djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (10/24/90)
[The following material was found in the October 1990 edition of
_Toronto_Computes!_, a monthly microcomputer-related newspaper.
The following excerpts from _Toronto_Computes!_ are with respect to
the Bell Canada Alex videotext service which started in Toronto this
spring, and has been in Montreal for some time before that.
The contents (other than any notes I make) are copyrighted, but staff
at ConText advised me that this material may be reproduced on a
non-commercial basis. In other words, don't publish this in _Byte_ or
_Dr_Dobb's_ without clearing it with ConText first. As long as the
material contains the copyright and source statements and is not
subjected to mutilation, it should be permissible to distribute this
wherever Telecom Digest goes. Note that phone numbers and other
references are with respect to Toronto (+1 416) ---- djcl ]
_Toronto_Computes!_ is published by ConText Publishing Inc., 60 St
Clair Ave W, Suite 1, Toronto, Ontario M4V 1M7. Telephone (416)
925.4533 for editorial and advertising offices. Fax 925.7701.
(c) 1990 by ConText Publishing Inc. - reprinted by permission
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[FROM LETTERS SECTION]
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ALEX USERS ARE SHOCKED BY GIGANTIC PHONE BILLS
Re Alex gets mixed reviews by Jens Kohler (August 1990):
I read with interest the article on Alex. But I was disappointed at
the last sentence because it suggests that the author missed a very
important issue.
The author stated that each month users pay about $50 in addition to
the $7.95. I wish it were so! In reality, those users that have found
something of interest in Alex are soon shocked by their telephone
bill. Furthermore, some service providers have rigged their services
to maximize on-line time. As a consequence, many users have
discontinued Alex after their first phone bill.
Those with PCs rather than Alex terminals have exchanged Alex for BBS.
Since the Alex software is distributed free, Bell Canada likely does
not have up-to-date statistics on how many users are no longer calling
Alex.
My own experience with Alex software on a Compaq DiskPro 386 covers
the month of July. I incurred a phone bill of $345 in Alex charges in
the process of testing out all their services. Many services
identified as French/English in the July Alex booklet were in fact
French only (wasted $$ time). Several services listed were not
connected. Others were trivial advertising.
Services at Alex rate-categories 1 and 2 were generally not in service
or were simple corporate advertisements with no significant reason for
on-line interaction with users. The lone exception was Alex 1 for
which the Bell Canada white pages provided some justification.
But it cost me $1.72 in computer time to find that my phone number and
those of my local relatives were not listed, at least not in a manner
that a quick database search could locate. Alex services at
rate-categories 3, 4 and 5 were largely "future" or else represented
bonus discount rates charged to heavy users of categories 6 and 7.
This left categories 6 and 7 as the most useful of services. At $0.20
or $0.25 per minute, and extensive introductory graphics, these
services are prohibitively expensive. The chat lines are the most
attractive for Alex buffs. But conversations with heavy users taught
me the danger of Alex. Several users indicated they were suffering
phone bills in excess of $1,000 per month due the chat lines.
One poor chap rang up a $2,000 bill in one month (!?!?) and had to
take out a bank loan to cover his obligations to Bell. He shrugged it
off as an investment that will pay for itself if he meets the right
girl on Alex. Unfortunately, that is unlikely since the ratio of males
to females on Alex is very high.
Furthermore, to make matters worse, many of the females on the chat
limes are "plants". That is, the service provider has paid operators
who "chat" with unsuspecting users. This of course contributes to an
inflated phone bill.
The use of Alex can be addictive; the colour graphics on a EGA monitor
are impressive, much better that on the boring monochrome Alex
terminals. The information services have great future potential but
are premature. Bill paying services have not yet connected to enough
banks and stores to make it practical.
Databases for serious professionals are lacking. For example, the
literature search facility of the National Research Council (CISTI:
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information) is not
available.
The real attraction is the electronic community chatter. But sooner or
later, the Alex addict has to be cured from this financial disease.
The cure, of course, consists of the free BBS services which can be
reached using the Alex terminal. For $7.95 it's a good toy to computer
illiterates, but cannot download or print files.
Dieter Birk
Oakville
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[commentary from djcl/woody: the "white pages" service mentioned is
actually not an "Alex 1" level service as mentioned above; Alex 1 is a
toll-free level to users. The "white pages" are charged equivalent to
"Alex 3" which means the first three minutes of the connection are
free, but each subsequent minute is charged 10c (presumably the $1.72
figure mentioned includes tax). The "white pages" service from what I
recall of the tariffs are actually listed as one category of service
and Alex 3 is listed as a separate category although both incur the
same charges.
My apologies as I don't have the referred-to August 1990 article
offhand ... djcl]
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BBS BEAT: SAVE BBSING DOLLARS BY USING ALEX BOX
By JAMES MACFARLANE
Bell's Alex, which provides services similar to BBSs, is very
expensive, costing up to $15 an hour. But a growing group of people
are discovering they can use their inexpensive rented terminals to
call directly to any local BBS, free of charge.
James Gooding, previous Alex user and now sysop of Alex Anonymous BBS,
has found there's an incredible demand for his unique BBS.
"My board is designed to be the first BBS Alex users start off using.
I don't actively advertise the board. It just travels by word of mouth
through messages on various Alex services. Once a lot of the Alex
users discover there are alternatives, we will experience a boom in
BBSing."
Gooding says Alex users are quite different from the BBS crowd. "Most
of them aren't interested in computers themselves, but are very
excited by being able to send messages back and forth to other people.
I want to help people make the transition from Alex to using BBSs."
Alex terminals are available from Bell Phonecentres for about $9 a
month. The 1200-baud dumb terminals provide a great alternative for
anyone wanting to get into BBSing without spending large amounts of
cash on a computer.
You can reach Alex Anonymous at 229-9232. Any sysops who want to
support Alex users should set their boards to accept callers using
7E1.ccplumb@spurge.uwaterloo.ca (Colin Plumb) (11/04/90)
I know someone who was interested in Alex ... at first. Getting the technical details he needed to do anything was like pulling teeth, and he had lots of ideas for really cheap services. You can price ypur service anywhere you like, he was told ... as long as *someone* pays the phone company 10 cents a minute. Boom, there goes that idea. The terminals aren't great (NAPLPS over 1200 baud isn't much fun), but he thought someone might be able to take advantage of the really cheap prices they were being pushed out at by setting up your own modem pool and doing an end run around Bell. Colin