Discussion:
Frontiernet: then and now
(too old to reply)
Greg Pratt
2005-07-16 20:46:42 UTC
Permalink
While rearranging some files on my home page, I ran across an old
archive of the frontiernet.general newsgroup, from 30 July 2001 through
5 September 2001. That was the period during which I finally saw the
writing on the wall; I ditched the dying Frontiernet and went with Panix,
never looking back.

Okay, that's not quite true. NOW I'm looking back, almost four years on.

A recap: during 2001, the formerly local & wonderful and (relatively)
geek-friendly ISP known as Frontiernet was spun off from Global Crossing
(which itself filed for bankruptcy less than a year later). I was told
that Global Crossing was keeping all the nice hardware, and that
Frontiernet, under the auspices of Citizens Telecom, would become just
another LCD (lowest common denominator) ISP. Its former hallmarks -- shell
access, reasonably good Usenet feeds, and better-than-average system
administrators -- were all to go the way of the dodo.

What actually happened to Frontiernet, other than some DNS changes and
people having to change their e-mail addresses? Someone who was in a
knowledgeable position at the time (no, not Karl Rove) sent me this via
e-mail: "Citizens is building their own Linux/NT systems to move the
Frontiernet users onto. So if you think [Frontiernet] bending under the
perpetual DoS mail load is bad, wait until you see what happens to them."

Who quit the old or new ISP groups? Who stayed with Global Crossing, and
got laid off later? Who stayed on as a Frontiernet customer? Are you
satisfied with what they became, or did you just stay with them due to
inertia? Did my source's predictions come true?
--
Gregory Pratt ***@panix.com
East Rutherford, NJ, USA http://www.panix.com/~gp/
"The only good spammer is a dead spammer."
PGP Key Fingerprint: DC60 FCDE 91E2 3D41 91A3 45DB B474 3D3A 3621 AAFE
Paul Wylie
2005-07-18 16:34:07 UTC
Permalink
In alt.primenet.recovery Greg Pratt <***@panix.com> wrote:
[...]
Post by Greg Pratt
A recap: during 2001, the formerly local & wonderful and (relatively)
geek-friendly ISP known as Frontiernet was spun off from Global Crossing
(which itself filed for bankruptcy less than a year later). I was told
that Global Crossing was keeping all the nice hardware, and that
Frontiernet, under the auspices of Citizens Telecom, would become just
another LCD (lowest common denominator) ISP. Its former hallmarks -- shell
access, reasonably good Usenet feeds, and better-than-average system
administrators -- were all to go the way of the dodo.
[...]

From the standpoint of Primenet subscribers, Frontiernet was a step
down/backwards. Before Frontier snatched up GlobalCenter (as Primenet was
known by then), the Primenetters had a nice, reliable, low-cost ISP with
good shell services and decent-to-good usenet service.

As Nathan Raciborski, the founder of Primenet put it, "These guys work for
a phone company and they bought us because they don't know how to make
money as an ISP. So what do they do? They ignore everything we've done
and try to remake our profitable ISP in their unprofitable ISP's image."

Of course, that said, Primenet was far from perfect. It's just that in
the days before the Frontier buyout, we always had direct feedback from
the folks in charge, and we believed they cared and were doing everything
they could to improve things. Once the Frontier merger happened, we found
our cries falling on deaf ears. Dave Stoddard from Frontiernet once
showed up at a FroGloFest and bought all of our lunches in a vain attempt
to convince us that his plans for our future would make us all happy, but
overall, there was an immediate and serious clash of cultures--one that
would prove insoluble.

The best thing I can say about Frontier is that their selloff of
Primenet's customers to Earthlink/Mindspring in the spring of 2001 finally
prompted me to switch to Panix. Panix is everything Primenet ever hoped
to be, and everything Primenet's noisiest customers ever hoped it would
be.

I don't miss Frontiernet nor its staff. I miss the good folks from
Primenet, though.

--Paul
** Note "removemunged" in email address and remove to reply. **
a***@MIX.COM
2005-07-18 18:48:19 UTC
Permalink
Post by Paul Wylie
Once the Frontier merger happened, we found
our cries falling on deaf ears. Dave Stoddard from Frontiernet once
showed up at a FroGloFest and bought all of our lunches in a vain attempt
to convince us that his plans for our future would make us all happy, but
overall, there was an immediate and serious clash of cultures--one that
would prove insoluble.
Yea - they were all liars amongst a user community that used to get the
truth. If that can be called a "culture clash".. I'd call it more like
a bunch of weasals getting hammered by their own lack of performance.
Post by Paul Wylie
I don't miss Frontiernet nor its staff. I miss the good folks from
Primenet, though.
Yes they were and still are decent people...

Billy Y..
Sidne Gail Ward
2005-07-27 17:01:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by a***@MIX.COM
Post by Paul Wylie
I don't miss Frontiernet nor its staff. I miss the good folks from
Primenet, though.
Yes they were and still are decent people...
Me, too....

(Yeah, I remember enough about Usenet to know I'm not supposed to just
post "me, too". I'm doing it anyway...)

Sidne
--
Sidne Gail Ward
***@computonet.com
KD
2005-07-28 00:33:44 UTC
Permalink
Post by Sidne Gail Ward
(Yeah, I remember enough about Usenet to know I'm not supposed to just
post "me, too". I'm doing it anyway...)
I never liked that rule. Go for it if you're so moved!

-KD

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