At 11:58 PM 5/30/97 +0200, you wrote:
>Well, I  live in  Sweden, where  everything is  overpriced, and  a couple
>months ago  I bought an  Internet account package  in a retail  store for
>500kr (that's about  $65). This includes one year of  unlimited IP access

Amen, Eric....you just said the other things that I did NOT say in my last
msg.  I personally can't imagine living with email from a webpage in some
public place, whether free or paying by the minute.  As you so clearly
point out, for the vast majority of us choose what to spend our "disposable
income" on, and the vast majority of us have such that we spend on new cars
(when the old ones run fine), various "toys" of all sorts (boats,
computers, books, etc.), eating out, etc, etc.

>selling it for half the price. Internet access is cheap enough that, with
>very few exceptions, people  who can afford a PC can  also afford an ISP.

absolutely...no matter how old and cheap the PC and modem are.  The modal
(and undoubtedly mean) price for an unlimited access ISP account in the US
is $19.95.  The local ISP that provides my domain name service, etc., is
that price, plus $3 a month for a dedicated ip number.  They also offer
accounts to students for $3 a month for 5 hours of connect a month.  That
is plenty of time for the vast majority to upload and download their mail
into a pop3 client.  They have other options between the two.  They even
provide 800 dialup service for an extra $7 per hour, which is MUCH cheaper
than making a calling card or other call when traveling.  Heavens, that is
almost at a "dime a minute" rate (which most commercial plans promoted as
such really aren't when you read the fine print).  All of this at your
choice of 2400 to 56k.

cheers

cyclops, who ALWAYS deletes bouncers on the third bounce at most, even if
it is "mailbox full" on a friday nite and the address is their business
address


Dan Lester
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In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.  Erasmus, 1534