KFL@MX.LCS.MIT.EDU ("Keith F. Lynch") (11/16/86)
[Readers are encouraged to submit on their experience with Telenet PC
Pursuit. Mine has been very discouraging, typical of GTE. -elmo]
There are several things I don't like about PC Pursuit:
o Lines from here (DC area) to Boston are frequently busy (I seldom
connect to other cities).
o The modems (or perhaps the phone lines) in Boston are often very
susceptable to noise.
o You have to include the baud rate in your connect command, which
is silly because the system must already know what baud rate you
are at.
o When a city is busy, you have to reenter the city command, baud
rate, your username, and your password. There is no queueing for
a busy city, you have to keep re-entering all these things over
and over again.
o If you mistype the city, baud rate, username, or password, you
can't correct it with <DEL> or <BS>. You have to retype the
whole thing.
o They claim they hang up on you if you are idle for 25 minutes -
actually it is more like ten minutes. This is too short.
o Sometimes I get connected to a modem someone is trying to call in
on. I see "RING" every few seconds and can enter no modem
commands. If I disconnect and reconnect, I get the same modem.
I can do nothing until the caller gives up.
o There is no way to let the user specify a given modem in a city.
One might want to do this if one modem seemed to be unusually
susceptible to line noise, or if someone was trying to call in
on one modem.
o There is no way to disconnect and specify that the modem should
wait a minute before disconnecting. One might want to do this
if one telephone trunk was unusually noisy and one wants a chance
to get another.
o They only accept payment by credit card, not by check or cash,
even if you offer to pay in advance. This is a considerable
incovenience for those of us who have chosen not to have credit
cards.
o If you neglect to reset or hangup the distant modem when you are
done, or if PC Pursuit hangs up on you, the next caller can
have the distant modem redial the number you dialed, which is a
security misfeature.
However, for all its faults, it is the best thing in its class,
otherwise I wouldn't use it. I look forward to improvements and
competitors.
Does anyone know what the "terminal" prompt is for? If I say
anything but "D1" it seems to work almost as well, but pauses briefly
after each line of text from the far host.
...Keith
[The terminal prompt is similar to the old TIP command @D C which sets
the number of padding characters sent after a carriage return. Telenet's
is a bit more sophisticated, allowing some variation as to WHERE the
padding is placed. What I found discouraging is that the Telenet technicians
don't know anything beyond how to cross-reference your given terminal
in their chart. Not very useful when I said "Ann Arbor Ambassador"...
As I recall D1 specifies NO padding. -Elmo]KFL@MX.LCS.MIT.EDU ("Keith F. Lynch") (11/17/86)
From: rick@seismo.CSS.GOV (Rick Adams)
3) For interactive (i.e. human) use its not too great. The character
delay inherent with telenet/tymnet/etc is quite apparent and
annoying if you are a decent typist. For browsing a
b-board its probably ok. For using a screen editor is sucks.
This is ironic. I consider its short interactive delay a major point
in its favor, especially while using a screen editor. Before using it
I went over MILnet/ARPAnet from here (DC area) to Boston, and the
improvement since those bad old days is phenomenal. I guess it's all
what you are used to.
...Keith
[Ditto. -Elmo]KJBSF@SLACVM.BITNET (11/18/86)
I would like to sign up for PC Pursuit, but of course, I don't have a credit card, and thus have no way of paying for it. I heard some rumour somewhere that they were going to be implementing the "Checkfree" thing (like Compuserve uses), which would be nice. Why can't they accept a check on a flat fee, anyway? [They want to avoid the costs of sending you a bill, late payment reminders, etc. Of course, this doesn't explain why they won't do "Checkfree" yet. Presumably cash-flow is better with Visa/MC vs. ACH Debiting of your checking account. -Elmo]
jbs@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Jeff Siegal) (11/25/86)
In article <8611250935.AA27211@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> you write: >I would like to sign up for PC Pursuit, but of course, I don't have a >credit card, and thus have no way of paying for it. Many banks will issue credit cards to just about anyone if you are willing to keep the full amount of your credit limit on deposit. >Why can't they accept a check on a flat fee, anyway? Because PC Persuit isn't a flat fee service. The $35/month is for unlimited off peak time. You always have the option of using it during peak hours, in which case you will be billed (approx) $10/hour. Jeff Siegal
KFL@MX.LCS.MIT.EDU.UUCP (11/29/86)
From: jbs@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Jeff Siegal)
Because PC Persuit isn't a flat fee service. The $35/month is for
unlimited off peak time.
Is this a misprint, or has it gone up?
It ought to go down, since service is getting worse. From DC to
Boston is now almost always busy, and I had to write a program to keep
trying once every two seconds and beep me when it gets through, which
often takes a half hour or more.
...Keith
[Have you noticed that after waiting 1/2 hour for a line you get
a noisy outdial modem? 3 nights out of 5 I spend another half hour
reporting the condition, only to resume waiting through the "busy"
cycle again! I have serious doubts that Telenet's repair technicians
do an adequate job testing their equipment. -Elmo]