Sarasota PC Monitor
Get to Know our Advertisers (06/03)
Access Unlimited of Venice, Inc.
by Pete Theisen
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.Before there was widespread Internet use, there were Bulletin Board Services, George L. Emigh, co-owner of Access Unlimited, used to run one called "Above Board BBS". "It all started with a need to communicate", George says. Disabled in a diving accident, George was introduced to the fun and value of communications by his church when they installed a CB radio to enable him to communicate with the outside world. Graduating to Amateur Radio, he also holds an Extra class Amateur radio license, but technology demanded new ways to communicate, and the computer was the next step in George's communications evolution.
In 1995 George, together with Jim and Frank Janda created Access Unlimited of Venice, Inc., DBA Access Unlimited. "We felt that we could offer a better service locally than what was available nationally." says George.
George has been using Linux since late 1994, insisting that the core of Access Unlimited's servers run Linux to provide a stable platform for Access Unlimited to grow, and that has proved to be a wise choice, as Linux was not only stable in 1995, but has grown to Enterprise Class in 2003.
SPCUG used the Above Board BBS for some of it's on line communication needs, and Access Unlimited is the host of our SPCUG web site, and has been for years. Have you logged on to our web site <www.spcug.org> yet? Did you know that you too could have a web site hosted by Access Unlimited, <www.you.com>? Well, you can. It is not very expensive either, 35 meg, enough for thumbnails of your whole photo album, loads of text, and maybe a few really big pictures or a short video for $35 per month ($24.95 for Non-Profit Organizations), a medium size site for $24.95 per month, or a mini page of 1 Meg for as little as $12.95 per month. And extra megabytes are a dollar a month each.
But there is more than that! Access Unlimited provides dial-up and DSL services. While the DSL services are tailored to customers who need a static IP address for business or their hobby, their Dial-up services are sure to fit even a modest budget. It was a good deal at $16.95 when I got it, and this month the rate is coming down to $8.95 per month to all SPCUG members! Access Unlimited also has 64K ISDN for $19.00 a month and 128K ISDN or bonded 56K for $36.95 a month. ISDN service is basically two digital phone lines, an ISDN modem can connect at 64K or bond the two lines for a 128K connection using the MPP protocol. Those who have two modems, and two lines could bond them also, an option when no faster services are available. Since I switched to Access Unlimited I have hardly any spam. I used to have hundreds and hundreds of spam messages, my finger used to get tired deleting them! Now that I am on Access Unlimited, I only get one or two spam messages a day, and some days none at all. Access Unlimited uses a variety of means to limit the number of these messages from ever reaching their users. Not only that, by the time you read this, Access Unlimited will be using V.92 modems on their Dial Up servers.
According to George, V.92 offers several advantages over V.90 and earlier protocols, put simply, for those users who have a V.92 modem it offers:
Modem on Hold, for those who have Call Waiting, you can suspend your Internet connection, take a voice call, and after you finish, switch back to the Internet without losing the connection. This, after all, is the second advantage of Broadband, a free phone line. Now it will be easy and practical to use only one line for both Dial-up Internet and the rest of your phone service. Right there you will save about $30 bucks a month, $50 for a business line. Rock On!
Quick Connect, The modem remembers the line conditions of the previous call, compares it with the current connection, and reduce connection time by as much as 50%.
V.PCM Upstream allows for faster upload speeds up to 48,000 bps compared to 31.200 bps for V.90. V.92 also allows tailoring of the data stream to favor upload speed over download speed where faster uploading to the Internet is desired.
V.44 data-compression, V.44 is a new data-compression protocol that delivers data rates 10% to 120% faster than the V.42bis found in V.90 and earlier modems.
If you travel and want to take your Internet service with you, Access Unlimited is accessible with a local call at sixteen local numbers in the central Florida area, and at local numbers in nearly every state through agreements with Nationwide Dial-up Providers. Just pack up that notebook!
The business office of Access Unlimited is on Bee Ridge Road in the Center Gate plaza, the servers live with George, protected and watched over like an over-protective parent. The sight of server racks in a home setting is just overwhelming. If ever there was "geek heaven" this is it. Access Unlimited upgrades it's equipment every three years, and sticks with products that have proven track records of reliable operation.
The Internet is a modern version of the Wild West. No regulation, no stability, lots of risk, but rapid progress and amazing innovation. George just loves it, and Access Unlimited is where he wants to be.
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Copyright 2003. This article is from the June 2003 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.