jeff@janus.Quotron.com (jeff marder) (02/09/90)
Please compare America Online with other services such as Genie, Compuserve, etc. I am interested mainly in 1) downloads 2) mac bulletin boards 3) hobbyist bulletin boards (music, film, etc.) Also, is AA a good deal pricewise? Are there any other services on AA that are paticularly valuable (such as airline ticket purchases)??? -- ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Jeff Marder Quotron Systems 213-302-4316 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (02/10/90)
jeff@janus.Quotron.com (jeff marder) writes: >Please compare America Online with other services such as Genie, >Compuserve, etc. I am interested mainly in 1) downloads 2) mac >bulletin boards 3) hobbyist bulletin boards (music, film, etc.) Well, AOL gave Apple employees a pretty reasonable deal to sign up, so being a net-junkie I did and took a look. ABout three hours later I sent them a nice note thanking them and cancelling the account. Why? Well, if you like AppleLink, you'll love AOL. Me, on the other hand.... Also, while it's a perfectly good service (I didn't find anything really wrong with it -- even the applelink interface is okay) I also didn't find anything particularly special about it. It was sort of interchangeable with the half a dozen other systems I deal with, and when I sat down and thought about it, I just couldn't justify signing up for yet another bboard where I coudl read the same stuff (again) that I was already reading on all the other bboards. >Also, is AA a good deal pricewise? Are there any other services on >AA that are paticularly valuable (such as airline ticket purchases)??? The standard deal isn't that bad -- it's comparable to GEnie. Definitely cheaper than CompuServe. It had a decent selection of stuff: the Mac libraries weren't as full as CIS or GEnie, but better than Delphi. Other interests were reasonably well represented (including a section for mystery readers that I haven't seen elsewhere). But it seemed to be a me-too service, and I'm too heavily entrenched on other boards to consider moving unless the deal is awesome. AOL is good, but nothing special. I'm finding (much to my surprise) have be settling in with GEnie as my primary service. Anyone who read the article I wrote in Mac Horizons (may it rest in peace) or my occasional comments on the net here are probably as suprirsed as I am, but while there are still things I really, really hate about the software adn the user interface, it has a significantly lower signal to noise ratio AND if I get under deadline pressures on soemthing I don't have to worry about messages scrolling into dust when I'm not looking. They'll be there when I have time to read them rather than forcing me to find time or lose out on a thread. So for my money, I'd go with GEnie if I had to live with one service. (it's also much cheaper than CompuServe -- so I'll forgive them the interface hacks). -- Chuq Von Rospach <+> chuq@apple.com <+> [This is myself speaking] Rumour has it that Larry Wall, author of RN, is a finalist in the race for the Nobel Peace Prize for his invention of the kill file.
geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) (02/13/90)
chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes: >So for my money, I'd go with GEnie if I had to live with one service. (it's >also much cheaper than CompuServe -- so I'll forgive them the interface hacks). ^^^^^^^^^^^^ That's not true for all of us, unfortunately. I can dial the CompuServe network with a local call at 2400 bps for $12.80/hour ($12.50 for 2400 bps + $0.30 surcharge). To get GEnie, I have to go through one of the carrier networks at $2.00/hour. Add to that the fact that, according to my info, GEnie is only available to me at 1200 bps, and I get 1200 bps for $8.00/hour. 63% of the price for 50% of the speed doesn't sound like too good a deal to me. I haven't tried GEnie for this reason. -- Geoff Allen \ I don't want to yield to fashion and {uunet|bigtex}!pmafire!geoff \ make the Macintosh as ugly as OS/2 ucdavis!egg-id!pmafire!geoff \ --Jean-Louis Gassee, Apple Computer
ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM (Norman Goodger) (02/15/90)
