Over The Edge Page 2 News October 22, 2001 Residence Internet Lucky: An Unfortunate Martyr Limitations Changes to Internet Services Make Students Pay More For Less By: Dana Schwehr Internet services at UNBC have _ undergone some recent changes recently. Starting in September, CTS (Computer and Telecommunication Services)- increased the cost of Internet services in Residence from $25 for the entire year to $25 a month. Also, a limit on how much in formation students can download _has been put into effect. Students are allowed to download 100 megabytes of information a day, and no more than 500 megabytes a week. According to Patrick Mann, Director of CTS, restrictions have become necessary due to limits on the system. Too much traffic from the residence network -slows down Internet access for the entire school. The fact that all external traffic is handled by Telus limits the amount of traffic the school’s internet service can process. Telus provides the school with an E10 Ubiquity line, which is sup- posed to have a “best effort” transfer rate of ten megabits per second (Mbps). The uni- versity shares this line with all other Telus users. When there are many people using the connection, and downloading a large amount of information, the rates of individual downloads decrease. Communications between the _ different regional campuses can suf- fer as a result of this. Cost is also a factor in the new restrictions. UNBC has to pay for the bandwidth, or how fast information can be downloaded, as well as the usage, or how much has actually been downloaded. These standard charges end up being around five to six thousand dollars a month. Even with approxi- mately three hundred stu- dents in Residence paying traffic,” for Internet usage, this is not enough to cover costs, according to Mann. It also does not cover the cost of staff, so Internet service on campus is heavily subsi- dized by UNBC. Unfortunately for resi- dence students, there is currently no alternative to the service offered by UNBC. In early September, Shaw@Home offered to students the opportunity to get cable internet’ in Residence. UNBC quickly put a stop to the plan, how- ever, as Shaw did not con- sult the university first. UNBC likes all providers of services to have a contract before they start offering services. Shaw is currently negotiating with the univer- sity, and is to submit a pro- posal on the matter, but no decisions have been reached as yet. CTS is actively looking for ways to improve band- width at the university. UNBC is a member of the Optical Research Advanced Network (ORAN), which is a federal initiative that runs research networks across Canada, as well as supply- ing funding for research. Research is conducted to find ways to improve net- working, and UNBC is the designated ORAN for British Columbia. UNBC is currently working on a high- speed inter-university net- work, which should be up and running sometime next year. This network would be OC3, with transfer rates of 155Mbps, and would be dedicated to research and education. “We’ll never get unlimited access, since there is a cost for Internet says Mann. However, the technology is improving enough to make up for that fact. By: Diane Hypolite Lucky, the badly abused five month old bull terrier has become an example to the Prince George community, a symbol for the growing intol- erance of animal abuse. Since her case has gone public there have been many reactions from outrage to sadness. Since then people have banded together and have raised around $3000 for the SPCA in order to help injured animals. In a rather twisted way, Lucky’s misfor- tune has been a blessing in disguise in the way of boost- ing community morale and bringing to the fore front the fact that such abuse is reality and we must not try to bury the fact any longer. Lucky’s injuries are being seen to, however, and every- one is confident that the puppy will find a loving home, as soon as the operation is complete. Due to being kicked, thrown down stairs, and repeatedly beaten in a lame attempt to ‘toughen’ her up, the small terrier has sus- tained multiple breaks, frac- tures, and bruises, both new and old. Her owner, one Tony Robert Easthom, a thirty-two year old man, is facing seven charges both criminal and provincial. Among them is for uttering threats against a police officer, and uttering threats against a neighbor. He is due in court October 30, where the decision shall be made in regards to fines and possible jail time. The SPCA and com- munity volunteers in a valiant attempt to raise money for Lucky’s surgery hosted a dance on the 13th of this month. The Bow Wow Boogie was held at the Roll- A-Dome where a variety of activities were offered includ- ing dancing and tarot card reading. A beer garden was available with bartenders from CNC Hospitality Club, and beer from _ Pacific Western Brewery. All the music was supplied by Good Vibrations. The evening was a relaxed affair with people concentrating on having a good time, and everywhere you looked was a smiling face. On speaking to a few people the general consen- sus seems to be that people are unwilling to keep quiet if a wrong is being committed. As Dee Jones stated, ani- mals, unlike children, cannot speak up if something is wrong which makes them even more vulnerable. It is our duty to protect those weaker then ourselves. Jeanine Woodhouse, another volunteer, said that the legis- lation needs to be changed. According to the law, inter- vention can only be applied if an animal is in critical dis- tress, and by the time help arrives, it may sometimes be too late. Ten and a half year old Anastasia Tanaschiuk summed it up when she said ‘| think people should think really long and hard about their animals. They shouldn't ever forget their responsibili- ties.’ NUGSS ELECTION RESULTS The Board of Directors of NUGSS is pleased to announce the results of the recent bi-election held October 9th and 10th, 2001. The results are as follows: Director of External Affairs Vote Count: Nedinska MacEachern Director of Campus Activities i Vote Count: 69 97 69 67 Candidate: 61 Chris Fraser Imran Jessa 97 College of Science and Management Vote Count: 82 136 The Board warmly welcomes our new directors: Nedinska, Melanie and Imran. Congrats Cats!!