-----Original Message----- From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh(a)aracnet.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, 7 January 1999 14:43 Subject: Re: Message formats Come on down (under). No it isn't. I accept that the original concept and the early development work took place in the US. The growth of the net has made it a global phenomenon, though the spam is nearly all American in origin! Lucky boy. That sort of bandwidth is way out of reach of most people in this country. A typical home user would probably have a 28.8 or 33.6k modem, with a few 56k's thrown in. 56k doesn't always work well, heck I'm using a 56k USR modem, but it won't connect to my ISP faster than 33.6k, even though the ISP supports it. Phone line quality most likely. ISDN is available, but it's timed by the second, and frightfully expensive to install, so most ISP's won't allow a dial on demand, they will only do ISDN for a permanent connection. Change ISP's did I hear you say? There are only 2 here. We are in the country ~100 miles from Adelaide, plenty more there, but it's 50c a minute for a long distance call during the day, and it's not a lot different there Since a permanent 33.6k modem line (like this one) costs around $290 a month, and a commercial 64k ISDN permanent is around $1000 a month, you don't see a lot of users on it yet..... Oh yes, our local phone calls are not timed (yet - they keep threatening - mostly because of net users) but the backlash from consumers is keeping them on the back foot - for now. They are not, however, free, it's 30c a call, though a local call in Australia can cover a sizeable area depending what area code you are in. The 08 area code covers the entire state of SA, which is roughly 5 or 6 times the area of the UK. Local calls are roughly a 50 mile radius of the place you call from. Cheers Geoff Roberts Computer Room Internet Cafe Port Pirie South Australia. netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au