In article <1195@pmafire.UUCP> geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) writes: > >That's not true for all of us, unfortunately. I can dial the CompuServe >network with a local call at 2400 bps for $12.80/hour ($12.50 for >2400 bps + $0.30 surcharge). To get GEnie, I have to go through one of >the carrier networks at $2.00/hour. Add to that the fact that, >according to my info, GEnie is only available to me at 1200 bps, and I >get 1200 bps for $8.00/hour. 63% of the price for 50% of the speed >doesn't sound like too good a deal to me. >I haven't tried GEnie for this reason. As a followup to others who have read this above mis-information, in the past year GEIS has been upgrading its network to all tri-speed modems, which means 2400-1200-300 baud service at any local Genie access. Also at the same time this eliminated any surcharged lines, there are none anymore. So when you call GEnie at 2400 you are paying $10 an hour and thats it, provided of course you do have a local call access. So chances are if you used to have a 1200 local GEnie number, its 2400 now and if its not yet, chances are it won't be much longer. So as far as I can tell GEnie is and always will be cheaper than Compuserve, and is adding more services all the time.... -- Norm Goodger SysOp - MacInfo BBS @415-795-8862 3Com Corp. Co-SysOp FreeSoft RT - GEnie. Enterprise Systems Division (I disclaim anything and everything) UUCP: {3comvax,auspex,sun}!bridge2!ngg Internet: ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM
barry@playfair.STANFORD.EDU (barry) (02/15/90)
In article <1328@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM> ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM (Norman Goodger) writes: >In article <1195@pmafire.UUCP> geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) writes: >> >> [Compuserve can be used] at 2400 bps for $12.80/hour [total]. > > [Due to recent improvements on] Genie at 2400 you are paying $10 an hour and >thats it.. Sounds like the prices of the two services are converging. Glad to hear Genie is now accessible at 2400 baud. The Compuserve price is the same at any time of the day, but Genie used to charge very high prices during the daytime. Is is now accessable 24-hours at the price you quote? I'd also note that I find the Compuserve Navigator program (a batch session agent) of great utility in getting my money's worth out of CIS. Is there a comparable program available for Genie? And of course I am interested in seeing both services offer 9600 baud access now that there is a common hardware standard (V.32). Is this in the works? Barry Eynon barry@playfair.stanford.edu -ARPA ...!decwrl!shasta!playfair!barry -USENET
chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (02/15/90)
barry@playfair.STANFORD.EDU (barry) writes: >The Compuserve price is the same >at any time of the day, but Genie used to charge very high prices during the >daytime. Is is now accessable 24-hours at the price you quote? No. GEnie still has higher prime time rates. >I'd also note that I find the Compuserve Navigator program (a batch session >agent) of great utility in getting my money's worth out of CIS. Is there a >comparable program available for Genie? No (although there are some helpers for Red Ryder/White Knight, they don't automate it) -- Chuq Von Rospach <+> chuq@apple.com <+> [This is myself speaking] Rumour has it that Larry Wall, author of RN, is a finalist in the race for the Nobel Peace Prize for his invention of the kill file.
jamespa@csuf3b.CSUFresno.EDU (James Paul) (02/15/90)
In article <1328@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM> ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM (Norman Goodger) writes: ...stuff about changes. >anymore. So when you call GEnie at 2400 you are paying $10 an hour and ^^^^^ >thats it, provided of course you do have a local call access. So chances ...deleted. >-- >Norm Goodger SysOp - MacInfo BBS @415-795-8862 >3Com Corp. Co-SysOp FreeSoft RT - GEnie. >Enterprise Systems Division (I disclaim anything and everything) >UUCP: {3comvax,auspex,sun}!bridge2!ngg Internet: ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM I appreciate you comments, Norm, and your work as a sysop. This is the first time, though, that I have seen $10 quoted for GEnie. I have a local access number that I've used for 3 years. I have always been charged $6.50 per hour at any speed non-prime time (after 6pm.) Before 6pm the charge is $35.00 per hour. My local node began supporting 2400 baud last summer, and I gratefully began using the faster speed at the same price. So, how much does GEnie cost, really? Keep up your good work! -James -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- UUCP:jamespa@csuf3b.CSUFresno.EDU Compuserve:72767,3436 GEnie:J.PAUL Packet:N6SIW@K6RAU AppleLink:D1231 America Online:JLPaul
macman@wpi.wpi.edu (Christopher Silverberg) (02/16/90)
