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From: floyd@ims.alaska.edu (Floyd Davidson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: More on BBSs and Phone Rates
Message-ID: <15836@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 6 Jan 91 09:52:14 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 12, Message 3 of 11


In article <15807@accuvax.nwu.edu> USERGS8C@mts.rpi.edu writes:

>It is ridiculous to compare a BBS run out of a person's den to a
>non-profit organization.  A non-profit is allowed to have a
>substantial budget, a staff, and can fund-raise, as long as they do
>not make a profit.

>Now, how can a BBS be considered a non-profit organization?  Most of
>the sysops I know do not have an operating budget, do not have a paid
>staff, and pay out of their own pocked the expense of having an extra
>phone line and a second computer.  Occasionally sysops will ask for a
>donation [like I did when the hard drive blew up, but most users are

>[Moderator's Note: Two issues are involved here: (1) should 'business'
>phones pay higher rates than 'residence' phones; (2) who should define
>what is a 'business' and what is not.

>Should telco be in the business of defining what is a business and

1) is a big subject that I'll not debate...

2)  Seems simple enough.  Anyone required to have a business license
    is a business.

The telephone industry is not in the business of regulating, defining,
or otherwise limiting other commerce or business.

One other note: I often see references to the idea that BBS's use or
require more resources than "normal" residential phones.  That just is
not so.  Business use does in fact impact the network in a rather
dramatic way (busy hours at 11AM and 1PM) which very much affects
network design (and cost), but BBS operations don't cause a single
digit worth of impact on any operational measurement applied to any
network that I know of.

If every BBS on any given switch shut down for one day there would be
no management meeting to decide what happened and why the switch
reports were off-normal.

Compare that to, say, if no teenagers were allowed to use the phone
for a single day, or if no ladies were allowed to call their mother on
a given day!

BBS's on the other hand generate revenue.  Long distance calls.  Just
the same as teenagers and calls to mom.


Floyd L. Davidson    floyd@ims.alaska.edu
Salcha, AK 99714     paycheck connection to Alascom, Inc.
When I speak for them, one of us will be *out* of business in a hurry.


[Moderator's Note: But in reference to your point 2 above, there have
been a couple instances where communities have made, or attempted to
make people with modems and terminals at home get 'business licenses'.
Then what would you do?  Their thinking was people with these
instruments at home were apparently working out of their home in a
business-related activity.   PAT]