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To: RTev who wrote (4463)	7/5/1999 6:10:00 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 12823

RTev, good to see you posting here in the LM. If in fact we have decided that AOL is a gatekeeper and not an ISP (they certainly are not an open Internet access provider without the necessary transitions needed once inside their walls) then we would have to conclude that their lobbyist's claims in the following is only bald-faced pretentiousness and extremely self-serving gibberish: "...the cable industry is trying to use its monopoly control of the broadband cable wire to become a gatekeeper on the Internet," the OpenNet Coalition said in a statement" Who's the kettle here? This strikes to the core of my last point upstream to Steven: If a service provider requires that ingress-and-egress controls be imposed on its users movements to and from the 'net, thus relegating them to something other than a bona fide ISP, then they themselves can be considered as gatekeepers, and this alone should be enough to nullify their acceptance into the corps of open 'net providers otherwise referred to as ISPs. And yet (and this gets back to the bald-facedness) they are spearheading the Open Net Coalition. Go figure? No, Case closed! Yes, you have to know that that last pun was intended. -g- Regards, Frank Coluccio

To: RTev who wrote (4463)	7/7/1999 10:08:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Here's a promotional page that describes an interesting new option for USWest DSL users. It's a non-permanent connection that requires a log-in process and imposes time limits, but costs $10 less that always-on DSL service of the same speed. The $19.95 cost quoted below is for the line only. One must still pay $15-$20 for an ISP. uswest.com It is a dedicated, high-speed, low cost service offering for a user who does not require a constant connection to the Internet or to a corporate LAN. However, when one is connected, the service is dedicated and is NOT shared by other users. This means you get full 256 Kbps service regardless of the number of users! ... One important difference between MegaBit 256 Select and other MegaBit Services is MegaBit 256 Select?s incredibly low price of $19.95/month. We realize that not everyone will want to be on the Internet at the same time or for the same amount of time. Therefore, with MegaBit 256 Select, we do not reserve one access port for each particular user who subscribes to the service. This process of allowing more users than ports is known as "oversubscribing" and it is a common practice in Internet service provisioning. It is also one reason why we can offer service at the low price of $19.95/month. ... Subscribers initiate a session by activating a special "Connection" window and clicking on the connect/disconnect button on their computer screen. A session begins when the subscriber's modem "trains" or "syncs-up" with the network modem in the Central Office to establish communications. It takes approximately 7-40 seconds for the initial connection. There is the potential for blocking, which means that subscribers may not instantly be able to access the network due to high subscriber demand. In technical terms, this is because there is no "vacant port" to which the customer can connect.