From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: News in Europe (was FAS 2.10 async driver...)
Date: 26 Aug 92 23:01:22 GMT
Organization: Aegis Society, Kyoto Japan

madsere@okys.infoserv.com (Rene Madsen) writes:

[* incredibly long quote (for someone trying to save money) omitted *]

>Well maybe so, but you keep forgetting that we are many who subscribes
>here in europe for a cost of $95+/hour. And that's _just_ the telephone
>cost of dialing a feeder in the states... The cost of receiving it from
>the 'local' university is lower in phone cost, but __WAY__ higher in
>transmission fees ... And the universities here have more or less a
>monopoly on serving internet in europe) ... Unless you happen to actually
>work or study on the mentionned university, in which case you may normally
>post as much as you like, no matter the content or quality of the posting!

When I first read about how somebody in Europe was dialing the U.S. to
get a feed, it seemed odd, to say the least.

But last night I went to the introductory meeting for WINC (Western
Internet Complex) which is going to start handling UUCP (and perhaps
other dial-ins) in the local area (Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka). It's not
been totally decided but instead of only paying ~15,000 yen/month in
local line charges to connect to my feed site, I may have to pay a
193,000 yen signup fee, and for sure will have to pay 193,000
yen/year in membership fees, plus another 10 yen/3 minutes for
traffic. In round numbers, this amounts to 400,000 yen/year
(~$3,000) with maybe 600,000 yen ($4600) the first year. Further, I
will *NOT* be permitted to let other sites feed off my connection
for a fee as this will be considered commerial, and not according to
the AUP (Appropriate Use Policy) which states that it the link must
be for research purposes. 

Note: This is only for USENET news and mail within Japan. For
international mail you must either join KDDlabs InetClub (90,000 yen
signup, maybe 6,000/month, 30 yen/K) or make your own arrangements. 

While it will still be less expensive to pay this kind of money
rather than call the U.S. directly (~$50/hour nights, ~$85/hour
days), I can imagine a situation in which it would be less expensive
to do so. As it is, if there were enough sites to share the cost, it
still might be less but there are only about 87 .co/.or sites in the
area (even though the population is about 15 million). 

[* details omittted *]

>Asbestos suit on, gloves, boots ... ok ready for the flames ;-)

I think you will find the flames were directed at 1) calling a
well respected poster a 'bastard' and 2) not providing enough
information such that one could understand the your situation.

As for calling people names, you haven't followed in the original
poster's footsteps so I would think you won't get any flames (maybe
so, but I feel totally different about this post myself). 

It might help even more if you would tell us why one of the sites in
your area can't get the feed from the U.S. and provide it to others. 
Not a flame: I want to understand the situation.

Dave

--
Dave McLane 
JUNET: davidg@aegis.or.jp (ONLY within Japan: post otherwise)
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087