🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thu, 25 Jun 1998 11:51:03 -0700, Albert Yarusso wrote
(in message <6mu61o$5ju$1@news.onramp.net>):
> 
> I'm presently a Texas.Net customer and am paying $50/month for their 128K 
> ISDN Dialup service.  While I think Texas.Net runs a good show technically, 
> I'm disturbed by how closely the monitor accounts.  I received a warning 
> this week that I'd exceeded ten hour connections several times in the last 
> few  weeks.  For the most part this had to do with installing ICQ and not 
> manually disconnecting, since the 15 minute timeout used to knock me off 
> just fine.  I've since corrected this problem, but there are times when I 
> might be online for ten hours straight and I don't want to have to worry 
> about an ISP breathing down my throat.  There will be many days where I'll 
> use my account less than an hour, and others where I might use it quite a 
> bit more.. 

And here is the problem with the crooked and fraudulent practices of Texas.Net. 
They continue to advertise as "unlimited" service and they continually lie 
about it. (See below about unlimited).

It's crooked and it's scamming the public. They have "gotchas" built in all 
over the place like "land-mines" -- so that you have to have an attorney and a 
consumer-advocate to just navigate their service. You don't need an ISP like 
that.



> So I'm just curious if there are any other ISPs worth investigating in the 
> Austin area.  I looked at Flash.Net's site and see that they offer 128K 
> Dial-up for $36/month with a $100 setup fee.  They also claim that they do 
> *NOT* monitor connection time, although I find this hard to believe.  At 
> least they do not have a limit of 10 hours set in stone like Texas.Net.  
> (So much for Unlimited Use.  Now, I'm not saying I want to abuse my 
> connection, but c'mon, "Unlimited Use"?   They should link the phrase 
> "Unlimited Use" on their services page to the section in their Acceptable 
> Use Policy that states, "Several sessions of 10 hours or more in a single 
> month, particularly if very little data is being transferred, may be cause 
> for an account to be reviewed. Continued ongoing long sessions can result in 
> consideration for termination of service." 

Yep, Texas.Net should "get with the program" or get rid of their false 
advertising (and scamming the consumer, and scamming the other ISPs,too) and 
say they have a "limited hours" service -- because that is exactly what it is.



> I'm also not crazy that they charge $50 for dual-channel 128K ISDN dialup 
> and only $20 for a 64K ISDN dialup.  I'd like to see the justification for 
> charging another $30 for the second channel instead of just $20 (looking at 
> Flash.Net's pricing structure shows that they only charge double for 128K 
> ISDN vs. 64K). 

Yep, that's just another example of "fleecing the sheep" Texas.Net style. It is 
built into their whole corporate structure from top to bottom. You can't turn 
one way or another -- before you run into another "gotcha". Consumers don't 
need to put up with that sort of thing. There are too many other good ISPs 
around to do that.


> 
> Thanks in advance for any feedback, 
> 

The Aldebaran Group, Ltd. will be monitoring this situation as Texas.Net has 
been known to "expose" people's home phone numbers, addresses and place of 
employment (obviously for purposes of intimidation). It's amazing that they've 
managed to stay in business for so long. I would imagine it's with the help of 
other "industry-whores" (as has been the term used elsewhere) like -- 
"Censor-All Rosenthal" -- who looks out for critical Texas.Net postings and 
cancels them (so the consumer won't be warned), along with "quid pro quo" 
industry mouthpieces, who like to sing and dance praises for Texas.Net. Watch 
out for all these scam artists.


>  ..Al Yarusso, ay@texas.net 
> 

Thanks Al -- for the "heads up".


xxx                                                              xxx
xxx                          A message                           xxx
xxx                from the original, one & only                 xxx
xxx                    --> Star Traveler <--                     xxx
xxx                      aldeberan@alt.net                       xxx
xxx             -->>> http://www.aldeberan.org <<<--             xxx
xxx       UDP-ed for warning about a scam at Texas.Net ISP       xxx
xxx          Protest FOR free speech at austin.internet          xxx
xxx                                                              xxx

Does your news server allow forged cancels? That promotes censorship
on content. A UseNet Death Penalty was issued because of my warning
about a crooked ISP -- ** Texas.Net ** -- cheating the customers.
Complain in a post to austin.internet about the UDP and censorship!!