The issue of modem access to the campus intranet and the Internet is alive and kicking. Recently, a spate of messages to the Academic Computing Coordinating Council list--an open e-mail list for discussion of issues relevant to the AC4 council--broadened this discussion to the issue of toll charges for modem calls to the campus. The modem pools have recently been enlarged and work is progressing on finding ways to further improve the service. Now that it is easier to connect without getting a busy signal, attention is turning to the telephone charges. Most users in the Davis calling area don't incur incremental charges to connect to the campus modem pool and hence to the campus intranet and Internet. However, users who connect from outside the Davis local calling area do incur charges roughly proportional to the length of time the modem is connected, which can be several hours a day. The recent e-mail discussion was sparked by a suggestion that UC Davis employees who live in Sacramento should have access to the modem pool at the UC Davis Medical Center to avoid toll charges. I've given the substance of my reply, below, and then summarized the main points made by a variety of contributors to the subsequent discussion. Carries sensitive information The UC Davis Health System maintains an extensive communications system for telemedicine and other tasks carried out by the system. UCDHS carries extremely sensitive information protected by patient confidentiality, and I would expect the administrators of that system to restrict access as much as they can. Thus, providing access to the health system modem pool to faculty members from other schools and colleges doesn't seem appropriate. In fact, School of Medicine faculty members who lack direct clinical privileges, such as myself, do not have access to the modem pool. On the other hand, the central campus modems are intended for tasks related to our studies or employment and are, appropriately, available to all UC Davis students and employees irrespective of where their primary place of work is located. The AC4 and Information Technology are focused on providing enough central modems so that people can dial in without getting busy signals. This has resulted in excellent local access for faculty members. Faculty access has greatly improved over a year ago, but access remains an issue for staff members and students. Information Technology, Student Affairs, AC4 and the Administrative Comput-ing Coordinating Council are working on the problem. Getting enough modems is the first priority--there is no point in providing access from Sacramento if you just get a busy signal. Incidentally, with the current state of the market, it is much cheaper to build our own modem pool than to buy access commercially, so a central modem pool reduces overall costs. In contrast, central toll-free access does not reduce overall costs. Considering toll-free access Nevertheless, the issue of providing toll-free access to the campus intranet and the Internet from locations outside the campus's local calling area is an important one. Toll-free access can be achieved now if you purchase it from an Internet service provider. This arrangement allows individuals to make the determination of whether the advantages outweigh the cost of this service. Departments can pay the costs of a provider where appropriate. It has not been possible to negotiate significantly more favorable terms with a provider for the whole campus, so leaving the decision to individuals and the departments doesn't involve the loss of any economy of scale. A related issue exists for providing access to employees who are traveling on university business. What are the options for reducing the cost of access from outside the local calling area? Any suggestions here would be a constructive way to move this discussion forward. Here are three options: Negotiate with an Internet service provider for access to the Internet for all or a subset of employees and students. There are variations here, such as a local provider vs. a national provider, and options such as virtual private networks; Provide toll-free access to the Davis modem pool through an 800 number; or Build modem pools in surrounding communities. All these options are very expensive. They would shift the modest, controlled costs now incurred by departments to a large, poorly controlled cost that is incurred centrally. There could be advantages related to the security of the campus network but these can be addressed in other ways. Many buy their own Many of those who joined the discussion have chosen--as I have done--to personally buy Internet access from an Internet service provider. The main advantages are: having an account for personal use, toll-free access, often nationwide, and rare busy signals. A clear distinction was made between the needs of faculty members, staff members and students. In the case of faculty members, agreement existed that they need remote access but several people--not all--believed that it should be a personal, not an institutional, responsibility to provide it. For staff members, a more complex discussion ensued of whether most of them should be expected to work from home, especially outside normal working hours, and hence to what extent they need remote access. On the other hand, others pointed out that staff members may be able to get some work done when they are sick, caring for children or traveling on business. This issue is on the current agenda of the AdC3. The campus has historically provided a modem pool without charge to end-users and this service is improving. The two outstanding questions, which may have different answers for different parts of the campus community, are: what should be the quality of the no-charge service (e.g., how many busy signals)? what should be done about toll-free access? I encourage further contributions to this discussion. Please feel free to subscribe to ac4list@UCDavis.edu and send mail to the list. You can also contact me directly, as the chair of the AC4 at hrmatthews@ucdavis.edu.