telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (04/10/89)
Early this year, Telenet announced new terms for the PC Pursuit program,
which placed time limits on the use of the service, and set new rates for
usage of the service.
***** Most of the deal has been called off *****
In a letter dated March 29, 1989 from Floyd H. Trogdon, Vice President and
General Manager of Network Services announced several revisions in the
earlier plans. His latest letter supercedes all previous memos and usage
agreements, and becomes effective July 1, 1989.
There will be THREE membership plans:
REGULAR membership will be $30 per month for up to 30 hours
of non-prime time (evenings and weekend) use. This can be
used by the subscriber only. No others allowed to use it.
FAMILY membership will be $50 per month for up to 60 hours
of non-prime time (evenings and weekend) use. This can be
used by the subscriber and any immediate family members in
the same household. If a single person expected to use more
than 30 hours per month, s/he would still buy this 'family'
plan, even if the entire 'family' consisted of just one person.
HANDICAPPED membership will be $30 per month for up to 90 hours
of non-prime time (evening and weekend) use. To qualify for
these terms, proof of physical handicap must be provided. Ask
Telenet for the exact terms.
EXCESS HOURS over 30 (or 60/90) per month during non-prime time hours
will be billed at $3.00 per hour. This is a decrease from the earlier
proposed charge of $4.50 per hour.
PRIME-TIME USAGE will be billed at $10.50 per hour, regardless of how much
time may be remaining on the PCP membership plan.
The billing will be in arrears each month. That is, the July usage
will be billed in August, etc. Call detail will be automatically provided
to any subscriber going over thirty hours per month.
GRACE PERIOD/FORGIVENESS: All calls will be given a one minute grace period
for the purpose of establishing the connection. There will never be a charge
for calls lasting one minute or less. If you disconnect promptly when you
see that your call will not complete for whatever reason, there will
be no charge.
There will be a two minute minimum on all connections (after the first minute
has passed.) Otherwise, times will be rounded to the *nearest* minute for
billing purposes.
NEW PASSWORDS AND USER I.D.'s FOR EVERYONE: During April, 1989, all current
subscribers to PC Pursuit will be issued new passwords and new user identities.
On May 1, 1989, all existing passwords and ID's will be killed.
New users after July 1, 1989 will pay $30 to set up an account. Password
changes will be $5.00. *Existing* users will never have to pay a fee to
adjust their account upward or downward from regular < == > family plans.
Call detail will be provided in June, 1989 to users with more than 30 hours
of usage to help them detirmine which plan they should use; however there
will be no charge for extra hours until July.
Because of the confusion and lack of good communication between
Telenet and its users over the past few months, the official change in
terms from unlimited use to measured use has been postponed from its
original starting date in June to July 1.
These are just excerpts from the letter to subscribers posted on the
Net Exchange BBS. If you subscribe to PC Pursuit I recommend you sign on
and read the full memo, along with the accompanying Terms and Conditions
and price schedules.
Remember, any changes you may have made in February/March in anticipation
of the changeover originally planned for May/June are now void.
Telenet has stated all users will be defaulted to REGULAR memberships
effective July 1 unless they specifically make changes to this during the
months of May and June.
Telenet Customer Service: 1-800-336-0437
Telenet Telemarketing: 1-800-TELENET
Sign up via modem with credit card number handy: 1-800-835-3001.
To read the full bulletins, log onto Net Exchange by calling into your
local Telenet switcher and connecting to '@pursuit'.
Patrick Townson