As some of you may have noticed when attempting to access
the Questel.Orbit online services on Monday (2/8/99), there
was a disconnection in service between the hours of 10:50
am and 2:30 pm EST. A major power cable was severed in
the McLean, VA area, causing a power outage in much of the
surrounding area. As a consequence, not only were the
Questel.Orbit (and Orbit) services unavailable, but we were
unable to receive incoming telephone calls as well.
In order to maintain the highest quality telecommunication
and TCP/IP access to our services, we provide dedicated
lines from the U.S. directly to our host computers in France.
These lines are routed through our McLean facility and when
power was lost yesterday, unfortunately so was the system
access.
Fortunately we have multiple access to the Questel.Orbit
online services, including alternative TCP/IP and SprintNet
access.
1. TCP/IP --- If TELNET ORBIT.COM is not available, use
TELNET QUESTEL.QUESTEL.FR, which takes you to the
Questel.Orbit Common Access Menu.
2. Alternative Telecommunications Access ---Use the
SprintNet telecommunications network and enter:
QSTLE (to access the Questel.Orbit Common
Access Menu), or
ORBITE ( to go directly to Orbit)
Enter these alternate mnemonics during the
telecommunications log-in procedure in place of QSTL or
ORBIT, respectively. By using QSTLE or ORBITE, access
is routed to the Questel.Orbit host in France, thus avoiding
any telecommunications access problems in the U.S.
However, it is requested that you to use these alternative
SprintNet avenues as a secondary access route, meaning
only when normal access is unavailable in these unusual
circumstances. Should you change log-on scripts to access
the system via the alternative route, please remember to
remodify those scripts once the access problems have been
resolved-- which can be confirmed by the U.S. Help Desk.
We apologize for any inconvenience this disruption in service
may have caused, and should you wish assistance or further
clarification, please contact me or any member of the U.S.
Help Desk at 1-800-456-7248.
Lisa Gunther
Manager, Questel.Orbit Customer Services
lgunther@questel.orbit.com