MTA
From WWR
Matanuska Telephone Association (MTA) is the DSL provider that WWR uses. The connection provided by MTA in Talkeetna is the starting place for the audio data on its way to you. Two data streams, one for low-speed and one for high-speed, are sent from the main WWR computer in Talkeetna through the MTA connection to Anchorage, then on to Seattle and eventually to Fremont, California near San Francisco where EGI Hosting (formerly Bean-Net) maintains one of their data centers. Listeners actually tune-in to the EGI computers in Fremont which are able to support a large number of people simultaneously listening to the stream.
History
WWR's has a checkered history with MTA. They are the only high-speed internet provider in Talkeetna. Jimbob was among their first Talkeetna customers, if not the first. Initially MTA provided unlimited bandwidth, but within a few months sent notices to high-bandwidth customers that they were going to be charged extra for anything over 10 gigabytes (gigs) per month. Esther met with MTA several times in Wasilla to discuss the hardship this extra monthly cost created for WWR and that we might have to shut it down. She was told the reason for charging high-bandwidth users a premium had something to do with all the pornography on the internet.
MTA was generous in providing a $XX donation per month for XX months in order for WWR to continue operating. It was this substantial increase in monthly bandwidth cost that prompted WWR to begin semi-actively accepting listener donations and to provide a monthly expenditures page on the WWR website.
WWR eventually installed a second telephone line in order to have two 10-gig-per-month accounts which was cheaper than a single account using 20-30 gigs per month. Jimbob frequently ranted about the extremely high costs MTA charged because they have a monopoly on DSL in Talkeetna. He researched getting a satellite internet connection but determined that the high upload bandwidth requirement of WWR made this option unfeasable.
MTA provided an online "bandwidth usage" page for their customers but Jimbob proved many times that the statistics reported on the page were extremely inaccurate and seldom corresponded with the bandwidth usage billed at the end of the month. The WWR EJs were responsible for downloading the daily MTA bandwidth usage and posting it to the WWR website. The page was later removed from MTA website but reasons for its removal were not given.
Having two telephone lines required Jimbob to remember to switch to the other phone line around the 15th of each month so monthly bandwidth usage would be divided evenly between the two lines. It was not necessary to physically plug the other phone line into the computer, but only disconnect and sign back on with the internet userid associated with the second phone line. (MTA did not advertise the fact that this was possible, but Jimbob did it for months.) Jimbob frequently forgot to switch over to the other ID resulting in Esther's wrath at the end of each month when the MTA bills arrived. Sometimes one line would have used 6 to 8 gigs usage while the other racked up more than 32 gigs. Since extra bandwidth charges were exhorbitant, every bit of overage on the 10 gigs really pissed Esther off.
Current status
In March of 2006, Huna notified WWR that MTA was offering an "unlimited bandwidth" DSL package called Go! Play Plus for $139.99 per month. Esther ordered the package and canceled the previous internet account associated with the second WWR phone line. The package is supposed to provide 768 kbps upload and download speed but real-life tests by Jimbob indicate more like 200 kbps upload and 512 kbps download. Regardless, this new package opens up for the first time the possibility of WWR being able to upload a 128 kbps stream.
