nelson@bolyard.wpd.sgi.com (Nelson Bolyard) (10/16/90)
In <1990Oct1.001037.28018@odin.corp.sgi.com> I wrote: > A relative of mine in St. Paul Minnesota, a retired school teacher, would > like to be able to send and receive electronic mail from her home. So on > her behalf, I'm looking for a commercial e-mail service that is accessible > via a LOCAL PHONE CALL from St. Paul. She needs one with a gateway to > the Internet... I got some great replies (!) and some not-so-great replies 8-(. I should have said "TOLL FREE" instead of "LOCAL" because the best solutions involve 800- numbers. And I should have spelled out (though I thought it would have been obvious) that being a recently retired school teacher, she is NOT a computer wizzard, (she used a Macintosh for the first time in her life less than a year ago) and isn't interested in becoming a registered site in some UUCP domain. The replies that were not appropriate for her skill and interest level will not be summarized here. In my list, I named numerous services and asked for comments. From the replies, several of the services have been ruled out, either for cost or for usability. Here are some relevant replies, with all traces of their originators excised (I hope). On Prodigy mail: > No upload/download of files (you can print them). > It appears one addressee per note > No timestamp on notes, only date stamps. > It has full screen editor, but no normal editing functions > word wrap-- no cut and paste, no global change. > Messages cannot be resent- you blow an address, you get to type > the message in again. > Text lines can only be 37 characters per line, and messages can > only be 60 of these truncated lines. >I've used CompuServe. I feel it's rather awkward to use, but >somebody who is less computer-literate might actually enjoy going >through several layers of menus to access mail. >It is rather expensive. I've seen monthly bills of a couple of >hundred dollars for rather infrequent message handling (under a >dozen messages per month) although there were many calls (about >10 per day) necessary because in order to get one's mail, one >must dial in to CompuServe (and put up with their menus) even if >only to find out that there is no mail. >CompuServe Easyplex 800-848-8199 >Sign up $40, $1.50/month maintenance, costs based on time connected. >FAX, paper mail. Internet gateway. I called the Compuserve number and got the following rates: $6.00/hr for 300 bps, $12.50/hr for 1200/2400 bps. No cost per msg nor per byte. Only error correcting protocol is the Compuserve "B" protocol. Proprietary comm software is available: MAC Navigator $80. PC Info Manager $25. >Western Union Easylink (800-527-5184) I called W.U. They charge $2.50/month fee. No connect time charge. Fee charged for total number of bytes sent in mail messages per month. $0.38 First 500 bytes sent, $0.10 next 500 bytes sent, $0.15 next 1000 bytes sent, $0.075 each additional 1000 bytes sent. $25.00 MONTHLY MINIMUM. Mailgram service. Internet gateway exists. Two respondents suggested using local BBS services which have UUCP connections. I haven't ruled these out, but with "operation sundevil" still fresh in my memory, I'm wary of BBS solutions. >I can think of two that are *absolutely* clean [no hacker/phreak stuff] >and have direct UUCP/Internet connections. >One is pnet51.orb.mn.org (People-Net Node 51), a multiline Unix BBS run by >Pete Kosmas. Pete has run a BBS longer than anybody else in the Twin >Cities. Access is free, although he asks a donation to defray cost of >running the thing. The number is (612) 473-2295. Contact: cosmos@ >pnet51.orb.mn.org (Pete Kosmas). >The other is the BBS run by the Minnesota Atari ST user group, >mast.moundst.mn.org, at (612) 472-6582. It's a little easier to use than >pnet, and generally more reliable. (I don't know why $800 worth of Atari >hardware is more reliable than $4,000 worth of PC-clone, but it is.) MAST >runs on a single line, which is often busy. The software (a Citadel >variant) has an encrypted data base and absolutely nobody other than the >sender and receiver can read mail. Contact: tacook@moundst.mn.org (Tom >Cook). Two commercial services were recommended that had very low fixed costs (less than $10 per month) and reasonable variables costs. They were MCI Mail and AT&T Mail. About MCI Mail, one user wrote: >I have a private MCIMail account and am a Compuserve user. I like MCIMail >better as a mailer. Access is (from here at least) via an 800 number. >You are charged for what you mail rather than by access time >(which is the reason for [the dollar sign in the nickname] compu$erve). >Current rates are $0.45 for about a page worth. >(I'm writing this without access to the rates). >You can send to someone on the internet by putting "Internet" in the >EMS prompt, then user@domain at the MBOX prompt. >For those who wish to prepare information offline, there are programs which >will interact intelligently with MCIMail, providing protocol transfer >between MCI and a home PC. I use Norton Commander, which can be set to poll >the mailbox at regular intervals to see what's there >(free, since it's an 800- number and receiving mail doesn't cost anything). >There are volume pricing arrangements, which mean that if you agree to do >$10 worth of business each month, you get a discount. >Gateways are available to a number of other mail systems, including ATT Mail. >Downside: You are assigned a "Customer representative" who sends you junk >mail about services and "News" items. >PS: I have no affiliation with MCI, except as customer. About AT&T Mail, an AT&T employee wrote: >You didn't list AT&T Mail. Perhaps you should have. >AT&T Mail doesn't have an officially announced Internet gateway. >We do have a gateway for testing purposes; it's pretty good. >The service is reached on an 800 number, as is technical support >(the AT&T Mail Customer Assistance Center, 1-800-MAIL-672). >Is that close enough to a local call?