Tweeters,

Just want to let you know: I have the same offer from US West, but it
expires 31 January 1999 instead of 31 March 1999. You might want to check
into this great deal right away!

---Lisa MacQueen
Seattle WA


On Sat, 23 Jan 1999, Don Baccus wrote:

> I just spent the last 10-15 minutes getting my 256KB DSL full-time
> internet service up and running. WOW!
>
> Though this post has no bird content, those of you who surf the
> net looking for information on birds, birding, photos of birds,
> or birding areas, etc may find my quick report of interest,
> because this new service is a very cost-effective way to get the
> kind of high-speed internet link that until now has only been
> available at relatively high cost.
>
> US West offers this service for $40/month (net cost for many is
> lower, read furhter), it's easy to install, and works every bit
> as well as advertised. You can still use your existing ISP - mine,
> Pacifier in Vancouver, WA, charges absolutely nothing extra for the
> 256KB service, I pay the same $19.95/mo (discounted 'cause I pay
> annually).
>
> Several cool things besides the obvious fast speed:
>
> 1. You can get 1/2 of a T1 for about $80/month (wholly toledo! One
> T1 is what most ISPs started out with a few years ago!), though
> ISPs charge more. That's 768 KBS each way for the uninitiated.
> If you've got money - or say are looking at wiring someplace
> like Seattle Audubon - you can get all the way up to 7MBS down,
> 1MBS up (for more money of course)
>
> This is also a full-time connection, so you don't have to sit
> and watch your modem dial-up, get frustrated with busy signals
> or modems that ring and never answer, etc. There's a brief
> start-up protocol when you've not been using the net connection
> for awhile, but it's transparent to you.
>
> 2. You get your POTS ("Plain Old Telephone Service") on the same
> line. This is VERY cool if you currently have two phone lines,
> one for internet access, one for personal use. With DSL, you
> are charged your normal residential rate plus the $40/month for
> data access. BUT ... if you have two lines currently and use
> one exclusively for internet access, you can cancel that second line
> and in reality you only pay the DIFFERENCE between the second
> line and the DSL line (about $10/mo or so here in PDX).
>
> 3. In Oregon, at least (and I think Washington) THE HARDWARE IS
> FREE IF YOU ORDER BY MARCH 31, 1999. They even Airborne
> Expressed it to me at no charge, gosh. The baby router
> box you get costs about $295, and they toss in an expensive
> "feature phone" too, so this is a very good deal.
>
> 4. It is the telephone company, who can't even look at a wire
> without charging you, so there is a one-time $110 fee to
> set up the service. This involves physical line testing
> on their part, so to some degree is justified.
>
> 5. It's easy to set up yourself, if you can install a network
> card (or have one in your computer), you can do without
> paying them the $150 they charge to come to your site
> and install the hardware for you (again, not an unreasonable
> charge as they have to take your machine apart and install
> the card, unless you already have a network card installed).
>
> Anyway, personal friends have been asking me questions about
> this service, wondering if it really works as advertised and
> if the phone company really is giving away the hardware and if
> you really, really, really can use the phone at the same time
> as you're on the 'net (and anything else hooked to the phone
> line, like modems - important if you use your computer for
> faxes or voicemail - and answering machines) even if you only
> have the one line, etc etc. So I thought at least a couple
> of folks in tweeterdom might be interested in hearing of my
> initial personal experience installing and using it.
>
> OK, I've bored y'all enough. If anyone has questions about
> this feel free to e-mail me privately, it's not really
> tweeters material.
>
>
>
> - Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
> Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
> http://donb.photo.net
>