PageSat Service Upgrades

After our careful review of customer requests and evaluating various system platforms, the Pagesat 9.6 NETNEWS service has been upgraded to a new service with 115.2 Kbps capability. This HS, "high speed", service will allow for virtually a complete world wide NETNEWS feed in real time.

This currently consists of 16,000+ groups, 350+ megabytes and over 150,000 messages a day. This requirement will continue to grow. In addition the HS service will enclude Fido mail, Filebone etc. for a period of 1 year with no additional charge. Other services maybe added. However we are aiming at being the premier NETNEWS provider in the US and as such maintaining the quality of the NETNEWS will have priority over future services.

If you are a current Pagesat NETNEWS member, the new Pagesat HS NETNEWS service will require a receiver swap out. Your existing antenna and LNB can be used if you are satisfied with your current reception. For new installation we recommend one meter antennas.

Those sites that have an existing Pagesat receiver can run concurrently both the PC-Sat 100 and the new Pagesat HS 2000 receiver off the same antenna using a Pagesat approved two-way splitter which can be ordered as part of the upgrade kit. (Note: use of a non-approved splitter can result in damage to your receiver).

This will eliminate down time at your site while you are making the transition.

We believe the safest upgrade path for our customers is to remain with a system that is compatible with a majority of existing hardware. This will help insure a successful migration from the existing Pagesat 9.6 NETNEWS service to the new Pagesat HS NETNEWS service.

It will be necessary to run your serial port at 115.2 Kbps as the NETNEWS growth dictates. This may impact some hardware platforms with the need to upgrade the serial port and evaluate machine resources, especially if you are using a multitasker such as DESQview with Dos or similar application. In addition some machines, such as Sun, may require an additional high speed serial port to be able to handle the Pagesat HS NETNEWS service at 115.2 Kbps. An alternate solution would be to feed the 115 Kbps serial feed to a port on your terminal server.

The initial data rate will be at 115.2Kbps. However character spacing will be padded by idle time. This will enable most sites to work through the switch over and will currently allow for the reception of a complete feed with capacity to grow to the full 115.2 Kbps service as needed.

For DOS subscribers we recommended you use your existing Pagesat GETSAT software (VER. 1.96 or greater) with a high speed serial port.

Unix systems running Linux or BSDI should be able to handle 115.2 Kbps data rates with existing Unix receive software with the appropriate high speed async card.

As usual unix sofware for the Pagesat system is available via ftp at:

Northern California International Teleport, Inc.
2311 Lincoln Avenue
Hayward, CA 94545
Tel: 510.782.9301 Fax: 510.782.9401