-) >The annual cost is $30, which works out to $2.50 per month. Short (up >to four hundred bytes of content) "notes" are $0.40; messages longer >than that are $0.80 per 7500 bytes of content. Each recipient counts >for cost, so a note to three people would cost the same as three notes. ... >There are no connect time charges ... >or any charges to read your e-mail. >If you log onto the service and create a note or message, there's an >"online creation" charge ($0.20 and $0.45, respectively). That's okay; >hardly anyone does that, or polls the system for new mail, either. >Users can reach AT&T Mail with Access software for MS-DOS or Macintosh >systems. Access PLUS works on MS-DOS systems. It includes a friendly >"user agent" with built-in editor (you can include or attach other >files), a communications kernel that can run as a TSR, and a TSR user >agent. (I *think* there's a feature so the service can call the PC >when new mail arrives; I'm not sure.) Access III (for the Mac) can run >under Multifinder. Both Access product can "poll" the AT&T Mail >service periodically, and will notify the user if any new messages have >been downloaded. The Access packages can be ordered from the AT&T Mail >Customer Assistance Center; they run (I think) a little more than a >hundred dollars. (UNIX(R)-based systems can communicate with UUCP; >AT&T Mail looks like just another UNIX-based system.) An AT&T Mail user wrote: ... >the best choice for infrequent use might be the AT&T MAIL service. >It is about $35/yr. for a subscription with a per-message charge for >messages you send (about .40 or so). The nice part is that you call an 800 >number and there is no charge for logging in to check or receive messages. >I'm not sure that the internet gateway is documented anywhere but it has >been working for at least several months now. If you go this route you >will probably want dedicated software (Access Plus for PC's, something >similar is available for Mac's) that should cost around $100 to let you >compose and read messages off-line and do the transfers in the background >with the option to schedule automatic calls. I contacted Both AT&T and MCI Mail. MCI sent me LOTS of literature right away. I also got mail from some third party who claims to provide customer support for MCI Mail customers. I'm still waiting for the literature from AT&T. Here is a summary of the information I got (orally) from the MCI and AT&T Mail reps. I got different answers from different reps, so I don't guarantee what follows. Check with their reps yourself for the latest facts and figures. Both services allow only printable ASCII characters to be mailed. Feature: MCI Mail AT&T Mail ----------- ------------------ ----------------- Phone (inquiries): 800-444-6245 800-MAIL-672 Annual Fee: $25 $30 $35 after 11/1/90 Access: 800 number 800 number Connect time charge: no charge no charge Cost to read mail: no charge no charge Cost to send mail: < 500 bytes: 45c < 400 bytes: 40c <2500 bytes: 75c > 400 bytes: 80c <7500 bytes: $1. $1 / each 7500 Bytes Cost to "create" mail: none mentioned < 400 bytes: 25c (online editing) > 400 bytes: 45c Internet Mail gateway: Yes Yes, but not yet officially supported. How long mail is kept after it is first read before being automatically purged from the system: 5 days 24 hours Upload/Download protocols supported: X.PC, Xmodem, Ymodem, 251-modem, ASCII (XON/XOFF) ASCII Optional Comm Software: $149 (MAC) "around $100" $150 (PC) "around $100" Notes: The only "error correcting" upload/download protocol offered by MCI Mail is X.PC. MCI sells comm software for the PC (Lotus Express) and for the MAC (Desktop Express) which implements X.PC. These "express" programs also offer the ability to translate binary files into ASCII, and back. The method of translation is proprietary to these programs (but I'd guess is similar to uuencode/uudecode). AT&T Mail has their own special modem protocol, 251-modem, in addition to the widely avaiable X and Y modem protocols. A special comm software package is available from AT&T. I'm gonna wait for all the literature to arrive before making any final decisions. I'm leaning towards AT&T Mail, right now, because my relative won't need to buy any proprietary software (she already has a comm program that does Xmodem). My thanks to all the anonymous correspondents who sent helpful replies. Disclaimers: I don't work for or represent ANY of the above e-mail providers. ALL the above information is subject to change. I may have gotten some of the above information wrong. I don't speak for my employer. Finally, if I got any wrong information in the above posting, I will gladly receive mail containing the correct information, and post followups if necessary. Please direct flames to /dev/null. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nelson Bolyard nelson@sgi.COM {decwrl,sun}!sgi!whizzer!nelson Disclaimer: Views expressed herein do not represent the views of my employer. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------