🚀 go-pugleaf

In <5dt8ul$q2b@imagine.convex.com>, jerryw@convex.com (Jerry Whelan) writes:
>In article <5dsorm$7l$1@news.iastate.edu>,
>Kurt Glaesemann <kurtg@iastate.edu> wrote:
>
>-} It's about time that people start paying for what they are using.  Using
>-} modems to connect to the internet costs the phone companies huge amounts of
>-} money because it's resulted in a huge surge in phone usage.
>
>Not all phone companies are experiencing these kinds of problems.  I
>believe BellSouth is one of the larger baby bells that is not complaining
>about congestion due to modem usage.  The reason?  Good planning.  If
>the reports about BellSouth are true, the problem here is not Internet
>users being subsidized by other kinds of phone users, it is baby bells
>who are guilty of poor management.

  Duh.  How are they going to go to the PSB and demand higher rates?  I
  think this is very poor planning!
>
>The local telephone companies that didn't have enough management foresight
>to anticipate the change in usage patterns and plan appropriately are
>the ones complaining that they need more money.  Many Internet users
>have purchased second phone lines for their modem usage, typically
>costing $60-70 to install and then another $20+ per month, that right
>there is a substantial amount of money that the local telcos are receiving.
>In fact, many people pay more for their second lines than they do for
>Internet access itself.

  Umm, let me see.  I pay about $28/month for my "basic" phone service.  I
  pay ~$20 for my internet access ans about another $25 for my local phone
  charges for my Internet time.  I think they are well compensated.  

  I would add a second line, but it is just too expensive!  I cannot see
  another $50/mo for a phone line.
>
>Furthermore, if the local telcos had not mishandled the deployment of
>ISDN by insisting on such outrageous pricing that most people couldn't
>afford to buy it, they would not be in this predicament right now
>either. 

  Please, tell it to someone in the real world.  ISDN just does not
  exist here.  As much as I hate our cable company, I'm rooting for
  them to figure out how to din Inet.  They are about as bad as NYNEX
 so who knows.

  <The rest snipped - all agreed - except the Telcos could care less
  about thechnology or performance.  They want to milk the investment.
  Bring on the competition!>
----
  Keith R. Williams