Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!uunet!osh3!chip
From: chip@osh3.OSHA.GOV (Chip Yamasaki)
Newsgroups: comp.admin.policy
Subject: Re: Question about Internet access
Message-ID: <1991May23.022358.8033@osh3.OSHA.GOV>
Date: 23 May 91 02:23:58 GMT
References: <1991May21.041302.23066@Think.COM> <1991May21.182416.12784@athena.cs.uga.edu> <124060@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <7607@spdcc.SPDCC.COM>
Organization: U.S. D.O.L - Occupational Safety & Health Admin.
Lines: 47

In <7607@spdcc.SPDCC.COM> rbraun@spdcc.COM (Rich Braun) writes:

>mdf@tut.cis.osu-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) writes:
>>>A simple solution for a small corporation would be to use MCI Mail,
>>>which can send and receive messages from the Internet.
>>
>>CompuServe, my employer, also offers an email gateway to the Internet...

>As do Telenet (not my employer), uunet, et al.  Probably there's a heading
>in the Yellow Pages for this, by now.  Ask around.  UUCP connections to
>friendly local Unix shops are generally a lot cheaper than what these
>commercial companies will charge, if your usage is low.

>Keep in mind that CompuServe, MCI Mail, uunet, and Telenet offer
>services which bear little resemblance to the full suite of Internet
>services.  The gateways presently tend to be e-mail only, and don't
>support real-time connections, high-volume file transfers, and so on.
>They also don't carry netnews, to my knowledge.  This will all change
>in the not-too-distant future, I would expect.

I certainly wouldn't group UUNET in this category.  Check the path on
this response.  I am getting my netnews feed through UUNET, and I
understand that this is what their primary purpose is.

As for high volume transfers and real-time connections, don't include
UUNET here either.  They offer a connection to AlterNet which is IP
connected to the Internet (I believe).  That's the same IP services that
the Internet provides.  They cetainly would be happy to transfer as much
data as you are willing to pay the connect charges (a reasonable
$2.60/hr) for. 

Where real-time is concerned, I sent an E-Mail message to The
Netherlands and was thrilled to geta response back in an hour.  If I had
an AlterNet connection it would have been 45 minutes sooner.  I know
this isn't real-time, but the message made it from the senders box to
UUNET through a real-time SMTP relay and UUNET can't help it if I can't
afford AlterNet :-).

You are right on Compuserve (although they offer so much on their own),
and MCI Mail (they have a LOT of corporate customers already
subscribing though).  I did think that Telenet was real-time though. 
Basically, I think all of these services have their own merit and are
far superior to a plain old 300 bps modem and dumb terminal.
-- 
--
Charles "Chip" Yamasaki
chip@oshcomm.osha.gov