[comp.dcom.telecom] Telemail, MCI, AT&T Mail Interconnection!

telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (05/16/89)

U.S. Sprint's subsidiary, Telenet has announced an interconnection agreement
between Telemail, Telenet's electronic mail product, MCI Mail, and AT&T
Mail.

The new arrangement, scheduled to be in effect later this summer, will allow
the 300,000 worldwide users of Telemail, the 100,000 users of MCI Mail and
the 50,000 users of AT&T Mail to conveniently send email messages to each
other.

The exact logistics have not yet been announced, but I wanted to get the
word to you as soon as I heard about it. When more details are available,
a message will be posted.


Patrick Townson

bg0d+@andrew.cmu.edu (Bernard Goldsmith) (05/17/89)

I asked MCIMail as soon a s I had read your post.  They promised to answer
later this week  --  I'll be glad to share that reply with you.I've been using
MCIMail for about 3 years and ATTMail since last July. I had started with
EasyLink, but it was a disaster, even though their special deal with Boston
Computer Society promised very low rates.  Their billing was riddled with
errors and inattention.

ATTMail has been disappointing, but its growth has accelerated MCIMail's
expansion of services.  MCIMail support is MUCH better than ATT's, and
the protocol is much more rational.

avr@mtgzx.att.com (a.v.reed) (05/20/89)

In article <telecom-v09i0168m04@vector.dallas.tx.us>, bg0d+@andrew.cmu.edu
(Bernard Goldsmith) writes:

> ATTMail has been disappointing, but its growth has accelerated MCIMail's
> expansion of services.  MCIMail support is MUCH better than ATT's, and
> the protocol is much more rational.

I wonder - what exactly is this "protocol"? From a machine
registered with AT&T Mail, you send a letter by invoking your
favorite mailer - whatever that happens to be - with an address
like attmail!adamreed or attmail!othermachine!user. For more
complicated stuff, I use ksh functions, like this one for sending
a business letter, formatted with mm macros, to a FAX:

function sendfax {
		NUMBER=$1;ATTENTION=$2;shift;shift
		(echo "To: attmail!fax!$NUMBER(/$ATTENTION)";\
			nroff -mm -rL60 -rW65 $@ | col -bx)|\
			/bin/mail attmail!dispatcher
		}

What exactly is this "much more rational protocol" from MCI Mail?
In what ways is it "more rational" than the above? Note that
while I am from AT&T BL, I am NOT a company chauvinist, and I
firmly believe that learning from everyone - definitely INCLUDING
one's competitors - is the essence of wisdom. This is a serious
request for more information, NOT a flame.

				Adam_V_Reed@att.com