Tonight I made the decision to stop using MAUG for downloading, and I'd like to tell you why. I am the software librarian for the Arizona Macintosh User's Group (AMUG), and for the past year or so I have averaged spending $100 of the group's funds per month using Compuserve to up- and download software for the benefit of club members here in Arizona. Our group has over 300 members, many of whom are also regular MAUG visitors. My reason for quitting in favor of alternative services is the terrible transmission quality I have experienced with MAUG for the last four months. My experiences tonight will serve as a typical example:
Tonight I downloaded a file consisting of 362 blocks. Using XMODEM at 1200 baud I experienced 109 errors- about 25% were transmission errors, the rest were timeout errors. It took 32 minutes (i.e., it cost $6.40)- if there had been no errors I figure it should have taken about 18 minutes ($3.60).
Meanwhile, the DL listings were so garbaged up I could hardly read them. I screen dumped a few of them as examples:
As you can see, this does not make for easy downloading, particularly when the garbage characters occur in the instruction lines.
I tried fooling with the timeout delay settings that had served me so well in the past, but to no avail: first 189 blocks, 52 errors; then 121 blocks, 33 errors.
This problem has been growing worse for the past four months and in my estimation my Group has been paying as much for timeout errors as it has for software, and I cannot continue letting it happen. Our Group members have uploaded a great deal of software to MAUG, and we have been very conscientious about supporting Shareware (they get a lecture from me on the subject every month), and about distributing only software that is meant to be distributed; but we are not getting our money's worth lately.
To give MAUG/Compuserve the benefit of the doubt, I've considered some possible explainations:
• Is it my modem or phone line?- Nope- after wrestling with MAUG tonight I turned to GEnie and downloaded over 300 blocks with zero errors- none! In fact, I don't recall _ever_ getting an error of any kind on GEnie, and it's faster to boot.
• Is it my software?- Nope- it happens with MacTerminal, Red Ryder, MicroPhone, you name it.
• Is it the quality of the local (Phoenix) Compuserve access line (256-2951)? If so, there should be a lot more letters like this one.
• Is it the time of day? It is Sunday evening (a busy time, I'm sure) as I write this, but it was just as bad when I tried on a Wednesday at three in the morning.
I am not a communications expert, and it is possible that I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not doing anything differently than I did a year ago, when I got at most 5 errors per 100 blocks downloaded. Lately it has been 30-40. There is nothing more frustrating than watching the screen record 12 successive timeout errors, knowing that Compuserve is still going to bill you for the time. At times I've even found myself disconnected without logging off, and that gets expensive, too.
If any of you have comments or advice on this matter I appreciate your help. I will continue to use MAUG for the Apple User's Group Forum, and so I will be able to recieve and answer Email. Is anyone out there having similar experiences?
