prgclb@ihuxm.UUCP (Carl Blesch) (11/01/83)
There's an article in The Wall Street Journal of Tuesday, November 1, that addresses many of the issues raised recently on the net. Excerpts (reprinted without permission, of course!) follow: "Home computers may be the biggest thing for the telephone company since teenagers. . . . [They] could strain local phone systems, and could lead to new ways of billing local calls. It will be 'either an opportunity or a curse' . . . So far, home-computer communications have barely been noticed on the vast Bell network. . . . But as modems get cheaper and more people buy home computers, many expect the demands on the phone system to soar. . . . the number of modems in use may triple this year and reach 18 million by 1987. . . .People with home computers will make an average of two computer calls a day lasting 15 minutes to 30 minutes each . . . The average voice call is only four minutes long. Such longer calls could hurt the phone companies, because most of the Bell operating companies can't charge users by the length of local calls. . . . heavy use of the phone lines by customers paying flat rates could force the phone companies to expand facilities without gaining new revenue. . . . Southwestern Bell tried charging home computer users a special rate originally designed for business users. In St. Louis, for example, home-computer owners were charged $43.95 a month when residential phone service cost $10.70 a month. The policy angered computer users and alarmed many people in the computer indistry, who feared that it signaled a telephone-company attach on computer communications. But the company has decided to drop the charge throughout its service area. The phone companies are also anxiously watching Southern Bell's experiment in South Florida with a system called Local Area Data Transport. . . . prices for data transmission using the system will be lower than the rates for voice transmission. Because the lines are designed for computer data, transmission will also be more error-free. . . ." ***************************** Carl Blesch AT&T Bell Laboratories Naperville, Ill. IH 2A-159, (312) 979-3360 . . .!ihnp4!ihuxm!prgclb