jefu@twics.co.jp (Jeffrey Shapard) (03/08/91)
Just as a point of reference... In Japan, where I live and operate, there is no free unlimited telephone use. The minimum call charge is 10 yen, which is around $0.07 at today's forex rate. You can call anywhere in Japan for a mere 10 yen, though while you may get 3 full minutes in your local dialing area, you may only get a few seconds if you are calling far away. The charging for long-distance depends on how many zones away you are, using a model like dropping a rock in a pond as an image of that. The biggest amount of traffic is the Tokyo-Osaka corridor, so that distance is the max rate. Calling from Tokyo to Osaka is about the same cost as calling from Tokyo to Okinawa or Hokkaido. Charge rates for telco service time from the phone in your home or office and from a phone on the street is the same. 10 yen minimum, and 3 minutes for your 10 yen in your local dialing area. Now, from what I have seen of phone rates in other countries, this is one of the last great buys around. And, to be fair, you pay for your usage, so if you want to sit and talk to your boyfriend all evening or sit there reading and writing notes online with your PC and modem, it doesn't really matter to the phone compnany. The problem being discussed in this thread of discourse seems prettymuch an American problem. I can understand why nobody wants to pay more, but from looking at it on the outside, I see it more as a problem of the telco billing structure. If they want to charge more for modem users, then they just oughta charge more for basic usage across the board. That way there would be none of this teenaged daughter vs. PC modem controversy. --jefu * Jeffrey Shapard <jefu@twics.co.jp> "Connectivity * * Connect-activist and Operations Director, TWICS, Tokyo is our biz..." *