fred@cvl.UUCP (Fred Blonder) (10/11/83)
This is going to sound like an ad, but I think it's of general enough interest to summarize here. I called MCI's number (800-MCI-9900) last week, and received thier information package in the mail this morning. All information in this article comes from the MCI brochure. (I am not affilated with MCI in any way.) There are several services they provide. They are: 1) electronic mail to another MCI account, 2) hardcopy mail via USPS (like E-COM), 3) hardcopy mail hand delivered by noon the next day, and 4) hardcopy mail hand delivered within four hours. This applies only to the 48 contiguous states. There are also a few other services which are not described in detail in the brochure, such as sending telexes, accessing ``Dow Jones News/Retrieval'' (whatever that is), and sending mail to mailing lists. Hardcopy mail is laser-printed, and you can -- for ``a modest fee'' -- have them digitize your logo and signature so that they can be included on your mail. Their pricing structure is a little odd. There is no sign up fee, no monthly fee, and no connect-time fee. You pay only for sending mail. Prices are per ``ounce'', which they define as ``about 7,500 characters, which usually means 3 - 5 pages''. I suppose there's some correspondence to standard mail, but the notion of ``ounces of electronic mail'' is a trifle strange. Prices for the first ``ounce'' are: 1) for purely electronic mail: $1 (Considering that there're no other charges, this isn't as high as it seems, but UseNet still has them beat.), 2) for hardcopy USPS mail: $2 (E-COM is only $0.26, but remember that you have the expense of a (possibly) long-distance phone call, can only send two pages, and E-COM uses a dot-matrix printer.), 3) for hardcopy-by-noon mail: $6, and 4) for a four-hour letter: $25. In all cases additional ounces cost $1. It looks as if they intend to maintain an online directory of accounts. When you open an account with them they credit it with $2 to let you play around. Fred Blonder harpo!seismo!umcp-cs!fred
leichter@yale-com.UUCP (Jerry Leichter) (10/12/83)
A note of technical interest: MCI mail is implemented on a couple of 780's running VMS. -- Jerry
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (10/12/83)
Another note, somewhat self-aggrandising, but we're proud of it: BBN Communications supplied the X.25 backbone network for MCI-Mail. /Steve Dyer decvax!bbncca!sdyer
dyer@wivax.UUCP (Stephen Dyer) (10/14/83)
How do you get access to ECOM? Anyone know? /Steve Dyer
steve@dartvax.UUCP (10/14/83)
At the moment, the 200 message minimum still applies to E-COM, though
the USPS has mentioned the possibility of relaxing it. In any case,
a carrier still has to be certified by the USPS.
steve campbell
...decvax!dartvax!steveeric@washu.UUCP (10/20/83)
As I heard it, it costs between $2.00 and $8.00 American to send a paper note. E-COM will provide a less speedy service (next day to some finite radius from serviced cities) for $.26. Does anyone know if the 200 letter minimum for E-COM is still effective? -- eric ..!ihnp4!washu!eric