Network Quality

One of our primary goals has always been to provide our subscribers with the highest quality network service possible.

Over the past few years, we have made many upgrades to our networking equipment, operating systems and data lines. These upgrades have resulted in significant improvements in network performance and reliability.

Yet, subscribers still occasionally experience "slow" connections to certain Internet sites! How can this be?

Network Components

The reasons can best be explained by looking at the network components. These components are: your computer, the telephone wiring in your home, the telephone wiring from your home to the NYNEX Central Office (switch), the Cove's network and the rest of the Internet. Each of these components plays a role in the quality of your Internet connection.

Your Computer

Most potential problems were addressed by the technician who performed your installation, however you should be aware that adding certain communications software programs to your computer after being installed with our software suite may introduce conflicts. These conflicts may "confuse" your computer, slowing down performance. If you are unsure about adding a software package, please call the office.

Home Telephone Wiring

Many homes in our service area are quite old and much of the telephone wiring is also old. While old wiring may be OK for telephones, it often is not good enough for modems - particularly 28.8kbps modems.

NYNEX Telephone Cables

Our region was the first in the nation to be cabled for telephone service. This means that there is a lot of old cable on our streets! In addition, our wide temperature variations and salty sea air introduce "noise" into the cabling. Modems have error correction features which block out this "noise," but this takes time, making the connection seem "slow." Many of you notice bad connections when it is raining and when the season changes.

Rest of the Internet

If you think of the Internet as a highway, it is easy to understand why connecting to a site can sometimes be slow! During certain hours of the day, the Internet experiences "rush hours" similar to those on 128.

Also on occasion, the site you are trying to reach may be "down" for repairs. This explains why you may visit a site frequently, yet sometimes not be able to access it at all.

Cove's Network

The last scheduled analysis of our network revealed that, on average, it takes less than 20 milliseconds, or 2 hundredths of a second, to "go" through our network out into the Internet. That's fast!

A utility program, called traceroute, shows the path taken from within our network, through the Internet, to the site chosen.

We now have made this utility available to you! If you are having trouble reaching a site and want to see where the delay is, just follow these steps:

Step 1 - make a note of the site's "address" (e.g., http://www.xyz.com/etc/)

Step 2 - go to our Help Page and click on Traceroute

Step 3 - enter the "address" and press your Enter key.

The first three resulting entries (four for Cape Ann) shown are within our network, the rest are Internet routes. The numbers to the left represent the fastest, average and slowest times taken to travel through each route.

Have You Noticed?

Our new local newsgroups are accessible from our pages - just click on them to read and post messages.

The BulletinBoard, Employment and ForSale groups are on the Local Community Page. The TechTips group is on the Help Page and the Municipalities and Schools groups are on the Public Opinion Page.

Don't You Hate Busy Signals?

We do! That's why you get our voicemail if we are busy on the other lines. If this happens, please leave a message - we will promptly return your call!

When leaving a message, please leave your name and phone number, so we know who you are and how to contact you. Thanks!

Internet Training

We will now also be posting our monthly training schedule on The Cove's Help Page.

There will be no classes held in Cape Ann during March.

Classes will be held at the Cove in Salem on the 17th and 24th, from 6pm to 9pm.