In article <1328@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM> ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM (Norman Goodger) writes: >As a followup to others who have read this above mis-information, in >the past year GEIS has been upgrading its network to all tri-speed modems, >which means 2400-1200-300 baud service at any local Genie access. Also >at the same time this eliminated any surcharged lines, there are none >anymore. So when you call GEnie at 2400 you are paying $10 an hour and >thats it, provided of course you do have a local call access. So chances > .... (deleted) Still, this is my biggest complaint with GEnie... they charge extra for 2400 baud service... which encourages me to stick with using 1200 baud over 2400 baud because of the savings. I am encouraged by AOL's policy regarding modem speeds..."the faster, the better" (granted, there probably aren't any 9600 telnet connections, but 2400 baud at $5 per hour is pretty good!) ============================================================================== == Chris Silverberg, WPI Box 719 ========= BBS Sysop: Main Street U.S.A. ===== == USENET: macman@wpi.wpi.edu ============ 2400 baud - (508) 832-7725 ======== == BITNET: macman@wpi.bitnet ============= Fido: 322/575 - Second Sight BBS == == GEnie: C.Silverberg ================== America Online: Silverberg ========
ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM (Norman Goodger) (02/16/90)
In article <63@playfair.STANFORD.EDU> barry@playfair.UUCP (Barrett P. Eynon) writes: >Sounds like the prices of the two services are converging. Glad to hear >Genie is now accessible at 2400 baud. The Compuserve price is the same >at any time of the day, but Genie used to charge very high prices during the >daytime. Is is now accessable 24-hours at the price you quote? >I'd also note that I find the Compuserve Navigator program (a batch session >agent) of great utility in getting my money's worth out of CIS. Is there a >comparable program available for Genie? >And of course I am interested in seeing both services offer 9600 baud access >now that there is a common hardware standard (V.32). Is this in the works? >Barry Eynon While Genie is has gotton cheaper, CI$ is staying pretty much the same. The Mac Forums on CI$ are numerous, 6-7 of them with different focuses for each forum, communications, developer, beginner to name a few. GEnie on the other hand has the Mac RT, and its mac Developer RT. It is my opinion that CI$ with its multiple forums is making more money because even with Navigator, you are still spending more time online looking thru the many forums for what you need or want because you can never be real sure in which forum what you are looking for resides unless someone tells you. While I'll agree that learning GEnie without something like Navigator can take a little time and money, I think once you've made than initial investment you can get more Mac stuff from GEnie faster and easier. There are some scripts for aiding in GEnie navigation and downloading, but nothing to really compare to Navigator. There has been discussion of some sort of GEnie Navigator, but nothing has appeared that I am aware of. There is a program called Alladin for GEnie on the PC side that has also been dicussed as being moved to the Mac eventually. No one that I am aware of has invested in 9600 for their network. Though its probably only a matter of time. GEnie still has its day rates, though now at $18 an hour not the $35 it used to be. Non-prime hours are 6PM to 8AM in the local time zone your acct was setup in. -- Norm Goodger SysOp - MacInfo BBS @415-795-8862 3Com Corp. Co-SysOp FreeSoft RT - GEnie. Enterprise Systems Division (I disclaim anything and everything) UUCP: {3comvax,auspex,sun}!bridge2!ngg Internet: ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM
ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM (Norman Goodger) (02/20/90)
In article<8354@wpi.wpi.edu> macman@wpi.wpi.edu (Christopher Silverberg) writes: > >Still, this is my biggest complaint with GEnie... they charge extra for 2400 >baud service... which encourages me to stick with using 1200 baud over 2400 >baud because of the savings. I am encouraged by AOL's policy regarding >modem speeds..."the faster, the better" (granted, there probably aren't any >9600 telnet connections, but 2400 baud at $5 per hour is pretty good!) I don't see this as a valid complaint. CI$ charges the same for 2400/1200 service, but has a reduced rate of I think 5 or 6 dollars for useless 300 baud service. Other services do, or had similiar pricing structures. AOL is limited in the services it provides in comparison to GEnie or CI$ and perhaps Delphi. So depending on what you use the service for, you have to evaluate if that service does everything you want it to. If AOL does everything you need, then thats the best service for you and you save a few $$, but if it doesn't, then other services that do fill your needs can charge more because they provide the services that others do not. Its what competition is all about... -- Norm Goodger SysOp - MacInfo BBS @415-795-8862 3Com Corp. Co-SysOp FreeSoft RT - GEnie. Enterprise Systems Division (I disclaim anything and everything) UUCP: {3comvax,auspex,sun}!bridge2!ngg Internet: ngg@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM