Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!zardoz.club.cc.cmu.edu!cactus From: cactus@zardoz.club.cc.cmu.edu (Todd Masco) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.datacomm Subject: Re: How much to connect to internet in the US? was Re: 19200bps Message-ID: <13028@pt.cs.cmu.edu> Date: 14 May 91 05:02:14 GMT References: Organization: Carnegie Mellon Physics Lines: 25 In article c506634@umcvmb.missouri.edu (Eric Edwards) writes: >I doubt the $150/semester that you are paying represents the true cost of >your connection. Rather, it in an arbitrary figure arived at by the >university. Most of the cost of your connection is paid by NSF with the >university picking up the remainder. Uh, no. The NSF is not giving funding to the datacommunications division of computing sevices. Pure research would be done by SCS (School of Computer Science) facilities or some other group. It *is* possible, however, that the local phone company is giving some subsidy in the form of free services. I doubt that it would be a significant amount, though. The intention (I'm told) was to beta-test a commercial service, with the idea of marketting it to a larger audience as time goes on. I do not see what is inherently so expensive about the setup. I should stress - this is *not* ISDN. This is a system using the local phone wires, using bandwidth that is normally cut off by pass filters. Nice, cheap high-speed communication. Requires, I'm told, above-average quality wiring (which this area has) and (in our case) a Gandalf modem on either end. We own one, and the other is owned by the University. -- Todd L. Masco - CMU Physics | "Free speech is the right to shout "theatre" cactus@zardoz.club.cc.cmu.edu | in a crowded fire."