gregp@pro-carolina.cts.com (Greg Prevost) (01/04/89)
Greetings all, if you have not heard yet, PC Pursuit is dramatically raising
thier rates. Here is the letter they have posted on thier network BBS.
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NOTIFICATION OF PRICE CHANGE for PC PURSUIT
Dear PC Pursuit customer:
The PC Pursuit service is in the midst of dramatic change. Three
major programs were instituted in 1988, including:
o Outdial City Expansion. Nine new cities were added for a
total of 34. Additionally, all the cities now support 300,
1200, and 2400 bps service.
o Increased Capacity. All existing outdial rotaries were
significantly expanded to support more callers in each city.
o New Netline Exchange. The old 4 line PC-based Netline
Exchange bulletin board system was recently replaced with a
powerful minicomputer. The Netline Exchange is available 24
hours a day at no charge to you and is the place to leave
all of your service questions and comments.
When PC Pursuit was launched over three years ago, it was viewed
as a way for residential consumers and hobbyists to take
advantage of off-peak network time at a bargain price. The
growth and varied use that followed far exceeded expectations.
To satisfy demand and to continue to offer this unique consumer
oriented communications service on as wide a basis as possible,
we now have to change our prices. The change will provide for
continued expansion and other future improvements of PC Pursuit.
Included with this letter is a copy of the new PC Pursuit terms
and conditions, as well as the new pricing details. You will
notice that for the average residential consumer, the change is
entirely in the monthly charge. For those who use PC Pursuit at
increasingly professional levels, we offer two tiers of hourly
charges which still provide for the best value in the industry.
Here is a summary of the price change:
o Monthly Charge. The new fixed charge is $30 per month.
o Cap on Free Usage. Your $30 per month will now pay for up
to 30 monthly hours of non-prime time usage. Using the full
30 hours in one month amounts to an hourly rate of only
$1.00 -- more than 85% less than you would pay with the most
popular long distance discount service. Only a small
fraction of you will even be affected by this cap.
o Over Cap Rate. Non-prime time usage, above the 30 hour cap,
will be billed at $4.50 per hour, which is about half of the
next lowest rate in the market place.
o Second Tier Rates. There will be a second level of rates
for those who use the service at business levels. When your
total monthly usage exceeds 60 hours, both prime time and
non-prime time rates will increase for those hours in excess
of 60, as follows:
PRIME TIME 2nd tier rate: $ 14.00 /hr
Non-Prime 2nd tier rate: $ 7.50 /hr
These rates are still significantly less expensive than the
most popular alternatives.
THESE PRICE CHANGES WITH THE NEW TERMS AND CONDITIONS WILL BECOME
EFFECTIVE ON FEBRUARY 1, 1989.
In addition to the price change, several other significant events
will occur in 1989, including:
o Rotary Consolidation. Today, you must specify both a city
and speed to access an outdial rotary. In 1989 new network
software will be deployed to combine each city's rotaries
into one, resulting in easier use and increased service
quality.
o New Billing System. Scheduled for operation by the second
quarter, the new system will automatically collect all
charges from your credit card, including flat rate and
hourly charges. If your bill exceeds the fixed monthly fee,
you will receive a statement prior to incurring charges.
o Additional Payment Methods. In addition to American
Express, VISA, and Master Card credit cards, the new billing
system will support two new payment methods -
- The Discover credit card.
- Direct checking account debiting via Checkfree.
o New Outdial Service. In the next few months, we will be
launching a new business outdial service. Details will
follow.
There will be many other Outdial service enhancements in 1989.
We look forward to this exciting new year, and the improvements
it will bring.
The input and support of our many thousands of satisfied
customers has helped shape the future of the PC Pursuit Service.
For this, we extend our deepest thanks. You have helped make PC
Pursuit the best end-user data communications value in the
industry.
Sincerely,
Peter Naleszkiewicz
Outdial Services Product Manager
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Now many of us use PCP and it has become invaluable to us as a group. Many of
the Echo's including this one gets around because of PCP! There is a massive
letter writing campaign currently going on to both the PCP Network BBS
(accessable through any telenet node by typing C Pursuit at the @ prompt for
free) and to Telenet directly. I have seen letters from hundreds of people
saying they plan on cancelling PCP both by writing a letter to Telenet and by
informing thier Visa cards to not accept any charges from Telenet effective
1/31/89. In just the last couple days the PCP BBS has received over 900
messages concerning this increase, 99.99 of them complaining bitterly and
planning on cancelling thier service.
Many feel that this may be just what Telenet wants, to get rid of the hobbyist
and large use users. If you agree with the rest of us of how unfair this is
feel free to write or call Telenet at 1-800-Telenet (that way they pay but
most likely it will take a while to get through)
Greg Prevost
UUCP: [ sdcsvax nosc ] !crash!pro-carolina!gregp Never forget
ARPA: crash!pro-carolina!gregp@nosc.mil your towel!
INET: gregp@pro-carolina.cts.com Ford Prefect