0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) (10/15/90)
While AT&T Mail is fully featured, etc., you would NOT necessarily switch over to it because MCI raised its rates! The AT&T Mailbox fee is $30.00 already, and they really zing you on message charges -- you are charged for the creation *and* the transmission of the message. So after about seven or eight messages, you would have made up the $5.00 savings in up front mailbox fees. About the only mailbox I can think of that has no fee is the "mail" feature of CompuServe, although there you pay for on-line time ... oh well, STILL no perfect world. [Moderator's Note: You are correct that the subscription and per-use prices on AT&T Mail would be no saving over the new MCI rates, but the quality of service is important also; and generally, given my druthers, I prefer AT&T although I have service on both. I find AT&T Mail a little easier to work with. They also have pretty good help documentation, and their shared folders (sort of like a public bulletin board) are easy to use. PAT]
alanf@gatech.edu (Daniel Alan Fleming) (10/17/90)
In article <13587@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 739, Message 2 of 14 >While AT&T Mail is fully featured, etc., you would NOT necessarily >switch over to it because MCI raised its rates! The AT&T Mailbox fee >is $30.00 already, and they really zing you on message charges -- you >are charged for the creation *and* the transmission of the message. While this is probably true of the average user, there are other options. AT&T sells (for a pretty penny I might add) a software series called PMXStarmail for a variety of their systems. This is a full screen mail program that allows you to create the mail onsite, avoiding the creation cost. At my previous job we had our AT&T 6386 set up as an AT&T Mail Post Office. Another nifty piece of software (also expensive) is the MS/DOS software ACCESS Plus. This allows mail messages to be downloaded to your PC from your AT&T Mail post box. This program runs RAM resident and can be hot keyed to. While you are busily working up your budget in Lotus 1-2-3 or playing the latest in Sierra Games a message will appear stating you have mail. We were running Windows 3.0 with eight different software packages and never had a problem with the hot key. It was a nice set up. Of course, we had to find out about the package ourself and order it despite having a dedicated AT&T sales rep. The quote I have heard and come to appreciate is: "AT&T couldn't sell drugs at a Grateful Dead concert." Alan {uunet}!gatech!daysinns!alanf
BRUCE@ccavax.camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) (10/19/90)
In article <13587@accuvax.nwu.edu>, Sandy Kyrish <0003209613@mcimail. com> writes: > ...About the only mailbox I can > think of that has no fee is the "mail" feature of CompuServe, although > there you pay for on-line time ... oh well, STILL no perfect world. There is about to be a way to get an Internet mail address "free", or so it seems. The DEC Users Society (DECUS) runs a BBS called DECUSERVE, that currently has a $65/year fee, and is about to have a 56kb Internet connection installed. The interesting thing is that the Decus leadership are in the process of lowering the $65/year to $0/year. Decus membership IS required, but costs nothing. There are "Cannons of Conduct" that must be read and signed. Call DECUS @ 1.508.480.3635 (they are moving soon, this should work for a while) for info on DECUS.
hrs1@cbnewsi.att.com (10/21/90)
In article <13587@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) writes: > While AT&T Mail is fully featured, etc., you would NOT necessarily > switch over to it because MCI raised its rates! The AT&T Mailbox fee > is $30.00 already, and they really zing you on message charges -- you > are charged for the creation *and* the transmission of the message. There is a charge for the creation of messages if you do it on line. There is a very good user software package called AT&T Mail Access, on which you can create messages, and with a single Function Key press upload your messages and receive messages addressed to you. The software has many other nice features, you can create a directory, use aliases, etc. Herman Silbiger hrs@attmail.com
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (10/21/90)
hrs1@cbnewsi.att.com writes: > There is a charge for the creation of messages if you do it on line. > There is a very good user software package called AT&T Mail Access, on > which you can create messages, and with a single Function Key press > upload your messages and receive messages addressed to you. AT&T Mail also offers (unlike, I believe, MCI Mail) a UUCP connection for AT&T Mail services. This means there is no on line charges whatsoever. No special software is required. No user interaction with AT&T Mail is required. One account shows detailed user message accounting (all system users are identified). If there are other systems involved with a customer, the one account can handle them as well. There are fifteen people who have access to my single AT&T Mail account and sorting the charges out is no problem whatsoever. This means that the one $30/yr fee is really $2/yr. Combine that with a lack of any on line charges and it turns out to be pretty reasonable. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !