Our May 12 meeting began with Mary Sheridan presiding over the Windows SIG. As our guest speaker was from RoadRunner, alternate ISPs were discussed. A new way of connecting to the Internet with existing copper phone lines at high speeds is called ADSL. Asynchronous Data Service Lines offer the potential to connect to the internet at cable modem speeds, while using existing phone lines. This means you wouldn’t need to wait for all those shiny new fiber optic cables to be laid in your neighborhood before you could enjoy super fast access to the web. Recent articles in the business section of the Tampa Tribune stated GTE would be contracting with outside companies to use GTE’s lines to offer ADSL service in the Bay area. No price schedules were available at this time. GTE also offers an alternate Internet connection program using existing phone lines. They can offer a guaranteed 1.2 meg upload and download connection for the tidy sum of $600 a month. This may be clearly geared toward a small business, but lower price/connection services are available.

Merle started the meeting at 6:35. He reminded the members about our membership drive, so please try to help your group by finding a new member. Sign up sheets for the meeting and SIGs were passed around.

Our presenters for RoadRunner (http://www.timewarnercable.com) were Steve Tulloh, Jim Canale and Robert Marotta. Steve started out with a brief history of how Motorola got the cable modem industry started and then how RoadRunner is being set up in the Tampa area. For installation, RoadRunner will send a representative to your home to install an Ethernet network card in your computer with the RoadRunner software. The technician who comes out will also give about 15 minutes of training. The equipment has a one-year warranty, and the $99.95 installation fee lets you keep the Ethernet card.

Since the RoadRunner system is a WAN, the shared lines in any given neighborhood will have a degraded contact when more people activate their service. The network runs on a fiber optic backbone with RoadRunner operating three T3 lines at the same time. This allows RoadRunner a 622-megabit connection to the Internet. The fiber optic backbone supplies various ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) hubs, which in turn supply service to the home. Each hub can service 45,000 homes. RoadRunner claims that a guaranteed upload speed of 768kbs is available because of the Token Ring system used on the upstream. Download speeds vary greatly by the number of people accessing the network at any given time, but 1.2 meg downloads are possible. The existing pipelines are running at around 15% to 20% capacity. If a pipeline exceeds 70%, RoadRunner increases the number of fiber optics serving that area. Monthly service is $39.95 with standard Time Warner cable service, $49.95 without cable service. Five e-mail addresses are offered per service, with an additional five addresses for $10.00. If you need more than one TCP/IP address, that will also be an additional $10.00.

A Quake II game server is available at this time. A Half-Life server is coming soon.

During the presentation we had several occasions to wander into Question & Answer sessions with group members lending their own experience and expertise to various discussions. The group was very patient and understanding during these exchanges and at some moments appreciated an additional voice to explain a topic another member was having difficulty understanding.

After the presentation we had our door prize drawing. Bob LaFave won a copy of Adobe Pagemill, Arthur Young won a copy of Partition Magic, and Cheryl Alexander won an IBM Sports Bottle. u