Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!decwrl!limbo!taylor
From: dent@unocss.unomaha.edu (Dave Caplinger)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: The next 15 years
Message-ID: <1083@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 11 Aug 90 08:39:16 GMT
Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com
Organization: U. of Nebraska at Omaha
Lines: 23
Approved: taylor@Limbo.Intuitive.Com

Daniel Ranc, posting from France, reports that:

> The French Telecom provided FOR FREE (!!!!) EVERY (yes) phone customer 
> a little terminal (called minitel). The minitel has a 1200/75 baud 
> modem allowing to connect to:

U.S. West is doing the same thing here in Omaha, with the "Minitel 2"
which is basically a Minitel with an "American" keyboard.  The terminals
aren't free though - you can rent them for $8 a month, charged on your
normal phone bill.

Also, the vast majority of services offered are charged at from $.10 to
$.50 a minute to your phone bill as well.  Services curently offered include
home shopping (w/ delivery) [from only one store in the city, however],
Delphi stock quotes, one college offers class schedules online, the city
Chamber of Commerce has a service, nationwide yellow pages, severl chat
services, several email services, classified ads, a few local TV stations
are offering whether forcast information, news, etc, and of course,
you can check the airport's flight schedules. :-)  There are a lot of other
services (many seem to be duplicates) that I haven't mentioned, but you
should have the general idea.. :-)

Dave Caplinger