Jack.Winslade@iugate.unomaha.edu (Jack Winslade) (01/11/91)
Hmmmmmmm ... something just hit me -- something that is so obvious that we cannot see it for the trees. If we figure that the metro Omaha area gives Ma Bell about 500,000 customers, and we figure the number of BBS systems that have been around for more than one month and will be here one month into the future is about 50 (comma) that means that the BBS lines make up about 50/500000 of the active lines, or about 1/100 of one percent. I think we can then assume that the ratio of BBS systems to dialable numbers is more or less the same, +/- one order of magnitude, throughout the USA. Why is it, then, that some phone companies, including the one in Texas (S. Bell or SW Bell, I can never keep them straight) and GTE in Indiana (or was it Ohio, I can never keep them straight ;-) are so concerned with such a small fraction of their customers?? Heck, if .01% of the telephone subscribers kept their phones off hook all day long, it shouldn't generate any blip at all in any accounting records and it certainly is so insignificant that it would be buried in the margin of error of any traffic measuring study. Why is it then, that they are paying >>THAT<< much attention to such a miniscule group of their subscribers ?? Good Day! JSW
ggw%wolves@cs.duke.edu (Gregory G. Woodbury) (01/13/91)
In article <15992@accuvax.nwu.edu> jsw@iugate.unomaha.edu writes: >If we figure that the metro Omaha area gives Ma Bell about 500,000 >50/500000 of the active lines, or about 1/100 of one percent. >Why is it then, that they are paying >>THAT<< much attention to such a >miniscule group of their subscribers ?? Well, the answer is evident after digging around a little bit. The LECs hope to be freed relatively soon to provide their own information services. The software and all the necessary technology for an LEC to provide a Prodigy-type service was developed at Bell Labs back in 1982.* When ISDN becomes are real service to each subscriber, it will be easy for almost anyone to set up a BBS and offer direct ISDN access. The LECs do not want the BBS operators providing for free, what they hope to make tons of money from! * I was there for a while and worked on it. Gregory G. Woodbury @ The Wolves Den UNIX, Durham NC UUCP: ...dukcds!wolves!ggw ...mcnc!wolves!ggw [use the maps!] Domain: ggw@cds.duke.edu ggw%wolves@mcnc.mcnc.org