The ISP marketplace is currently very competitive, resulting in low prices and service qualities that are generally good and getting better. ISPs have a steady revenue stream from which to plan future hardware upgrades to utilize technology advancements. As an example, all ISPs have 28.8k modems, and most have upgrade plans in the works. ISPs offer toll-free dialing to many parts of Orange County, the state of California, and in some cases, the world. UCI is unable to match this aspect of a remote service.
Network access is increasingly important to people, regardless of their employment or other status.
Students will come to UCI with pre-existing ISP accounts, and continue to need ISP service after graduation. UCI network connections are for University business only, but the temptation and ease of sharing remote access accounts for personal business and family use will be too strong to avoid. As a result, it is impossible to restrict UCI modem pools to University business. ISPs accounts are not restricted to University business in this manner.