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Xref: sserve comp.dcom.frame-relay:739 comp.dcom.isdn:10983 comp.unix.misc:16222 comp.os.linux.misc:35896 comp.os.386bsd.misc:5526 comp.os.misc:3844 Newsgroups: comp.dcom.frame-relay,comp.dcom.isdn,comp.unix.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.misc Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!uchinews!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!crash!jtara From: jtara@mediashare.com (Jon Tara) Subject: Re: flat rates for Internet/phone (Re: X on dial-in) Organization: MediaShare Corporation Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 20:51:04 GMT Message-ID: <3it3e8$q2o_001@jtara.mediashare.com> X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #3 References: <D3s19v.4M7@pe1chl.ampr.org> <root.793371940@c00037-5pa.eos.ncsu.edu> <D4DH09.BAo@pe1chl.ampr.org> <phrD4G1np.MoG@netcom.com> <3il2e7$36c@fieldday.fieldday.mn.org> Sender: news@crash.cts.com (news subsystem) Nntp-Posting-Host: mediashare.cts.com Lines: 45 In article <3il2e7$36c@fieldday.fieldday.mn.org>, sewilco@fieldday.mn.org (Scot E. Wilcoxon) wrote: >In article <phrD4G1np.MoG@netcom.com>, Paul Rubin <phr@netcom.com> wrote: >>In article <D4DH09.BAo@pe1chl.ampr.org>, >>Rob Janssen <pe1chl@wab-tis.rabobank.nl> wrote: >>>No, your current phone bill is based on the fact that you use it only >>>3% of the month. When you would use it all the time, your bill would >>>go up. >> >>Most parts of the US have flat rate monthly local service. >>Lots of people use their phones all the time (such as for >>24 hour a day SLIP connections) and their bills don't go up. >>It really doesn't cost TPC any more to keep the connection up. Change that from "lots of people" (really, "a very few people", in the grand scheme of things...) to "most people", and, I assure you, your phone bill (or, everyone's phone bill) WILL go up! Also, flat rate service is slowly disappearing, for this very reason. If it weren't for ISDN, I'd expect flat rate service to disappear completely within the next 5-10 years. But, since modems are dead-end technology, I expect that we may actually see a REVERSAL of the trend toward more flat-rate offerings, but only for voice service. I would expect flat-rate offerings of ISDN (at least for data) to be few and far between, or very expensive. (i.e. priced for continuous use). It most certainly *does* cost the phone compnay to keep the connection up. To keep you connected to something else at the other end uses resources which are limited: the phone company does not have the capacity to keep all phones connected at all times - this is why there is difficult getting a dial tone during disasters, etc. and they have to take measures to limit calling. (Such as permitting only outbound calls from a disaster area.) The interconnection system is designed for a particular average and peak load. Increasing the number and/or length of connections has a direct effect on cost. ________________________ <A HREF="mailto:jtara@mediashare.com">Jon Tara</A> <A HREF="http://www.mediashare.com/mshare/">MediaShare Corporation</A> <A HREF=mailto:jtara@cts.com>Jon Tara</A> <A HREF="http://www.cts.com/~jtara/baycam.html">San Diego BayCam</A>