ggreenbe@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Gerald Greenberg) (08/30/90)
I guess our new SUN does things slightly differently from
our old NPGOULD, so this is the third time I've sent
this...I hope this one gets through.
All three of these online services will be charging
monthly access charges withing a month or two. CIS has
been doing it for a while, Delphi announced they will
start, and GEnie also announced they will start. I
discontinued my memberships with CIS and Delphi, and wrote
a feedback message to Genie about a week ago stating that
I hoped they would not start charging a monthly fee as
well...and wouldn't you know it? A few days later they
announce their program! Sometimes I don't access Genie
for months at a time...so I don't want to be subsidizing
someone else's time. I just don't like this kind of
setup. I guess I just wanted to air my opinion on this,
and see if there are any "disinterested" parties out there
who can make arguments to convince me it is worthwhile to
keep my Genie membership...(it seem to me they offer the
best deal...although I would certainly consider it "the
lesser of three evils").
--Gerry
PS. There's another aspect to this that bothers me: a
while back these services mobilized their members to
opposed the imposition by Congress of a periodic(was it
monthly?) access charge(=tax) for services like these.
Then the bill was defeated, and the services turn around
and impose their own access charge! cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) (08/31/90)
Yep, this is a bit annoying. I also only use GEnie once in a blue
moon. I'll probably drop it when they implement the monthly charge.
I have 2 or 3 friends who also have GEnie that told me they expect
to discontinue their subscription due to the new policy. I would
complain via FEEDBACK, but I'm sure they're willing to lose a few
subscribers in order to beef up their earnings with this fee.
C'est la vie...sigh...
Cheers,
Chris
------------------------------+---------------------------
Chris Mauritz |D{r det finns en |l, finns
cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu |det en plan!
(c)All rights reserved. |
Send flames to /dev/null |
------------------------------+---------------------------n8742883@unicorn.WWU.EDU (Perry Pederson) (08/31/90)
In article <1990Aug30.175804.16139@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) writes: >Yep, this is a bit annoying. I also only use GEnie once in a blue >moon. I'll probably drop it when they implement the monthly charge. >I have 2 or 3 friends who also have GEnie that told me they expect >to discontinue their subscription due to the new policy. I would >complain via FEEDBACK, but I'm sure they're willing to lose a few >subscribers in order to beef up their earnings with this fee. >C'est la vie...sigh... > >Cheers, > >Chris Make this person another unhappy person who will probably unsubscribe.... Can anyone post how much the montly rate increase will be? ***** ******* Perry Pederson: email: n8742883@unicorn.wwu.edu * * GEnie: P.PEDERSON **** * Voice: (206) 676-7177 * * ***** * ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- +++++ + + + 'I' before 'E' except after 'C'.... +++ + + + ... We sure live in a weird society! +++++ ++++++
andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino) (09/01/90)
| | All three of these online services will be charging | monthly access charges withing a month or two. CIS has | been doing it for a while, Delphi announced they will | start, and GEnie also announced they will start. | ---------- This is very disappointing. I'll probably be quitting GEnie. I think all these services have an inflated view of their value. If enough people "vote with their feet", maybe they'll check-in with reality! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Andy Cassino % % Hewlett-Packard - Lake Stevens Instrument Division % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
towns@atari.UUCP (John Townsend) (09/03/90)
in article <5440129@hplsla.HP.COM>, andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino) says: > > | > | All three of these online services will be charging > | monthly access charges withing a month or two. CIS has > | been doing it for a while, Delphi announced they will > | start, and GEnie also announced they will start. > | ---------- > > This is very disappointing. I'll probably be quitting GEnie. I think all > these services have an inflated view of their value. If enough people "vote > with their feet", maybe they'll check-in with reality! > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% > % Andy Cassino % > % Hewlett-Packard - Lake Stevens Instrument Division % > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Geesh. It $4.95 going to break your budget? If you get any kind of mail at all or spend any time in any of the other 100 products that are now FREE due to the flat rate than you could easily SAVE yourself money over the long run. -- John Townsend !ames!atari!towns Atari Corp, Systems Software
