Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!bionet!agate!labrea!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!ukc!acorn!andy
From: andy@acorn.UUCP (Andy Ingle)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Bandwagon not Bandwidth
Summary: Trying to become "The Standard"?
Keywords: modem prices limit high speeds
Message-ID: <391@acorn.UUCP>
Date: 12 Oct 88 11:50:34 GMT
References: <752@imtec.co.uk>
Organization: Acorn Computers Limited, Cambridge, UK
Lines: 24

In article <752@imtec.co.uk>, russell@imtec.co.uk (Russell Brown) writes:
> There have been a number of articles talking about the (lack) of high
> speed modems in the U.K.  Although there are now a few sites using
> trailblazers and V.32 modems most folks still use V22 or V22.bis
> beasties.
>    [disscussion about UK/USA price differences for high speed modems]
> Why a price differential of 50-300% ?

I wonder if this whole USA price cutting business is simply a game in which
modem manufacturers battle to gain the majority share of the market.
Remember when there were three types of VCR format? Today there is only one -
the one that sold the most. Us UK users loose out on this, the total market is
much smaller and many sites use packet-switched networks such as JANET or PSS
for file transfers. High speed (and therefore higher priced) modems are of
course wasted on interactive terminal to computer link-ups.

I bought a Trailblazer a year ago so we could talk to the USA more cheaply
than by International PSS and now use it to talk to cam-cl and ukc as well.
The list price one year ago was #1800 but has now come down to #1300 or less.
It has already paid for itself in Telecom charges and I consider it an
excellent modem for anyone needing to ship large volumes of data (ie news)
around using UUCP.

--Andy Ingle