For the last two decades, Communications Services has been providing public dial-up modem service to enable access to campus networks from off-campus locations. These modems are accessed by dialing telephone numbers 893-8400 or 893-3000. In February, 1996, the Campus Network Committee recommended to the campus Senior Officers that the primary source of remote access to the campus networks from off-campus locations should be via local area Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Since that time, Communications Services has continued to operate the public modems as a "safety net" service for those people who did not wish to or could not use an ISP. In 2004 we announced that the equipment would not be expanded, repaired or replaced if it failed. Additional information regarding these modem pools is available on our UCSB Public Modem Pools page.
Due to the age of the equipment, the very small number of people using the equipment (no more than four concurrent connections any time in the past eighteen months) and the need to reclaim the space used by the equipment for the installation of new network facilities, we plan to shut down the public modem pool on July 1, 2007. If you have any comments on this plan, please send them to help@commserv.ucsb.edu.
If you are still using the dial-up modem service, you can replace that service by signing up with a local ISP. We do not endorse a specific ISP, but there is a list under "Internet-Service Providers" in the Verizon Santa Barbara telephone book yellow pages.
You can also contact your departmental network support staff for suggestions.
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