jhenders@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (John Henders) (09/04/90)
The other important thing to menton about the fixed rate for GEnie ( a mere $4.95US as J Townsend mentioned ) is that they've dropped the 2400 bad charges by almost 1/2. Down to $6.00US /hr. I figure on a net savings of of about $10.00US /month at my present GEnie usage. John Henders Vancouver,BC
andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino) (09/05/90)
| | Geesh. It $4.95 going to break your budget? If you get any kind of | mail at all or spend any time in any of the other 100 products that | are now FREE due to the flat rate than you could easily SAVE yourself | money over the long run. | | -- John Townsend !ames!atari!towns | Atari Corp, Systems Software | ---------- Yah, actually once I read GEnie's pitch I decided to "join" (e.g. not quit GEnie). There is a lot of value-added for the monthly fee that the original poster did not mention. I think it is a GOOD DEAL. Besides, GEnie is going to lower 2400 baud rates as well. Shows me for making decisions based on whining in comp.sys.atari! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Andy Cassino % % Hewlett-Packard - Lake Stevens Instrument Division % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) (09/05/90)
The new Genie fee is a flat rate with no connect charges during access to the Star*Services areas. These include - e-mail (which *may* file transfer between users) - wire service - several financial based services (Schwab, real estate related, etc.) - Groliers Encyclopedia - single user games including 550 point Adventure and several other Adventure games - all the hobby related BB's (N.B. this does not include computer related BB's). - closing stock quotes - Offical Airline Guide - EAASY SABRE - see what flights are available when - Jerry Pournelle (ok, maybe they should pay you $4.95 a month instead :^) You are probably wondering what isn't covered in the $4.95. I will quote from GE's press release: "The rate for U.S. access to those GEnie serve products/services not covered under the flat rate -- such as all personal computing BB's , all software libraries, financial services, chat lines and real time conferences, Computer Assisted Learning Center (CALC), and multiplayer games -- have been set at $6/hr for all three access speeds (300/1200/2400)." Canadian rates at C$5.95 and C$8/hr. The signup fee is currently being waived. The 2400 baud rates have dropped to $6/hr also. I suspect that Prodigy is giving them fits. It does seem that the services are ones that are probably not too popular. I will probably try it for the 1st month anyway. - Dave Ritchie
ggreenbe@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Gerald Greenberg) (09/05/90)
In article <5440130@hplsla.HP.COM> andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino) writes: >| Geesh. It $4.95 going to break your budget? If you get any kind of >| mail at all or spend any time in any of the other 100 products that >| are now FREE due to the flat rate than you could easily SAVE yourself >| money over the long run. >| >| -- John Townsend !ames!atari!towns >| Atari Corp, Systems Software >Yah, actually once I read GEnie's pitch I decided to "join" (e.g. not quit >GEnie). There is a lot of value-added for the monthly fee that the original >poster did not mention. I think it is a GOOD DEAL. Besides, GEnie is going to >lower 2400 baud rates as well. Shows me for making decisions based on >whining in comp.sys.atari! > % Andy Cassino % > % Hewlett-Packard - Lake Stevens Instrument Division % Well, when I first mentioned this situation, I did mention that Genie's deal looked the best; however, my main assertion still stands, i.e. people who use Genie infrequently will be subsidizing the cost to those who use if frequently. With respect to John Townsend's message: what if you don't use mail on Genie? and what if you only access Genie once every 4 months, say? As for Andy Cassino's comments: what if you don't have 2400 baud? Let's look at this another way? Would Genie be switching formats if it would be worse for Genie?...I doubt it, so it must be better for them. They claim it will be better for the users as well, i.e. the users will spend less money (in the long run). If the users will be spending less money, this should be worse for Genie (I would think). Well, somebody has got to be paying more...who? Exactly the people who would be paying a monthly fee, but would only be using the service a bit every few months. To tell the truth, I don't think I've used $60 of connect time each year for the past few years...and I imagine the same is true with others. I guess I don't see why none of these services (i.e. CIS, Delphi, or Genie) has offered the users the option to choose one option or the other, i.e. join the new system, or stay on the old way. It seems to me that would make everyone happy. --Gerry PS. There are no flames intended in this posting.
