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From: karl@ddsw1.mcs.com (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Do Modem Users Congest The Phone Network?
Message-ID: <telecom-v09i0536m09@chinacat.lonestar.org>
Date: 29 Nov 89 19:35:18 GMT
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Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger)
Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 536, message 9 of 10

In article <telecom-v09i0534m08@chinacat.lonestar.org> jbw@bucsf.bu.edu
(Joe Wells) writes:

>In article <246@cfa.HARVARD.EDU> wyatt@cfa.HARVARD.EDU (Bill Wyatt) writes:
>   I don't want extra charges either, but in addition to the above
>   consideration, modem calls are not the same simply because they
>   usually last much longer than a voice call. Somewhere I read an
>   estimate that if only 20% of household had modems in regular use,
>   the phone system would be hoplessly bogged down.

>If 20% of households were simultaneously engaged in any kind of calls,
>large sections of the phone system would be hopelessly bogged down.  If
>they were all long distance calls, it would be even worse.  Modem use
>isn't necessary for the calls to hurt phone system performance.

That may be true, but the contention that all modem users are pigs and
sit online for hours while no one else does is ludicrous.

Some modem users use the modem to get their information and then sign
off.  Some stay online.

Some voice users use the phone to get their information and hang up.
Some, like the teenagers I know, call sit and talk for literally HOURS
at a time, every day!  I have a few friends who have a teen, and they
are on the phone more than I am with my modem - - yet I am a >heavy<
modem user!

There isn't a difference here.

When the FCC surcharges all families with a teen in the house (on the
premise that some teens will abuse the phone network with multi-hour
long calls) then I will accept that modem users should be subjected to
the same thing.  Not until then.


Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910]
Macro Computer Solutions, Inc.		"Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"