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Re: (ASCEND) K56flex NOT reporting user's receive speed in RADIUS



        Todd Vierling claimed:

>I've now confirmed the question I raised earlier, that 5.0Ap7 does *NOT*
>report the connect rate the user sees (the K56flex rate) in RADIUS
>accounting for the Ascend-Data-Rate parameter, but rather 31200 (our most
>common transmit rate for K56flex) or 33600.  Now, I'd consider this a TR,
>but Ascend techs are telling me to raise it as a feature enhancement.
>
>Show of hands: Who considers this a TR?  Who considers this a FE?

        If (and only if) the description above is accurate,
        it is a Hands Down Winner!!  TR all the way!!       :-)

        Given the level of (understandable) confusion that WILL
        exist in the mind of the users, I expect that there will
        be many calls to our 800-number support staff asking:

                "OK, I have a 56K modem, you say that you 
                support 56K, so why can't I get a 56K connection?"

        Now, since these calls cost us money AND are damaging
        to customer good-will, we need to be able to:

           A)   Be proactive (just like we could before 56K)
                and run scans through the radius data to find 
                users who are not connecting at "decent speeds", 
                so that we can suggest that they contact their 
                telco about line quality BEFORE they call us
                to complain.

           B)   Get accurate info from the Maxen on this issue,
                just as we could before 56K.

        Therefore, THIS IS A BUG, since the "upgrade" to 56K
        should not "break" a fairly basic feature that has
        been available from Ascend on all prior products.

        It should be obvious even to the casual observer that
        "connection speed" is going to once again be a hot
        issue, just as it was when 28.8kbps was first rolled out.
        It matters not what the throughput is, and you can talk
        until you are blue in the face about "overall performance",
        the bottom line is that the user/customer will expect
        to connect "at 56K".
      
        If an ISP was to charge "extra" for 56Kbps service, and
        the user claimed that he was unable to connect at anything
        above 33.6K, how would the matter be addressed, debugged,
        and resolved without such features?

        It looks like 56K is going to be "a pain" until this
        bug is fixed (if the report above is accurate), since 
        Maxen simply will not know/tell what is going on.


	    Consciousness: that annoying time between naps

james fischer                                jfischer@supercollider.com

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