2006 Auto-Billing Upgrades

Usage-based pricing is in effect as of July 1, 2007. See Monitoring Your Use and automated billing FAQ.

As GCN Administrator Bruce Paige announced to all members in March 2006, GCN awarded a contract to SISD to provide certain network services including authentication, accounting, billing, e-mail, and web hosting in accordance with a request for proposals issued by GCN. In addition GCN is installing a  core router to manage and account for all network traffic including from its broadband customers. This is a major upgrade replacing all our previous network services (authentication, authorization, accounting, and e-mail) as well as adding many new features, notably self-service sign-up and automatic billing. We began switching service over to the new system on August 5, 2006. Full implementation of the payment system was completed with the change to usage-based pricing July 1, 2007.

New and Improved Service!

The new system will save GCN considerable money and volunteer time compared to the old system, but it also offers vast improvements in member service.

Dial-Up Service - Complete as of August 5, 2006

The new Freeside authentication, authorization, accounting, and billing system is now handling dial-up users. There were sporadic short outages during the cutover to the new system, during which users received dial-up connect errors such as no password or server not responding.

All 21 modems have been in use quite a bit for the last few weeks, resulting in busy signals for those attempting to call in. Our promise remains that the connect-time surcharges below will eliminate busy signals, either because they will encourage people to disconnect when they are not using the Internet and/or because the surcharges will fund connection of additional modems. Expect an end to busy signals by October.

Quality of Service - Complete as of August 5, 2006

To account for and to better manage our network traffic we have installed a new Mikrotik core router. All traffic between Gustavus and the Internet now passes through this router. The end result for users is improved performance.

• Sophisticated bandwidth management in the router assures higher quality of service by fairly allocating bandwidth among all subscribers. Everyone is assured a certain minimum bandwidth and is able to use additional bandwidth if it is available. It is no longer possible for one broadband user to "swamp" the network, using all available capacity and slowing everyone else down. Problematic Peer-to-Peer (P2P) uploads such as those from Gnutella are strictly limited so they cannot effectively crash our network as they have several times in the recent past.
  
• We are monitoring our Internet usage and with the surcharges described below we will be able to purchase additional bandwidth as demanded by our customers to keep performance high as usage increases. Our satellite connection currently provides 1000 Kbps down (from Internet, shown in green below) and 384 Kbps up (to Internet, shown in blue). Our new usage graphs show that we are getting the bandwidth we are paying for from our upstream provider and this appears adequate. Our equipment is capable of much greater speeds if needed. Note that our Network Status page has been updated with the new graphs.
  
• Coming Soon: Squid proxy server and web cache will store Internet web pages in Gustavus so that they load more quickly and reduce satellite traffic. For example, instead of everyone downloading giant Windows updates directly from Microsoft the first user will cause the proxy server to download the file and everyone else will get the file from the proxy server. This will be a transparent proxy so no settings will need to be changed on any client computers.

Electronic Mail - Complete as of August 7, 2006

• Spam Filter: SpamAssasin is installed on the new mail server and should be blocking about 90% of unsolicited commercial e-mail ("spam")! Some users have already thanked us profusely for reducing the volume of this annoying, offensive, and time-consuming trash.
• Anti-Virus Filter: Clam AntiVirus is scanning incoming messages and deleting those infected with viruses and other malware.
• Check your GCN mail from any web browser on the Internet using SquirrelMail. This is a big improvement over Mailman because it lets you organize messages into folders, maintain an address book, and more. Mailman will still be available, at least for the time being.
• IMAP support allows users to store messages on the server in folders and replicate the mailbox and folder structure to multiple computers. See using IMAP.
• Troubleshooting: During the cutover to the new system no messages were lost, no one had to change any settings on their computers, and there were minimal delays in mail delivery. However, users who were keeping messages on server experienced an avalanche of old messages. If anyone has experienced other problems with their e-mail, please report them to Nathan Borson at 697-2313 or Bruce Paige at 697-2262.
• Coming soon: Additional separate mailboxes for GCN subscribers! Soon members of your household can have their own @gustavus.ak.us addresses, passwords, and mailboxes without paying for a completely separate account. One to three additional mailboxes will be included free with each Internet access account. Additional mailboxes will be available for a nominal charge and do not have to be tied to an Internet access account so users will be able to keep their mailboxes when they close their Internet account.

