Table of Contents
Dial-in Access
Student Dial-in Access
As of June 1, 2003, the University's dial-in lines were terminated. Students desiring modem access to the University after this date must contract with a local or national Internet Service Provider (ISP) for service.
ISP Dial-in Services
Periodically, UVa reviews local dial-in access offerings. In the past, UVa has found it beneficial to establish a contract with a local ISP for preferential pricing on dial-in services. At this time the University does not have such a contract. In the absence of a contract, we are unable to recommend a particular ISP for your dial-in needs. If you have questions, please contact the ITC Help Desk at 924-3731 or email helpdesk@virginia.edu.
Departmental Dial-in Services
As of October 30, 2007, ITC no longer offers this service to departments. If you are in a department that previously purchased this service, please check with your Local Support Partner for your new connection options.
Remote Access for Travelers
If you travel frequently, or for an extended period of time, there are several alternatives that may save you money.
One alternative is to obtain a commercial dial-in account with a provider who has local access in the areas to which you travel. If you travel to the same city each time, investigate the Internet service providers in that area. If you travel to different cities within the United States, or wish to use the same account for non-local and local access to the UVa network, there are several nationwide access providers who offer local access in major metropolitan areas and 800 numbers for access outside of those areas. Bear in mind that there will almost always be a surcharge in the neighborhood of $4-$10/hour over and above the normal account fee for 800 number access.
For those who travel frequently within the United States, Sprint's EarthLink service is a logical choice, since Sprint provides the University its primary Internet connection. For additional information, see www.earthlink.com.
If you travel outside of the United States you will need to look for a provider with overseas access points. One choice is iPass, the world's largest network of Internet service providers. iPass offers account holders over 14,000 local access points in over 150 countries, including most cities in the United States and Canada. Another important advantage is that iPass provides dialing software, easing the process of locating local numbers and alleviating the need for reconfiguring the network software. iPass also requires all of its affiliates to accept email so that iPass account holders do not need to reconfigure their email clients. For more information on the iPass service, see www.ipass.com.
AT&T Business Internet Services (formerly IBM Internet Connection Services) is another overseas provider. AT&T offers a variety of access plans with service in over 50 countries. For more information, see www.attbusiness.net.
Since most of the commercial services are provided by multiple local vendors, service quality will vary. With the exception of iPass, connecting through commercial dialin accounts may require reconfiguration of your networking software and email client. As you travel from one city to another, you will need to reconfigure your setup to dial different telephone numbers for local access. For vendors who block email traffic, you will be required to reconfigure your email client to use their SMTP server. Most commercial providers provide any necessary software free of charge as well as some assistance in installing and configuring your connection.
ITC will continue to survey and evaluate options for dial-in access from outside the Charlottesville area. We have received positive feedback from iPass and Earthlink users, but have very little knowledge about the AT&T service. We would appreciate any comments from members of the University community who try any of the these services.
Off-Grounds Access to Restricted UVa Resources
Services normally accessed on Grounds without difficulty may have some restrictions imposed when trying to reach them using an Internet Service Provider (modems, cable, DSL or accessing from another site.) For most services there are solutions; please see the following for more information:
- Access UVa Computing Services from Off-Grounds
- UVa Proxy Server
- UVa-Anywhere
- UVaAnywhere-Lite WebVPN
- UVa VPN Client
- PKI
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Service for Fraternities and Sororities
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) high-speed network connections are available for a fee to UVa fraternities and sororities within 18,000 to 24,000 of cable feet from McKim Hall (typically houses in the Rugby Road area). A DSL connection provides high-bandwidth connectivity across a telephone line at speeds ranging from 1.544 Mbps to 512 Kbps in and about 128 Kbps out. A DSL line allows both voice and data signals concurrently. A fraternity or sorority must contract for this service.
High-Speed Remote Access (DSL, Cable Modem, Broadband)
ITC is working with the commercial providers of these services to implement direct network connections between the provider's network and the main UVa network. Without a direct connection to the University network, much of the speed of the high-performance connection is lost while data flows through the Internet. ITC only recommends high-speed network service providers that have implemented a direct high-performance connection to the University network. Learn more at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/csd/dsl.