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From: lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service
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Date: 9 Nov 90 18:13:57 GMT
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0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) writes:

>I'm interested in knowing just how successful Prodigy *really* is.

>1. Prodigy claims nearly 500,000 subscribers.  What's the turnover
>rate?  Do people "buy the yellow box", keep Prodigy for awhile, and
>then cut it off?  And what is this 500K number really based on; boxes
>sold/given away, or active bill-paying subscribers?

First off, I had Prodigy for about five months ending in August, 1990.
So, I haven't been on in a few months.  I have kept track of it in
things like alt.bbs, though.

I get the impression that the 500,000 is just a bit of an exaggeration, 
or possibly a prediction that was supposed to have come true by now,
but hasn't.

>2. Is anything besides the e-mail/BBS service really popular with
>subscribers?  Is the shopping at home/banking at home making a dent?

I went to the home banking service, and read that in my area (St.
Louis at the time), there was only two banks that would service me.
They were nationwide services.  If you bank with IBM Credit Union (you
have to be an IBM employee), I think there's no service charge.  Most
of the other banks will charge you.  It's just not worth it to me.  My
main banking is done with a mutual fund management corp., and they
have an 800 number with computerized auto-attendant that can do about
anything I want.

As for the E-mail, it was pretty good.  It was quite cheap for the
ability to send mail to so many people.  Problems: You have to move
the cursor down to "PgDn" to make a new screen or to scroll to the
new screen.  "Screens" are about 15 rows by 60 cols., and take
FOREVER to scroll, even at 2400 bps.  I asked them MANY times if
they would ever install MNP on their modems.  "Duhh, what's MNP?  We
already have a PROPRIETARY ERROR CORRECTION SCHEME!  We can't tell
you anything about it!!!"  This was to Harold Goldes, the so-called
"Technical head of Prodigy".  

After I explained what MNP was, and they saw that it would require
capital outlay. NO WAY would they spend more money so that we would
have greater speed.  Problem now: in a few months, they are going to
start charging something like $.25 per E-mail message over about 30
per month.  Gag.  Advice: Stick with Internet.  Prodigy's messages
have a four or five screen limit, too.

Grocery services were supposed to be good.  In STL, we had Schnuck's,
and the prices were exactly the same as the shelf price, plus a $8
flat fee for pick-up (they're ready for you ahead of time) or about
$15 for delivery.  A good deal for someone who can't get out, and they
do carry several thousand items on-line, and will even accept coupons
on delivery orders.

>3.  What do you think people are really responding to with Prodigy --
>the ability to access information, the ability to finally put their PC
>to good use, the e-mail/BBSs, or something else?

It's mainly people who don't know why they ever bought that $500 Hayes
Smartmodem 1200 so many years ago.  It's for people who don't know
that BBSs provide almost the same thing for much cheaper.  (Well, not
the SAME, but at least they don't censor your messages on BBSs that
much.)

>4.  Do you/did you use it, and how do you/did you like it?

Yes, I used it when I was writing to four people at once each day.  If
they made me pay extra for all that, I doubt I'd use it.  Now that I
have Internet and can write without a monthly charge, I prefer that.

>[Moderator's Note: I'm hearing some bad news about Prodigy lately. So
>'they' say, several users recently were summarily evicted from the
>service after they sent email to other users criticizing the service's
>plan to begin charging for 'excessive' amounts of email.  Does anyone
>have any details on this?  PAT]

I've heard the same thing.  People posted "public" messages asking
people to boycott the Prodigy advertisers!  (Each Prodigy screen
features an advertisement for an on-line store or special feature, in
case you didn't know -- and this adds to the VERY SLOW service) So,
Prodigy kicked about three or four accounts off.  The executive
interviewed said, "Yeah, we did it, they went after our advertisers,
and we don't stand for that."  Make up your own minds.


David E. Lemson  UofI Computing Svcs Student Consultant 
Internet : lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
University of Illinois, Urbana