NOTE WELL: As announced January 24 2007 by OIT through a variety of media, this service was discontinued on July 1 2007. A copy of the text of the announcement is available in the OIT KnowledgeBase. As a result, the information in this document is historic.
OIT's Remote Access Services allows members of the Princeton University community a way to connect to the campus network from home or while travelling.
Supported services include:
Our primary service is a charged service; it provides 23 modems that support speeds up to 56,000 bits per second. (We also provide an older limited charged service with 6 modems that support speeds up to 33,600 bits per second.) We also provide a limited non-charged service with 14 modems that support speeds up to 33,600 bits per second.
Remote Access services are available based upon OIT LDAP Directory accounts and passwords. To use Remote Access, you must have an entry in the OIT LDAP Directory, the entry must have an OIT netid assigned (technically an LDAP uid field), and the entry must have an LDAP password. Additionally, the OIT netid must contain no dots (johndoe is fine; john.doe is not).
We provide three separate services, each with its own telephone number:
This service supports speeds up to 56,000 bps; supported standards include V.32, V.32bis, V.34, V.34bis, V.42bis, V.42, K56Flex version 1.1, and V.90.
The server will attempt to disconnect any sessions that appear to be idle for more than 4 hours. (Some protocols may generate background traffic even when you are doing nothing; that may prevent the server from believing you are idle. Therefore you should always disconnect yourself when you are done using the server, rather than assume the server will eventually disconnect you on its own.)
This is an older service than our mainstream charged service, and is not the service that one would normally choose to use. At the time of this writing, the service includes 6 lines; there are no plans to add more lines.
This service supports speeds up to 33,600 bps; supported standards include V.32, V.32bis, V.34, V.34bis, V.42bis, and V.42.
The server will attempt to disconnect any sessions that appear to be idle for more than 4 hours. (Some protocols may generate background traffic even when you are doing nothing; that may prevent the server from believing you are idle. Therefore you should always disconnect yourself when you are done using the server, rather than assume the server will eventually disconnect you on its own.)
This service supports speeds up to 33,600 bps; supported standards include V.32, V.32bis, V.34, V.34bis, V.42bis, and V.42. (There are no plans at this time to add support for higher-speeds; use the Charged Service for higher speeds.)
You are expected to limit your use of the non-charged service to no more than 15 minutes per day. Individuals who repeatedly use the non-charged service for extended periods of time may be blocked from the non-charged service.
The server will disconnect any sessions that last more than 60 minutes.
If you have very modest remote access needs, the non-charged service may be all you need. Otherwise, you should use the charged service.
If you use the Non-Charged service (phone 258-0430), you are not charged (hence the name). You are expected to limit your use of Non-Charged service to no more than fifteen minutes per day.
If you use either of the Charged services (phones 806-1000 or 258-0043), you will be billed for your use of the service. You may choose from either of the following charging methods:
If you are a student, by default your charges will be billed to your student account (i.e. regular University billing). If you are a faculty or staff member, by default your charges will be billed to the same University account that pays for your University telephone. Other billing options for faculty, staff, and students include specifying another University account, or a major credit card.
You may change your charging method (between Standard and Bulk), or billing destination (among a student account, specify a University account, or a major credit card). To change either, use this form.
Step-by-step instructions for using Remote Access services are available for the following configurations:
If your configuration is not covered by one of the documents above, you are on your own in obtaining appropriate software and configuring it for use. You will need to consult Technical Info for Other Configurations to learn some of the technical parameters you will need. (You won't need to consult this if you have one of the support systems above.)
If you're encountering difficulty, before contacting the OIT Help Desk, you may wish to review the Known Bugs for the Remote Access Service.
You may also find the 56K Modem Troubleshooting Guide helpful; that document is published by 56K.COM.
Residential customers looking for higher-speed alternatives may wish to consider commercial Internet Service Providers who sell DSL-based or cable modem-based connections to the home.
Although OIT does not sell DSL or cable-modem service, OIT Technology Integration Services publishes a list of several local providers in Broadband: High-speed internet access in the Princeton area .
Current announcements:
Past announcements of changes are also available: