🚀 go-pugleaf

By now I assume most of the sysop community have received Telstra's
notification of the higher charging. We now know that they abused the
volonteer Australian BBS registry to get their list of 'victims'.

They say that one advantage available with the business charging
scheme, is access to telstra's 'rapid response technician teams'.

Well, if every sysop in Australia rings up every second day and asks
for a rapid response team to 'check out my lines' Telstra will get the
message pretty quickly.

This is a hugely ill informed decision by Telstra, which will result
in false  economy, and is a betrayal of a loyal bbs community.

It makes you wonder if we are being called upon to subsidise Telstra's
less than satisfactory 'joint ventures' with Microsoft, and News Ltd. 

Furthermore Frank Blount is on the record as saying:

1. We plan to move business customers over to time charging as it will
be cost effective for the business market, with most business calls of
short duration etc.

2. The offenders [in reference to extended duration local calls] are
mainly modem and fax users.

If we put 1 & 2 together, Telstra's grand plan is to get all bbs calls
onto time charging. Roll on Optus.

I don't suppose making it more difficult/costly to call your local BBS
or ISP, would help make the currently ailing "On Australia" more
attractive.=?

Telstra, being owned by the taxpayer,  have gone WAY beyond their
charter, and need to be pulled back.

To finish, the quote of the week

"What's a BBS?" - Communications Minister Michael Lee, Fri 15th
December 1995.