Re: [Nolug] Cox: grrrr.... BIG GRRR...

At 09:05 PM 1/30/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>Not really. long distance anyone?
>
>And Plain Old Telephone service is many orders of magnitude larger business
>than internet services.

I would compare Internet connectivity with local service, not
long-distance. Also, I believe that flat-rates have helped increase the
usage of telephone service. If you can reliably predict the cost of a
service then it is easy to budget around it. With usage-based fees you
always have to be wary.

Regards, Dustin

>On Wed, Jan 30, 2002 at 11:18:28AM -0600, Dustin Puryear wrote:
> > I understand your point about why flat rates might be a problem. However,
> > we have been charged flat rates for phone service for years, and the
> > telephone companies aren't having problems. Now, the actual flat rate
> > charged may be low, but I don't see any advantage in moving away from a
> > flat rate. I think it would hurt the industry as a whole more than it
> would
> > help.
> >
> > Regards, Dustin
> >
> > At 09:57 AM 1/30/2002 -0600, you wrote:
> > >I am probably a little biased because:
> > >
> > >1) Having been in the access business for 5 years, I know how much it
> > >costs to deliver good quality Internet access.
> > >2) I've watched most access companies if not melt down, take a beating
> > >due to the price wars for customers.
> > >
> > >I'm also no apologist for monopoly companies of any sort. But I think the
> > >current trend in flat rate access isn't really practical. Why should the
> > >ISP be cahrging the same price to a "geek" who's running a server in her
> > >house as they are charging grandpa who sends the occasional e-mail? I
> > >know it's unpopular to say in our circle, but it's true. It just doesn't
> > >make sense. Line "squatters" realy hit the small ISPs hardest back in
> the
> > >old school modem days. An industry standard used to be 10 users per
> > >modem/phone line. "Squatters" caused most of the busy signals that
> people
> > >were so concerned with (except of course, AOL's obtuse marketing . Big
> > >boy ISP would just fire the guy who felt it was his right to camp on the
> > >line all day (or use a personal account for business purposes). Maybe
> the
> > >guy wuld call and complain, make a (insert ISP name here)sucks.com page,
> > >whatever. Doesn't matter to the big company. However, the small ISP who
> > >did that risked tremndous loss when the guy does the same thing to the
> > >locally owned and operated company, which gets smeared as "greedy."
> > >
> > >So all that to say, those of us with flat rate, "always on" accounts are
> > >getting a sweet deal. Especially those of us who bang the bejeesus
> out of
> > >"consumer" accounts. Remember how much a dialup account cost, say 3-4
> > >years ago? Let's enjoy it while it lasts, or even think about how we
> > >could form our own access buying group.
> > >
> > >Thanks for reading.
> > >
> > >Edward Melendez
> > >http://www.melendez.org
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >At 10:25 AM 1/30/2002 -0500, Mikey wrote:
> > >
> > ><crystal_ball time="near future">
> > >>I see a bunch of geeks going DSL if $DSL_COMPANY keeps rates < US$100 a
> > >>month for service with a static IP.
> > >></crystal_ball>
> > >>
> > >>--
> > >>Since-beer-leekz, |Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.
> > >>Mikey |Give a man a fully charged electric eel and
> > >>http://dev/null |he'll never bother you for anything ever again.
> > >>
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> > ---
> > Dustin Puryear <dpuryear@usa.net>
> > Information Systems Contractor (http://members.telocity.com/~dpuryear)
> > PGP Key for dpuryear@usa.net (http://www.us.pgp.net)
> > In the beginning the Universe was created.
> > This has been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams
> >
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>--
>Scott Harney<scotth@scottharney.com>
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---
Dustin Puryear <dpuryear@usa.net>
Information Systems Contractor (http://members.telocity.com/~dpuryear)
PGP Key for dpuryear@usa.net (http://www.us.pgp.net)
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams
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