Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!killer!elg
From: elg@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: FYI -- PC-P Price "Increase"
Message-ID: <6788@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>
Date: 15 Jan 89 01:44:25 GMT
References: <7428@chinet.chi.il.us>
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 63

in article <7428@chinet.chi.il.us>, patrick@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick A. Townson) says:
$ In article <158@usl-pc.usl.edu>  writes:
$>
$>I have no problem with $1 per hour. I do have a problem with the
$>rapidly escalating rates -- $4.50/hour, then $7.50/hour. 
$>
$>I use PC Pursuit to call BBS's. I average about 60 hours a month. I'd
$>be quite willing to pay for such usage, but not at rates that make Ma
$>Bell look great. Getting a Trailblazer, Reach Out America ($7.10/hour
$>after the first hour) and a limited personal newsfeed for myself would
$>make better sense than using PC Pursuit after the first 30 hours.

$ Telenet rates: 30 x $1 = $30
$                30 x $4.50 = $135.00   Total 60 hours = $165.00

$ AT&T Reach Out  60 x 7.10 = $426.00 

$ Who comes up looking great?

AT&T. I would spend 10 hours downloading at ~12,000 baud, instead of
60 hours at around 1800 baud (best I've seen with UUCP). For a total
of $71. Looks a lot better than $165.00, eh? And doesn't even tie up
my phone line for 2 hours a night! With that kind of savings, the
Trailblazer would pay for itself in only a year (nearly $100/month
savings? Wow!).

But, since Telenet now allows purchasing more 30-hour blocks, I can
get two 30-hour chunks for $60. This is MARGINALLY better than what
I'd pay with the Trailblazer ($71). Obviously, buying a Trailblazer
just to bypass Telenet isn't cost-effective. BUT, if you already have
the Trailblazer, for other uses, you're likely to come out about the
same whether you use the New Improved PC Pursuit or AT&T Reach Out
America, due to the tediousness of having to keep up with two totally
seperate accounts.

$ Maybe, maybe not. There have been disputes on the Net Exchange about the
$ throughput rate for as long as I have read it. Not everyone shares your
$ statistics. You make a good point though, however as I said above,

I average around 90% throughput using Zmodem for downloading. But
Zmodem is much more efficient than UUCP, because UUCP windows are so
ridiculously small. From what I have heard, 70-75% is good for UUCP
over PC Pursuit, even using large windows (8 or more).

$ Tymnet has had an outdial service for several years, but it is used by
$ commercial customers (as was Telenet's until PCP started.) 

You mean commercial customers actually paid COMMERCIAL RATES for
Telenet's outdial service? Will the wonders ever cease! I guess it
WOULD be a good bargain when 2 conditions are met, though: a) a single
hour per night, and b) calling a known, central, non-busy number (e.g.
the central mainframe, with its dozens of dialin ports). For that kind
of use, going to a dedicated solution (e.g. digital data service, as
discussed on the Telcom-Digest recently) obviously is not
cost-effective.

$   patrick@chinet.chi.il.us / US Mail: 60690-1570 (personal zip code)

--
Eric Lee Green    ..!{ames,decwrl,mit-eddie,osu-cis}!killer!elg
          Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509              
Netter A: In Hell they run VMS.
Netter B: No.  In Hell, they run MS-DOS.  And you only get 256k.