Rate and Billing Changes - Complete as of July 1, 2007

• Rate for basic monthly Internet reduced from $30 to $25. However, the discount for pre-payment has also been eliminated so those paying in advance will see no rate reduction.
• As first proposed in July, 2004, surcharges are levied against the heaviest users so we can meet their demands without impacting other users. Users can log on to their account and see what their usage was so they know what surcharges to expect based on their usage. The surcharges are effective beginning July 1, 2007 and will first appear on August, 2007 invoices.
  • For dial-up users, 100 hours connect time per month is included with the basic account. A surcharge of $ 0.10 for each additional hour will apply. There are no connect-time limits or surcharges for broadband users.
  • For all users, the basic account includes 500 MB traffic. A surcharge of $ 0.02 for each additional MB will apply for traffic over 500 MB.
• Our Freeside servers allow self-service signup for new accounts from any web browser. This allows visitors, for example, to easily enjoy our wireless broadband access for an hour, a day, or a month.
• Automatic billing. Instead of Bruce Paige laboriously receiving and recording each user's payments and connecting and disconnecting accounts, sending e-mail reminders, making phone calls, and knocking on doors, our Freeside system handles all accounting and billing beginning March 1, 2007. Users can view their usage and account balance on-line, pay their bills via credit card or direct bank debit manually or automatically, or pay with prepaid cards purchased at City Hall or local merchants (coming soon).
• Members have received "payment receipt" e-mails from billing@gustavus.ak.us showing a false credit balance. Because of delays in getting the automated billing functioning, the system was recording payments but not charges. That should be fixed as of March 1, 2007.

Broadband Changes - Complete as of April 24, 2007

GCN currently offers wireless broadband service in certain areas, as well as DSL service to City Hall. For more information, see our broadband access discussion.

• Connection to the GCN wireless broadband network now requires a valid GCN broadband account. Using hotspot technology in our core router, users are presented with a login page when they attempt to access the Internet with their web browser. To gain access to the Internet they need to enter a GCN user name or password with a valid broadband account. There will be a link so they can use the self-service signup feature if they do not have an account or need to upgrade from dial-up to broadband.
• Nothing in this project will expand broadband coverage. Community-wide broadband is an entirely separate project revitalized April 1, 2007 after a year of no progress. At this point we expect completion by the end of summer, 2008.

Project Management

1. Mount the two servers in the rack in the library boiler room. Done.
   1. Remove the 3Com hub as it is not in use.
   2. Consider moving the Portmaster to the top or bottom of the available space
   3. Mount the two servers.
2. Hook the servers up. Done.
   1. Plug the keyboard, mouse, and video for each server into the KVM switch by the monitor. Additional cables sets should be located in one of the cardboard boxes in the boiler room.
   2. For server "Gustavus-Public," connect a CAT-5 patch cable from the Ethernet port on the server to any available jack on the back of the IDirect satellite modem, in the same area where the other patch cables are plugged in (the right side when looking at the back of the modem).
   3. For server "Gustavus-Private," connect a patch cable from its Ethernet port to any available jack on the Cisco Catalyst switch.
   4. Plug in the power cables and turn on the servers.
3. Provide access for SISD to the private server on SSH (port 22) - Nate. Done.
4. Get Ivan LDAP connectivity information or root access so he can import accounts and passwords from the current GCN system to the new billing server. This will create unlinked accounts. We will create customer records and link them to accounts. He will provision onto public server. Done.
5. When that is done we can start using the new system for authentication and accounting of dial-up users right away. Done.
6. The next step will be transitioning the e-mail services. Done.
7. Install core router. Done.
8. Set up bandwidth management on core router. Done.
9. Set up hotspot functionality on core router. Done.
10. Set up services and packages in Freeside. Done.
11. Obtain merchant services account. Done.
12. Set up payment processing in Freeside. Done.
13. Customize invoices and customer interface with GCN links. Create usage reports. Done.