dplatt@ntg.uucp (Dave Platt) (04/19/91)
In article <-!lgr8+@rpi.edu> Garance_Drosehn@mts.rpi.edu writes: >what are the current rates for Applelink connect charges? Currently, AppleLink charges are based both on connect time (just over $9/hour, regardless of time-of-day) and on data traffic (somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 cents per kilocharacter during peak hours, and about half that during off-peak). Sorry these figures are inexact... my paperwork is all at home. My back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that downloading a 400k file (e.g. a well-compressed DiskCopy image of an 800k diskette) via a 2400 bps modem would cost a minimum of $8 in kilocharacter charges and roughly $6 (40 minutes) in connect-time charges... assuming that AppleLink managed to keep the line 100% busy during the download. In practice, based on the AppleLink transfer rates I've observed, the download would probably take close to an hour and would cost several dollars more. And, no, as of the last time I spoke with the folks at Apple (two weeks ago) they didn't have support for 9600 bps modems. With its current pricing schedule, AppleLink is rather costly. I'm not up-to-date on the pricing schedules for CompuServe, GEnie, etc., but I have the impression that AppleLink's cost is up near the top of the scale. I can place a direct-dialed long distance call to almost anywhere in the country, off-peak hours, for less money... and I can get better throughput. I don't think I'll be using it more than once every few months. -- Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 813-8917 UUCP: ...apple!ntg!dplatt USNAIL: New Technologies Group Inc. 2468 Embarcardero Way, Palo Alto CA 94303