Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!gumby!umich!ox.com!ox.com!emv
From: emv@ox.com (Ed Vielmetti)
Subject: Re: service problem with uunet?  cancel your acct, see what happens!
In-Reply-To: adams@swbatl.sbc.com's message of 27 Mar 91 23:13:36 GMT
Message-ID: <EMV.91Mar27230259@poe.aa.ox.com>
Sender: usenet@ox.com (Usenet News Administrator)
Organization: OTA Limited Partnership, Ann Arbor MI.
References: <3625@dagobah.UUCP> <3585@autodesk.COM>
	<1991Mar27.231336.21097@swbatl.sbc.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1991 04:03:03 GMT

In article <1991Mar27.231336.21097@swbatl.sbc.com> adams@swbatl.sbc.com (Tom Adams - 235-7459) writes:

   Could someone summarize the alternatives to uunet? 

I have not yet seen a reasonable, unbiased, informative catalog of all
of the places in the USA who will sell you newsfeeds, e-mail, archive
services, and the remainder of the "basic communications services"
needed to be on the Internet short of having a direct connection.

If such a list is drawn up it should include (in addition to the basic
information found in the uucp map entries):

- startup costs
- cost per month
- cost per hour, including differential rates for time of day if any
- billing schedule (invoice, credit card, cash in advance)
- accessability through other data nets (e.g. compuserve, sprintnet)
- availability of TCP/IP internet connections from same source
- availability of commercial data services (e.g. Clarinet, In
  Moderation Network, other private databases)
- size of existing customer base (10, 100, 1000)
- restrictions on traffic (no 3d party traffic, no commercial traffic,
  message size limits, etc.)
- utilization of existing hardware (empty, moderate, bursting at the seams)
- number of years in existence
- measured reliability (outage times, throughput, busy signals)
- testimonials from several satisfied customers
- projects which use these facilities as a "home base" (e.g. uucp
  mapping project, moderated newsgroups, software distribution)
- nature of organization providing services (non-profit, partnership,
  incorportated, university, a couple of bored folks at work sneaking
  it past the MIS dept)
- nature of connection to the Internet (leased line, SLIP, contract
  with other Internet site, own international TCP/IP network)
- restrictions on traffic of that Internet link (NSFnet restrictions,
  regional net restrictions, unrestricted (CIX) access)
- names and blurbs of the principals involved, incl. their experience
  with data networking

this is a long list, no doubt there are more questions you could ask.  
a thorough market survey would start with the uucp maps (grep for a
dollar sign), and by the time you finished you'd probably have to
start over again with new ones that had just popped up.  

-- 
 Msen	Edward Vielmetti
/|---	moderator, comp.archives
	emv@msen.com