Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!
From: prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Quantum Link - telecommunication at it's poorest
Message-ID: 
Date: 12 Dec 88 17:59:28 GMT
Sender: prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle)
Lines: 72

I recently signed up with the Quantum Link on-line telecommunications service.
My impressions over the past two weeks have little to do with the quality of
the services offered online because it has been very difficult to get the
telecommunication link to operate reliably enough for me to explore the
services (though what I have seen is pretty mediocre compared with GEnie for
example).

QLINK utilizes Tymnet Inc. to provide local dialup access to their computers
in Vienna, VA. (Telenet Inc. access may also be available in certain areas).
The Quantum Link software internally initiates the Tymnet logon, and therein
lies the first problem: before Tymnet can test a potentially noisy line,
they have to know which node it is, but QLINK software masks that logon
dialog, so you can never find this out; QLINK software has no alternative
manual login to Tymnet option.  Furthermore, the initial dialog between the
QLINK software and Tymnet sometimes goes awry, leaving you only with a string
of + signs across the screen, and no connection.

If you do successfully make it past the Tymnet logon, the QLINK software
connects with their computers, sends your account info and current validation
code, and updates your disk with a new validation code to be used the next
time you log in.  From that point on, everything (menus, text, downloads, etc.)
is received in a bizarre packet format; packets are either very long (>1000
bytes) or many smaller packets are streamed over without acknowledgement
(it's difficult to tell just from the lights on the modem).
This process is often (but not always) very prone to erroneous receptions; data
are not displayed until received error free; retransmissions are many; long idle
delays occur (10-20 seconds typical) during reception; and if the idle time
extends to 50 or 60 seconds, the QLINK software declares that the connection
has been broken and simply dies.  As you can well imagine, such nonsense is
especially annoying during downloads which are charged at $.08/minute even
when you are waiting for the menus to complete.  There is no provision to
interrupt a download that is not going well (e.g. a supposed 3 minute
download that has gone 10 minutes and still declares that only 10% of the
download has completed); you can only hang up, reboot, and call again!

All this, you understand, is taking place on a C128/Avatex Modem setup which
has had rock-solid 1200 baud communication for years with the likes of
Compuserve, GEnie, and various VAXen and SUNs using such renowned telecom
software as XMOBUF, VIDTEX, IMP, and KERMIT.  It is only QLINK and/or their
software that is unreliable.

Their customer service people apparently don't talk to each other - the first
I called told me it must be Tymnet's fault and told me to call their customer
service.  The second told me I must "patch" my QLINK software to use Tymnet and
proceeded to describe how to download (at my cost!) the patch program.  I did
both of these, experiencing only slight improvement.  Another customer service
person proclaimed that QLINK software doesn't work on any C64 or C128 if there
are any peripherals attached!!!!  She suggested that I must disconnect my 1581
drive, my printer, my 1750 RAM expansion, my mouse, and my joystick to use
QLINK - I jokingly asked if it might work better if I disconnected the monitor
also!  When asked why, she said that is what she was told to say, and that
she uses her C64 every day without problem, so it must be true.

Now, as both an Electrical Engineer, and a Software Engineer with considerable
C64/C128 hardware and software experience, I can assure you that there is
absolutely no reasonable explanation why C64 telecommunications software would
ever require removal of peripherals, especially since none of the aforementioned
peripherals utilize the same port as the modem, none generate interrupts
to the system when quiescent, and none modify or override the internal C64/C128
kernal ROMs.  Clearly there are only two possibilities: 1) this
is some sort of excuse they've concocted to make user's believe that the C64
is some kind of substandard machine and they should be happy with even poor
telecommunications quality vs. none at all; or 2) their software is severely
botched and they neither want to admit it nor fix it.

I have one final call in to QLINK, supposedly to be returned by someone with
an inkling of technical knowledge.  I also have my cancellation letter ready
to mail, because it just isn't worth the headache.

Sincerely,
Frank Prindle
Prindle@NADC.arpa