Campus Computing News

Premium Remote Access Line Changes

By Joe Adamo, Director of Communications Services

UNT provides remote access facilities to its students, faculty and staff in Denton, Dallas and Fort Worth. Remote access users can choose from either standard 'free' remote access that supports dial-up speeds of up to 33.6Kbps or they can subscribe to Premium Remote Access Service (PRAS) that supports dial-up speeds of up to 56kbps. The charge for PRAS is currently $45 per semester. 

When PRAS was approved, it was agreed that a 7:1 subscriber to line ratio would be maintained in order to ensure subscribers access to the lines. Currently there are 165 access lines (7 T1s) installed in Denton, 48 access lines (2 T1s) installed in Dallas and 12 access lines installed in Fort Worth for a total of 225 access lines. Using the 7:1 ratio, the 225 access lines will support up to 1575 subscribers, but we currently have only 732 subscribers to PRAS The number of PRAS subscribers varies each semester but has continued to drop over the years due to the many alternatives (commercial dial-up providers, DSL, cable, dorm Ethernet connections) that are available to them, we felt, therefore, that an analysis and reconfiguration of this service was warranted.

Based on the current number of subscribers to PRAS and in light of our new budget constraints, we are reducing the total number of PRAS lines to 127, with 96 in Denton, 24 in Dallas and 12 in Fort Worth. This configuration will re-establish the 7:1 ratio and reduce our operating expenses by approximately $3,700 per month in access line charges. Orders are being issued to the vendors to make this change with the new configuration in effect in early March. 

Questions?

If you have questions or comments about the PRAS reconfiguration, contact Joe Adamo ( jadamo@UNT.EDU ), Director of Communications Services.