Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uhnix1!moray!urchin!p6.f889.n106.z1.fidonet.org!DON.KIMBERLIN
From: DON.KIMBERLIN@p6.f889.n106.z1.fidonet.org (DON KIMBERLIN)
Newsgroups: alt.cosuard
Subject: THOUGHT
Message-ID: <10200.25B331F3@urchin.fidonet.org>
Date: 13 Jan 90 18:43:00 GMT
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DA>LMS, if done properly, is about the sanest way to charge for service.
DA>The rates need to be much lower than rates currently in use in many 
DA>parts of the country. This makes phone lines essentially free to thos
DA>who use them sparsely, and reasonable for those of us who tie them up
DA>for hours and hours.

..I agree with the theory, Dan.  What I object to is the practice.
..First, of waiting to get LMS until the flat rate price is high enough,
then NEVER reducing the flat rate price, calling the instituting of LMS
a way to "avoid" rate increases.  That's the way it's always done.
..Second, the crazy-quilt way it gets structured with multiple counts
charged to some places but not to others, in a way that the caller
cannot reasonably outguess, then presenting the heap of pulse counts in
bulk on the bill.  And, cases of the "meter getting stuck" are more
common than people know about!
..Would you like to authorize your power, water company or gas company
to charge several rates for their product depending on where they got it
from..dynamically, in a way nobody could figure out, different for every
account, changing monthly?
..Would you authorize your power, water or gas company to keep the meter
down in their plant and never let you see it..only tell you what it
said?

I'mnot disagreeing with you at all..only raising points we should be
wary of rather than jumping into LMS without question.  That's the sort
of thing the sharks we are after want us to do.
DA>---
DA> * Via ProDoor 3.1 
DA>                                                        
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