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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!hal
From: hal@cornell.UUCP (Hal Perkins)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Modem Users Beware: BELL $$$
Message-ID: <5480@cornell.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Oct-83 18:18:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: cornell.5480
Posted: Thu Oct 13 18:18:39 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Oct-83 20:56:38 EDT
References: <1997@utah-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Cornell Computer Science
Lines: 28

Charging modem users for connect time isn't all that great either.
When I had a terminal at home, a lot of the connect time was idle
time--just like any other situation where I use a terminal.  Much
of the connect time is spent reading and thinking, not transmitting
data one way or another.  I'd hate to have to keep hanging up the
phone, then redialing and logging in again to avoid connect charges.

I would have no objection to paying on the basis of the amount of
data transmitted.  But I do object to paying for connect time or
paying business rates.  It is true that modem users tie up voice-
grade lines for long periods of time, but that's no excuse.  My
impression is that the local loop to my central office is used for
nothing else, so it shouldn't matter if I use it for 10 minutes or
10 hours.  And the phone company ought to be able to use some sort of
multiplexing techniques to overlap my "think time" with someone else's
data transmission time--whether the other data comes from a digital
device or a digitized voice conversation.

Allowing the phone company to charge for connect time simply rewards
them for using old technology that requires tying up physical circuits
for the entire duration of the terminal session.  The equitable solution
is to tell them they can charage based on the amount of information
transferred, and leave it to them to figure out how to make most efficient
use of their inter-office wires.


Hal Perkins                         UUCP: {decvax|vax135|...}!cornell!hal
Cornell Computer Science            ARPA: hal@cornell  BITNET:  hal@crnlcs