Internet Access and the ACCC

When it comes to providing Internet access, what the ACCC does is no different from what commercial Internet providers do. We provide the application software to use on the Internet -- the Network Services Kit -- and Internet access to use the NSKit applications with.

ACCC on-campus network connections:

UIC-Net in campus offices and labs, Res-Net in campus dorm rooms, and a limited number of UNAS-UIC (UIC Network Access Stations) laptop plug-in stations in Science and Engineering Laboratory (SEL) and the Daley Library.

ACCC off-campus phone/modem connections:

the ACCC dialin lines.

Even if you normally use a commercial ISP, dialin or cable/DSL, there might be times that you want to use an ACCC dialin line or to bring your home computer in to UIC and use it with a campus network. That's absolutely no problem. All you need is define a dial-up or network configuration for each connection method that you use.

The NSKit configuration pages specifically include instructions on how to set up a single personal computer for both dialin and network connections and how to specify the connection method you want to use as your default.

Also, you certainly can use NSKit applications when you connect using a commercial ISP; almost all of them will work without modification with any ISP. There are some consequences, however, as explained in Warning: When you connect through an commercial ISP, you are not "on the UIC campus".

In particular, if you connect to UIC using another ISP, you cannot use the ACCC's sending email SMTP servers and you will be asked to authenticate using Bluestem when you visit some university-restricted Web sites.

Faculty and staff, contact your department's REACH member to arrange for a UIC-Net network connection. Don't know who that is? There's a search form on the ACCC REACH Web site, http://www.accc.uic.edu/reach/, or call the CSO at (312)413-0003 and they'll look it up for you.

Students living in on-campus dorms, visit http://www.accc.uic.edu/lan/res-net/ to apply for your personal Res-Net connection. You must open your ACCC account before you can apply for a Res-Net connection. See Accounts, Netids, and Password Changes.

Except for Dialin-Express, which has a 30-minute connection time limit, all the ACCC dialin lines' telephone numbers are off campus, and you will be charged by the minute on your campus phone bill if you dial in using them from on campus. Having your computer connected to the campus ethernet backbone is a much better, faster, and cheaper alternative.

Any member of the UIC community, student, faculty, or staff, can use the ACCC dialin services. There are no UIC charges involved. Even though the ACCC dialin lines are "free," there are three important reasons why you might not want to use them.

1. We continually monitor the ACCC lines and improve them as we can, but we can't guarantee one will always be available when you want it.

2. They are not always really free. When you're dialing in from reasonably far off campus, the per-minute telephone charge to connect to the ACCC dialin lines' (312)666 and (312)413 exchanges can add up very quickly.

3. You want or need a really fast home connection.

If either of the first two are issues for you, consider subscribing to a commercial Internet dialin service provider that has a "no busy signal" guarantee and local access telephone numbers that are convenient when you're at home and/or when you're traveling. If the third is your most important consideration, look into a home cable or DSL connection.

For more information on how to choose an ISP, see Connecting at Home -- Finding an ISP.