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From: Doug.Thompson@p101.f162.n221.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Doug Thompson)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Electronic Newspapers
Message-ID: <2353.246BA8E7@isishq.FIDONET.ORG>
Date: 12 May 89 06:15:14 GMT
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In a message of <10 May 89 23:05:37>, <Jangling Neck Nipper> writes: 

>  I'm not sure where you get your stats; 

From the machines that I administer.

> yes there ARE many electronic
>  exchanges, and yes there are getting more all the time, so in the 
> FUTURE,* we can look forward to more or less clean lines (in the developed 
> world,* at any rate), BUT!!! it's not universal yet, and some lines are CRAP.
>  One of our own local lines to the electronic exchange in Cambridge 
> is* duff, and we get it from time to time, and our EFFECTVE rate drops 
> to* maybe 100 baud, as opposed to the 1200 baud we normally put up with
>  (but not for much longer, I hope); the news arrives overnight, and
>  we've had 8 hour 'phone calls in the past (fortunately local...).

I have watched a 19,200 BAUD Trailblazer pull off 4,000 BAUD on a line
to Australia that was so noisy a voice conversation was impossible.
The problem was at my end, a short in the wires that created horrible
static. No other modem on earth I know of -- and no human ear could
use that line.

You can buy that modem today for about US$700. I know that most people
don't know that it is already here, so I keep saying "It is ALREADY
HERE". How the heck do you think this message is getting to you so
quickly and cheaply anyhow??

I've had some experience using phone lines to the Third World, and yes
they are often noisy, but not too noisy for a Trailblazer to get many
thousands of BAUD throughput. The biggest problem is for *them*
getting a line out, it's often easier to call into the Third World
than to call out. And cheaper too.

Some colleagues of mine are working in Senegal now in rural areas
where there are no phone lines. They are using packet-radio with good
success. I'm itching for a chance to put a Trailblazer on the radio
and watch that BAUD rate go through the roof!

These are not manufacturers' claims, these are real life experiences
of the guy who has to make it work in the field. It does. 

>  As I've said before, it's still limited NOW, but maybe in a few years
>  time there will be enough high quality lines for it to be considered
>  `general'.

Your site may be limited, but "it", the potential that is, is a whole
lot less limited today, and two years ago for that matter, than you
think. With the addition of packet-radio there is no place in the
world that cannot be reached by e-mail with only a very few thousands
of dollars worth of computer, modem, and/or radio equipment. Cripes,
these guys in Sengal are doing it with 64K 8-bit computers to keep the
costs down, and it works! And it's cheap. The cost of setting up
a state-of-the-art e-mail system with a 20Mb per day throughput
capacity is considerably less than the price of a new car.

=Doug


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