service.

What is Merit?

"Merit Network, Inc. is a nonprofit, member-owned organization formed in 1966 to design and implement a computer network between public universities in Michigan. After 40 years of innovation, Merit continues to provide high-performance networking and services to the research and education communities in Michigan and beyond".

Source: http://www.merit.edu/about/

How is my email affected?

The elimination of statewide dial-up access does not affect the university's email systems. Students, faculty, and staff will retain access to their web-based email accounts anywhere they have access to the Internet. Small changes to email client configurations will be necessary if using an ISP other than CMU. The outgoing SMTP server will need to be configured to route outgoing mail through your ISP.

What other services are affected?

No other services are affected by the elimination of dial-up access.

What are my off-campus options?

Users local to the Mount Pleasant area may continue to access the university network by dialing 774-2224. Both dial-up and broadband options are also available in the local area (See the list of Local Internet Service Providers).

For other areas, check the Yellow Pages under Internet Service Provider. Several nationwide Internet Service Providers such as MSN, Earthlink, and AOL are available in almost all areas.

How much do ISP services cost?

Costs vary by ISP, type of connectivity, and location. For more detailed pricing information, contact the ISPs local to your specific region.

Who do you recommend I use as my ISP?

CMU has not formally adopted any recommendations on specific Internet Service Providers. The choice should reflect your individual service requirements.

For additional assistance, contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@cmich.edu or (989) 774-3662.