[comp.org.eff.talk] Compu$erve, Prodigy, GEnie, etc.

cmcurtin@bluemoon.uucp (Matthew Curtin) (02/14/91)

I would REALLY like to see a side-by-side(-by-side(?)) comparison of 
CompuServe, Prodigy, and GEnie, as far as how much you spend for connect 
time, what you need to do to rack up surcharges, what services are 
available, connectivity to other nets (ie: Internet), and various other 
relative information.

I also have a question about CompuServe.  CompuServe mailed me something a 
few days ago that would allow me to connect for a while for free, with the 
Mac software included.  When I call this account, will I have to use my 
Mac software all the time, or would I be able to just connect to it with 
any term emulation?

Thanks in advance.


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brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) (02/16/91)

Here are some basic facts:

Online services:
	The bulk of the oneline business involves offering the following
	things:

		Downloads -- file libraries, mostly with shareware and
			binary images of naked women.

		Bulletin Boards/Forums/Round Tables/SIGs -- discussion areas,
			not unlike usenet newsgroups.

		Chat/CB -- real time discussion with other users.

		Multi-Player games

	The following are common on the larger services:

		Database searching, ranging from encyclopedia to full text
			newspapers.  

		Shopping

		Airline Reservations, either with Eaasy Sabre (American
		Airlines) or the Official Airline Guides

		News, Weather, Sports -- either headlines or searchable
			databases.  (or ClariNet :-)
		
		Financial info and databases -- stock quotes, etc.

Prodigy:
	$12.95/month plus 25 cents for each E-mail over 30 per month.
	Fee is for a family -- can have more than one ID per account for
	kids, spouse, etc.

	Offers news, columns, extensive shopping, heavily edited BBoards,
	E-mail.  Airline reservations, encyclopedia, etc.
	No file downloads, no chat/CB.

	Graphic interface for PC or Mac, nice but slow to update non-cached
	information.  (Caches menus you have already seen)

	Advertising supported -- you see ads on part of the screen while you
	use the service.

	Available in selected cities, and recently via TYMNET.  (I don't know
	if there are extra charges for that.)

	No interfaces to other mail nets.

	Estimated annual revenues: $50 million.  Around 250K households

Compuserve:
	$1.50/month plus $12.50/hour for medium speed access.   Plus
	varying network charges from 25 cents/hour to $10/hour.
	Offers the full range of services -- now the oldest service.
	Many of the business and database services are surcharged, some
	of them heavily, with rates more than double normal connect time.

	CIS has more than anybody else in terms of services, but they are
	often called CI$ because you can really rack up charges at $12.50.

	Claims 600,000 members (that's people who ever signed on once.)

	Local access in most cities.   Annual revenues estimated $80 million.

	Has gateway for internet mail and a few other gateways.  Some are
	surcharged.  The internet mail one is not (just pay regular hourly
	rate.)

	Has character interface, but various online and offline access programs
	are available.

	BBs are supervised but not heavily edited as on Prodigy.  BBs tend
	to expire *very* quickly -- sometimes in just a day.

	Has international access in many countries, sometimes with heavy
	surcharges.


GEnie:
	Run at night on GE Information Services large mainframe network.
	A two-tier system.

	Membership is $4.95/month which includes unlimited access to about
	half the system.  The rest of the system is $6/hour in non-prime time.
	The whole system is $18/hour in prime-time (weekdays 8 am to 6 pm).

	The unlimited use half includes E-mail, airline reservations, shopping,
	non-computing bulletin boards, encyclopedia and a few other things.
	The hourly billed half includes downloads, "chat", computing
	bulletin boards, multi-player games and a few odds and ends.

	BBs are supervised, but not heavily edited.

	Local access in most cities.  (The GEIS network is actually larger
	than compuserve's or Tymnet's)

	About 250,000 users in the "ever signed on" category

	No gateways to other mail systems.

	Character interface, one offline access program is available free.

	Has international access in Canada (same deal as USA) as well as
	Japan and Europe with surcharges.

Others:
	America Online  (Mac, Apple and PC-Specific services using dedicated
	access program.)   Fairly big but not well known.

	Bix -- run by Byte magazine.  Moved to flat rate about a year ago.
	Available via Tymnet.

	Delphi -- Around $7.20/hour, plus has special flat rate areas in Boston
	and a few other cities.   Available via Tymnet.

	The Well -- small, but popular system in San Francisco.  Available via
	Telenet.   $3/hour plus a small monthly fee.

	Portal -- Flat rate $10/month -- offers the standard array of services
	for a small provider -- news, chat, usenet, downloads etc.  In San
	Jose, but available via Telenet.

	Galaxy -- smaller BBS service adjunct to Starlink deal for access to
	Tymnet.

	Exec-PC -- Standard BBS with huge libraries and many users.

	Canada Remote Systems -- Very large BBS in Toronto area.  About
	7,000 users, $70/year.

	RBOC "Gateways" -- Bell operated gateways that link dial-in users
	with independent information providers.   These have been highly
	touted but mostly are kaput.

	Minitel -- Very large French system that offers services in the USA.
	I've never used it.   Supposedly a million users in France.

	Other large systems -- PeaceNet (SFO area), MindLink (Vancouver)


Plus tons of other smaller BBS and online systems, most of them on a flat
monthly rate, most with only a few hundred regular users.

Plus tons and tons of hobby BBS that are free or ask for a token donation.

Disclaimers:
	I "Sysop" the joke area on GEnie and thus have a commercial
	relationship with them.

	I also sell ClariNet news to some of the above systems.
-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473

tom@ssd.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley) (02/18/91)

Here is some info on one service Brad did not mention:

Dialog is not in the same category as GEnie et. al., but it is the only
online service (aside from usenet, if you can call it a service :-) I have
ever had any use for. It is now a Knight-Ridder company (used to be Lockheed
I think), but what it offers is online access to what amounts to a major
reference library. Not too much stuff is available in full text, but
abstracts of practically every technical article in any field you care to
name are available (and you can order full text copies of articles).

They also operate a less powerful (but cheaper) service designed for
individual use called Knowledge Index.

They are kind of expensive, but considering the fact that you can usually do
in 20 minutes on Dialog what it would take you a week to do in a good
library (assumuing you could find a good library), I consider it a bargin.

(Of course, I hear that more and more libraries are getting computerized
these days, so the capabilities may start to merge).
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brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) (02/20/91)

As I said, I deliberately didn't include Dialog or Mead or DataTimes etc.
because they are in the "database" class of services and not the online
industry.    While the online industry companines all provide some database
services, there is a very different thrust to the two industries.

The most essential one is providing user interaction beyond e-mail.  This
includes the formation of an electronic community and of course the ability
for users to publish stuff for other users.
-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473