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From: warren@ihnss.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Modem Users Beware: BELL $$$
Message-ID: <1738@ihnss.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Oct-83 08:55:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihnss.1738
Posted: Thu Oct 13 08:55:26 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Oct-83 06:07:02 EDT
References: ihuxq.350 <1997@utah-cs.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, Il
Lines: 46

(Views my own, not those of my employer)

First, as of January 1, 1984, there is no more Ma Bell.  The company
you will be dealing with regarding this is your local phone company,
which, by the way, is not the part of the old AT&T that was
de-regulated to enter new ares.  (Though I believe that the new
regional phone companies do have more leeway than before).

The question of what rate people should pay is not a simple issue. 
The two principles that have guided this have been pay in proportion
to value received and in proportion to the cost of service.  As a
modem user, you are receiving a different service, and thus
different value.  It is also quite likely, as someone pointed out,
that you are using considerably more resources than someone with
just a plain voice line.  If you had measured service, this
difference would be reflected in your bill, but if you have flat
rate service, it won't.  You can and should consider writing your
local public utility commission about whether or not the particular
charging scheme being used is fair, however it is clear that a
someone using a modem on a local phone line several hours a day
should get a different monthly bill than someone using the phone
only to place one or two calls.  The fair charge may ultmiately be
even more than the business rate!

There is another effect of artifically low rates for certain
services that data communication users should consider before
complaining.  Modems are a particularly inefficient way to carry
data in a modern telephone network, which internally is frequently
using 64,000 bits/second to carry your call, even though you get
only 300 or maybe 1200 bits/second out of it.  There are many
emerging technologies for making higher speeds available, however
services based on these technologies are priced closer to their true
cost.  If data communication using modems is available below cost,
then the more efficient techniques may not be cost competitive, and
manufactures will not get the volume to make low cost, high speed
data communication available.  I am sure that everyone out there in
netland would like faster, cheaper communication.

Once again, these are my personal views, not necessarily those of
AT&T Bell Laboratories.

-- 

	Warren Montgomery
	ihnss!warren
	IH x2494