NCIS
From Kidsnet Support Wiki
This page describes North Country Internet Service (NCIS), an ISP which services some of the labs involved in Kidsnet.
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Who is NCIS?
NCIS, or North Country Internet Service, is a small Internet service provider based in Mora, Minnesota. NCIS is owned and operated by a man named Gary Lakeberg.
When spoken, the letters N-C-I-S are usually spelled out, but one may occasionally hear it pronounced as nick-sys.
NCIS's primary product is their dial-up access, but they also offer wireless access via 802.11b in certain areas. Their SDSL access is also rising in popularity since the service's prices went down in the last year or two (they teamed up with YouBetNet to buy loops from Qwest in bulk, thus cutting the final cost down significantly).
NCIS is known for its personal service and flexible product offerings. However, they are also known for having long turnaround times on support calls since Lakeberg is often the only person available to handle them.
POPs
The main offices of NCIS are located on Central Avenue in Mora, just north of Lake Mora. The main floor of the building houses NCIS's business office, while the basement serves as their datacenter. Most of the equipment that makes NCIS's services work is housed here.
NCIS also has some equipment installed at the Qwest central office on Lake Street in Mora. This equiment serves most of their DSL customers.
Wireless subscribers to the north will find their access point located high atop a pine tree behind the Central Avenue office (ncis5); downtown customers get their signal from a stick on the roof of the Mora Mini Mall (ncis4). Former locations included an AP at the end of Westwood Circle, and one a few miles west of Mora on County Road 6.
Bandwidth
NCIS currently obtains all its bandwidth from regional Internet service provider Onvoy in the form of two T1s.
Charity
Throughout time, NCIS has shown much generosity to Lone Pine and its sucessors. They have provided large amounts of hardware and software; as well as dial-up, wireless, DSL, and co-location services; and countless hours of assistance by phone and in person. In fact, the Kidsnet server that hosts this wiki is located in NCIS's datacenter!
