[19872] in APO-L
Re: Convention Web Cam
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John Grossi)
Wed Jan 6 08:06:47 1999
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 12:49:08 -0000
Reply-To: John Grossi <jgrossi@BBNPLANET.COM>
From: John Grossi <jgrossi@BBNPLANET.COM>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
In-Reply-To: <Pine.A41.4.05.9901051934380.26028-100000@spruce.evansville.edu>
Brothers---
Working in the Internet Industry, as an employee of BBN Planet (now
GTE Internetworking, soon to be Bell Atlantic), I can give some technical
feedback. First you need an internet connection to make this webcam work.
Likely it'll have to be a direct connection, no dial-in modem in the middle,
as you won't get the neccessary bandwidth out of a modem and a POTS line.
So assume you got a partial T1 (say a 256K line, much below that and your
webcam is less than useless). You'll need the partial T1 installed, provisioned,
and plugged in. Looking at our current fee rates table,
you'll be required to sign a full year contract;
at a rate of 1420 dollars a month
and pay install charges of 3950 dollars.
figure an additional 3 or 4 thousand for hardware on your end, router, net
cable,
hub, etc... your talking almost 20,000 dollars, for a webcam. (and that's not
including the cam and machine to plug it into... that's JUST the telecom) Nor
the
3-4 month delay in the provisioning process while we, and the phone company
install
the infrastructure, configure it, and get it all working.
Say the hotel will do you a deal on there internet connection...
Current rate at the Washington DC Sheraton (as of 1/1/98) are 1400 dollars a
week
for a partial T1. BUT you'll still have the hardware issue... as all they CAN
give
you according to there Teamster's Contract is a cable hanging out of the
ceiling.
So in essence... you spend a lot of money for little or no value... I could
think
of FAR better things to do with 1400 or 20,000 dollars in this organization,
like reduce the dues of the students or provide more services. Than to provide a
webcam of dubious value. For less than 1400 dollars I can finance REV being in
the
room and save us all a lot of hassle.
On the other issue, it behooves us to not allow our conventions to be recorded,
as
records can drift and we don't want our deliberations getting out of the room.
Especially
as this would then mean that people would have to control what they say, and
that's
still no guarentee that the recordings will not be edited and possibly used
against
us.
REV I know you like being an idea hampster... but please take a moment to ponder
before you suggest?
> As a prospective member of Alpha Phi Omega and one of the students on the
> cutting edge of Internet broadcasting at the University of Evansville, the
> feasibility of such a webcam, regardless of it's location at the National
> Convention is very real.
on the provisio that you've got somewhere to plug it into.
> I'm sure
> with access to a dedicated machine running Microsoft Windows 98 or NT, one
> of these solutions could provide many different services to both
> convention attendees and those who are unable to make the conference.
*ding* *ding* *ding*
key words,
dedicated machine.
dedicated meaning connected to the net.
dedicated meaning something more than a modem and a POTS line.
Sorry to rain on everyone's parade... but the reality of the situation is that
we've got better things to do with our $$$.
-John Grossi
Section 94 Chairman - Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont
Masters Candidate in Computer Networks and Telecommunications at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute
Employee, GTE Internetworking, Global Network Infrastructure, Cambridge MA
