Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!uwm.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!mcdchg!ddsw1!learn
From: learn@ddsw1.MCS.COM (William Vajk)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Big Brother charging for modem use?
Message-ID: <1991Mar06.023936.2570@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Date: 6 Mar 91 02:39:36 GMT
References: <7X9kw3w163w@bluemoon.uucp> <1991Mar2.023716.13851@csn.org>
Organization: Dares No Organization Like Dis Organization
Lines: 54

In article <1991Mar2.023716.13851@csn.org> Arthur Wouk writes:

>the principle on which telephone service works is that of
>'concentration'. it is too expensive to run a single line from each
>terminal point ((telephone, ...)  to the switching center and hence pn
>th the network. instead, local concentrators exist to serve a given
>number of phones (say 10) on the basis that not more than one of them
>will need service at any one time. 

May be some places. But you can chase the wires from my house right to
the local exchange.

>now: this all could change if a fiber optic line was used for service
>all the way down to the household level, or even say to the first
>concentrator level. the huge capacity of such lines would make the
>whole discussion above irrelevant.  but the cost of running fiber
>optics so far down the tree of the system might make ALL phone service
>too expensive for most people. i really can't guess about that.

May be in some places. But they've been running fiber all over town
here for the last year or so. What/where they do/will connect I don't
know. I'm still wire all the way here.

>so don't blame the phone companies so much, and think about what we do
>as partially freeloading on others. 

Don't you dare talk to me about "freeloading." Here in Illinois we recently
began paying an extra 15 cents per month per line to help pay the cost of
phone service to the certifiably poor. Beyond that we have 100% metered
service only. Calls within 8 miles cost a nickel regardless of duration. From
8 miles outward we are billed by the minute. That's for BELL. The rules are
different for folks serviced by CENTEL.

In spite of the "fairness" promised by the telephone company here, their
profits rose and I have been able to find no one whose monthly bill was
actually reduced as opposed to the old "callpack" system we used to enjoy.

>since i happen to be retired, most
>of my usage occurs at a time when my neighbors are all away at work,
>so i don't believe that i downgrade their service significantly. can
>you say the same?

And isn't it interesting that while you don't downgrade the service
significantly, you are also using the phone during the hours the
phone companies consider to be "prime", the very same hours during
they impose the highest charges ?

I'm not in the least concerned about the loading I present to the local
phone system. I pay for it quite dearly. I support enough that they can
afford to upgrade the service. In my neighborhood (not swanky by any
means) more homes have multiple phone lines than one. There are 5 phone
drops to my house from the pole.

Bill Vajk