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Non-Tech : Datek Brokerage $9.95 a trade -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Vet who wrote (11010)	2/11/1999 8:47:00 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

You are right, Vet. The problem won't clear up just because they add more servers. It's a lot more complicated than that. Talk about "servers" on this board, really is just a shorthand for technical problems that result from a system under stress. Servers are only part of it. Instead of enumerating all the things that need to be upgraded, we say "servers". But the point is the same: DATEK SHOULD UPGRADE THE SYSTEM BEFORE THEY TAKE ON MORE CUSTOMERS THAN THEIR PRESENT SYSTEM CAN HANDLE. Nobody blames Datek (or should blame them) for problems outside their control. Even an occassional glitch is understandable - nothing is perfect. However, this is not the problem at Datek. The problem at Datek is that they are fully aware of the inadequacy of their systems to handle the volume of clients they sign up. Yet, instead of slowing the growth of their accounts until they can handle them, or upgrading ahead of time, they are ignoring the quality of their service, and deliberately sacrificing the active trader on the altar of the quick buck. They have had months and months of proof that their systems are inadequate to handle their growth. Yet they advertise for ever more and more clients throughout the web. I see the Datek ads everywhere.

To: The Vet who wrote (11010)	2/12/1999 11:54:00 AM
From: pae	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 16892

Datek Online System Outage Blocks Trading For Six Minutes Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK -- Datek Online Holdings Corp.'s online trading system was down for six minutes Thursday, preventing customers from online trading during that time, Chief Technology Officer Peter Stern said. Stern said that a processor problem in a back-end server began slowing operations at around 2 p.m. and that Datek decided to bring down the system to fix the problem. From 2:08 to 2:14, customers couldn't place trades or access account information, he said, but any orders placed prior to that time were processed. "It wasn't related to any capacity issues or load issues. It was a light day," Stern said. Online brokerages have come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks from regulators who have received a growing number of customer complaints about service. E*Trade Group Inc. (EGRP) had three days of recurring outages from Feb. 3 to 5 and Ameritrade Holdings Corp. (AMTD) on Monday also was down prior to the trading day. Datek is a privately held firm based in Iselin, N.J. - Caroline Humer; 201 938 5234; caroline.humer@cor.dowjones.com Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.