Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!hc!lanl!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ukma!mailrus!cornell!vax5!jhc From: jhc@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: Re: Quantum Link - telecommunication at it's poorest Message-ID: <17552@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU> Date: 14 Dec 88 11:29:57 GMT References: Sender: news@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU Reply-To: jhc@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (James H. Cloos, Jr.) Organization: Cornell Information Technologies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 Lines: 131 I'm going to try to discuss most of the issues Frank brings up. I must first disclaim that I haven't had my 128 hooked up in the last 12 mmonths (space/time considerations) and might be a bit rusty, but not too rusty. (Also, I always used Telenet rather than Tymnet, but the differences shouldn't be that big.) In article prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle) writes: |I recently signed up with the Quantum Link on-line telecommunications service. |My impressions over the past two weeks have little to do with the quality of |the services offered online because it has been very difficult to get the |telecommunication link to operate reliably enough for me to explore the |services (though what I have seen is pretty mediocre compared with GEnie for |example). | |QLINK utilizes Tymnet Inc. to provide local dialup access to their computers |in Vienna, VA. (Telenet Inc. access may also be available in certain areas). |The Quantum Link software internally initiates the Tymnet logon, and therein |lies the first problem: before Tymnet can test a potentially noisy line, |they have to know which node it is, but QLINK software masks that logon |dialog, so you can never find this out; QLINK software has no alternative |manual login to Tymnet option. Furthermore, the initial dialog between the |QLINK software and Tymnet sometimes goes awry, leaving you only with a string |of + signs across the screen, and no connection. I did have some problems at first, but orderred a new version (~$3.00) that corrected all of the problems I had loging in. | |If you do successfully make it past the Tymnet logon, the QLINK software |connects with their computers, sends your account info and current validation |code, and updates your disk with a new validation code to be used the next |time you log in. From that point on, everything (menus, text, downloads, etc.) |is received in a bizarre packet format; packets are either very long (>1000 |bytes) or many smaller packets are streamed over without acknowledgement |(it's difficult to tell just from the lights on the modem). I have a C= modem (the 1200 bps one) so don't have LED's to watch: can't comment here. |This process is often (but not always) very prone to erroneous receptions; data |are not displayed until received error free; retransmissions are many; long idle |delays occur (10-20 seconds typical) during reception; and if the idle time |extends to 50 or 60 seconds, the QLINK software declares that the connection |has been broken and simply dies. As you can well imagine, such nonsense is |especially annoying during downloads which are charged at $.08/minute even |when you are waiting for the menus to complete. There is no provision to |interrupt a download that is not going well (e.g. a supposed 3 minute |download that has gone 10 minutes and still declares that only 10% of the |download has completed); you can only hang up, reboot, and call again! I can say, however, that all of my communication was very smooth; there were no long waits, hung lines, etc. The lines were at times noisy, but I noticed no retries, etc. (Cornell-NYTel-Telnet @ 1200 bps.) I agree, though, that the provision to interupt dl's would be nice. |All this, you understand, is taking place on a C128/Avatex Modem setup which |has had rock-solid 1200 baud communication for years with the likes of |Compuserve, GEnie, and various VAXen and SUNs using such renowned telecom |software as XMOBUF, VIDTEX, IMP, and KERMIT. It is only QLINK and/or their |software that is unreliable. | |Their customer service people apparently don't talk to each other - the first |I called told me it must be Tymnet's fault and told me to call their customer |service. The second told me I must "patch" my QLINK software to use Tymnet and |proceeded to describe how to download (at my cost!) the patch program. I did |both of these, experiencing only slight improvement. Another customer service |person proclaimed that QLINK software doesn't work on any C64 or C128 if there |are any peripherals attached!!!! She suggested that I must disconnect my 1581 |drive, my printer, my 1750 RAM expansion, my mouse, and my joystick to use |QLINK - I jokingly asked if it might work better if I disconnected the monitor |also! When asked why, she said that is what she was told to say, and that |she uses her C64 every day without problem, so it must be true. OK, Cust Serv is not the best in the world, but then the only computer companies (hw & sw) whose cust-serv personel I've encountered, who really knew what they were doing (or knew who to forward your call to) were MicroSoft (Mac soft division, corporate cust-serv), DEC, HP Corvalis, & Adobe. (I never did get thru to C=...) Anyway, some of them are OK, and they did finally explain how to set up the phone number to signal that it is a Telnet number. As for unconnecting peripherals, that is because the software uses disk drive speed up software that bombs when more than one device is hanging off the serial port. (It's the std stuff making the serial port into a quasi-parralel port.) This is why they suggest that you disconnect extra drives, printers, etc. I did manage to survive with my 2nd '71 and my printer connected, though. (Actually, the only problems I remember were the times my Frosh-year roommate turned on his toaster oven while I was logged in. (We were lucky, though as our 6 apt breaker actually waited until almost 9 amps before breaking, and the voltage was usually at 125, so we could hang ~1 KW off the line before she blew. the toaster oven was rated at something like 1.5 or 2 K at startup--instant power off ;^) (To compare w/ other rooms, some of the breakers would bomb at 5 amps, and the voltage in some of those rooms was more often at 110. I never did figure out why the voltages were so different in the same building.) |Now, as both an Electrical Engineer, and a Software Engineer with considerable |C64/C128 hardware and software experience, I can assure you that there is |absolutely no reasonable explanation why C64 telecommunications software would |ever require removal of peripherals, especially since none of the aforementioned |peripherals utilize the same port as the modem, none generate interrupts |to the system when quiescent, and none modify or override the internal C64/C128 |kernal ROMs. Clearly there are only two possibilities: 1) this |is some sort of excuse they've concocted to make user's believe that the C64 |is some kind of substandard machine and they should be happy with even poor |telecommunications quality vs. none at all; or 2) their software is severely |botched and they neither want to admit it nor fix it. See the above paragraph concerning why to disconn pariph's. |I have one final call in to QLINK, supposedly to be returned by someone with |an inkling of technical knowledge. I also have my cancellation letter ready |to mail, because it just isn't worth the headache. | |Sincerely, |Frank Prindle |Prindle@NADC.arpa Overall, I don't think QuanumLink is all *that* bad, or at least wasn't, but as I've said, I've not used the 128 in 12 months, and have been concentrating on mainframes, Mac's and soon NeXT's. (Oh, yes, and I had to learn MS/DOS too.) I think the 128 is going on the block soon, but now I'm rambling. (Blame the clock, "It's 0600 hours in the *blooody* AM!!!"-Colonel Potter to Radar, a M*A*S*H episode, replayed every morning one year on my default FM station just when I had to get up for school. Disclaimer: I'm in no way connected w/ QLINK other than an (ex)customer (that still happens to be subscribed) and hasn't used it for a year. P.S. Did they ever get that software where people interact via what_do_you_ call_its in environments complete w/ houses, etc., etc.? Before I fall asleep (& hoping that I've written more than I included...) -JimC -- James H. Cloos, Jr. "Entropy isn't what it used to be." jhc@Crnlvax5.BITNET --c/o Fortune @ batcomputer.UUCP jhc@Vax5.CIT.Cornell.EDU #include cornell!vax1!vax5.cit.cornell.edu!jhc@rochester.UUCP B-7 Upson Hall, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853 +1 607 272 4519