njd@cbnewsd.att.com (nick.j.dimasi) (09/07/90)
In article <5440129@hplsla.HP.COM>, andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino) writes: > | > | All three of these online services will be charging > | monthly access charges withing a month or two. CIS has > | been doing it for a while, Delphi announced they will > | start, and GEnie also announced they will start. > | ---------- > > This is very disappointing. I'll probably be quitting GEnie. I think all > these services have an inflated view of their value. If enough people "vote > with their feet", maybe they'll check-in with reality! > I don't know about GEnie or CIS, but for Delphi there is a way around the monthly access charges. They have a "20/20" plan (a take-off of their "Advantage" plan) whereby you get up to 20 hours of connect time per month for $20. (The Advantage plan had a minimum charge of $24/month, and the rate was $4.80/hr.) When you join this plan, you get an access code that, if used with Tymnet, gets you access for no charge (you only pay the $20 for your connect time, assuming you aren't logged in for > 20hrs that month). I used this setup last night, and it's actually easier (less typing) than the old way - the access code includes your login-name. When you enter it, you connect to Delphi and start the login procedure at the same time (instead of typing "delphi" and then your login name when Delphi connects). Nick DiMasi Uniq Digital Technologies, Inc. nick@udt386.chi.il.us [I'm not there much] ...att!odutsa!njd [I'm on here a lot] | Delphi: TURBONICK | DON'T USE R/r (reply command) unless | under contract to AT&T Network Systems you change the address! | (Network Software Ctr., Lisle, IL)
ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) (09/07/90)
> > "The rate for U.S. access to those GEnie serve products/services not covered >under the flat rate -- such as all personal computing BB's , all software >libraries, financial services, chat lines and real time conferences, >Computer Assisted Learning Center (CALC), and multiplayer games -- have been >set at $6/hr for all three access speeds (300/1200/2400)." > Sigh.... The more that I look at this, the less I think of it. I personally would recommend GEnie to my friends as an excellent value if the $4.95 allowed accessing the message bases. I have *never* paid to read BBS messages on GEnie (too high a signal/noise ratio at $6/hr). I have used the download capabilities at $6/hr (not at $10) off and on. I am willing to pay for downloads, but not for reading their BBS traffic. Before I realized that PC BBS traffic was not included, I was thought that this was a good setup. Now, I think it isn't. What do other net readers think about this? (yes, I realize that I am spoiled by Usenet..) Dave Ritchie
bill@mwca.UUCP (Bill Sheppard) (09/08/90)
In article <15480008@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com> ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) writes:
=>
=> The new Genie fee is a flat rate with no connect charges during access to
=>the Star*Services areas. These include
=>
=>- e-mail (which *may* file transfer between users)
=>...
=> - Dave Ritchie
I believe that I read on GEnie that Xmodem transfers (email) are _not_ free,
but will be charged at normal connect time rates.
--
################################################################################
# Bill Sheppard -- bills@microware.com -- {uunet,sun}!mcrware!mwca!bill #
# Microware Systems Corporation --- OS-9: Seven generations beyond __/_!! #
#######Opinions expressed are my own, though you'd be wise to adopt them!#######ggreenbe@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Gerald Greenberg) (09/08/90)
In article <1990Sep6.222652.22367@cbnewsd.att.com> njd@cbnewsd.att.com (nick.j.dimasi) writes: >I don't know about GEnie or CIS, but for Delphi there is a way around the >monthly access charges. They have a "20/20" plan (a take-off of their >"Advantage" plan) whereby you get up to 20 hours of connect time per month >for $20. (The Advantage plan had a minimum charge of $24/month, and the >Nick DiMasi Uniq Digital Technologies, Inc. Well, I tried this once before, but my math was pretty bad...so I'll try again. The 20/20 plan is quite some "way around" the monthly charge...this is $240 over a full year. I imagine one could get a good piece of equipment for that, e.g. a printer, modem, SpectreGCR...as a matter of fact, I may just get myself the latter with the money I'll be saving! --Gerry PS...just think if you don't use all 20 hours in one month! You think they'll let you carry any over?