Verizon DSL

[Dan Jenkins]

Ken D'Ambrosio wrote:
> Someone really should do a human interest story on MV at some point.  
> Even though (boo!  hiss!  Well, no...) they use BSD, they really are an 
> interesting success story.  I've used them on and off since I moved to 
> NH going on 13 years ago, now, and they've always been there.  [For 
> several years, the company I worked for, Summa Four, had 
> username at summa4.mv.com as their e-mail addresses, to boot.]  Unless I'm 
> woefully mistaken, they're actually one of the oldest extant ISPs 
> running... and they really are still customer oriented, instead of the 
> bizarre sweatshop-esque support crews at large ISPs.  Sadly, www.mv.com 
> seems to be down at the moment, so I can't scrounge up add'l info, but 
> I'd be interested in hearing their story.  Lastly, a trivia question: 
> what's MV stand for?

MV's site is up now for me, but I've been experiencing DNS problems at 
several clients this morning. This may have nothing to do with MV, 
because it is affecting some non-MV clients of mine too. In any event...

MV's history is here: http://www.mv.com/mv/enh/about-mv/history.shtml.
Their highpoints are:
> Incorporated on June 21, 1991, MV Communications is one of the oldest and most experienced ISPs in existence. We:
> 
>     * were one of the first companies to offer affordable Internet access to the public at large;
> 
>     * were one of the first to introduce high speed dialup access technology (first with Telebit 23000 baud, then the new 28.8Kb and 33.6Kb modems, and later "56k" and ISDN;
> 
>     * were one of the first to offer IP access on a casual dialup basis;
> 
>     * were one of the first to provide Internet domain registration and unique email mapping within those domains;
> 
>     * were one of the first independent ISPs to offer Frame Relay access in New Hampshire;
> 
>     * were a charter member of the national ISP/C organization;
> 
>     * were a founding member of the NH ISP Association and helped to provide the impetus for peering amongst local ISPs; 
> 
> The list goes on and on.
> 

MV was actually begun around 1986. "MV" stands for nothing. It could be 
pressed into service to mean Merrimack Valley. For that matter, it
could be Mark Victorious. (Mark Mallette being the founder.) ;-)

I've been using them in various forms since the early 90s and have 
nothing but praise for them.

And, yes, I agree they should get much more press. They are a definite 
old-fashioned success story: do the job right and have loyal customers.

(Something my company, Rastech, has been doing since 1984. Shameless 
plug. ;-)

-- 
Dan Jenkins (dan at rastech.com)
Rastech Inc., Bedford, NH, USA --- 1-603-206-9951
*** Technical Support for over a Quarter Century