> BTW, from the scuttlebutt I heard, Concentric had a major hardware
> failure in the shell side and decided to pull the plug rather than fix it.

Hi Rich.. follows is the reply from cris.com [concentric.net] regarding their pulling
shell access. The really bad things are: 1) there was no warning..  2)it left many
disabiled and others having to use shell completely cut off suddenly :(  I know a
number of people and organizations are emailing [log in to unmask] expressing
concern and hope that cris.com will re-institute shell so its subscribers can have
nation-wide access to the net.  Primenet by the way, does not have any Oklahoma
POPs ..  neither does http://www.crl.com/dialups.html .. but both have POPs in other
states.

another good resourse for more regional ISPs is:
http://cube.icestorm.com/shellrev/index.htm

 .... Cleo [log in to unmask]

-----

From:                   <[log in to unmask]>
Date sent:              Sun, 20 Jun 1999 12:41:23 -0400
Subject:                RE: Shell accounts :((( [SUP1999061900000212]
To:                     [log in to unmask]

Hello,

We do apologize for any inconveinence you may experience as a result of
the gateway removal.  However, we were unaware that our shell would go
down as unexpectedly as it did, nor were we able to prevent it.  I can
only believe that the decision to discontinue shell access was considered
strongly before it was announced to our customers that it would no longer
be a feature of our service.  As well, the anticipation of the dismissal
of shell service was imminent with the approach of Y2K. Service would have
most likely been ended at the end of this year.  At this time there are no
plans of implementing a new shell system in place of the old one.  If you
have any further questions or comments about Concentric's decision to
discontinue shell service, please address your concerns to
[log in to unmask] for further evaluation. Thank you,