THE CHARM OF UNLIMITED LONG-DISTANCE MODEM-TALK
by George Por


Until now, long-distance computer communications was limited by the choice between paying long-distance phone rates for it, and using an electronic mail or conferencing service that wouldn't allow you to send/receive messages but to/from subscribers of the very same service. Let's say you live in San Francisco and you have a friend, a relative, or a business associate in New York, and one of you is a member of The Source, the other is with CompuServe, two information and communication utilities that are not in talking relation with each other. The only way to get instantaneous electronic text delivery is calling computer-to-computer, which implies an average $10 per hour long-distance phone charge. That was the situation until the recent introduction of new service by GTE Telenet, called PC Pursuit.

For a flat fee of $25 per month, PC Pursuit offers unlimited non-primetime connection to online databases, bulletin boards, regional networks, and communicating personal computers in the following metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Some of the hundreds of bulletin boards you can reach with a call to your nearest Telenet node in any of the areas listed above are: NASA GAS-Net, Net Exchange Fido (Washington, D.C.); The Invention Factory, New York Medical (N.Y.C.); Martians Mixed-up & Matching Machine, Investor's Resource (L.A.); K.A.O.S. (Philadelphia); World Peace, PSInet, Writers Resource (Denver); Lawyers Micro User Group, Individual Investors BBS (Chicago); Universal Joint (Detroit); Boston Computer Society (Boston); Computers for Christ, and The WELL (S.F. area).

The last two systems are located respectively in San Mateo and Sausalito, and if you call them frequently from Oakland, San Francisco, or from any other 415 area code location, your phone bill might run up unexpectedly high. If you happen to live in a city with a Telenet node, you can save money even on same-area-code communications, by calling your favorite boards through PC Pursuit.

Although the service is pitched towards BBS users, I think those who really will benefit from it are the operators and users of systems running on minicomputers that can accommodate a larger number of simultaneous callers. Popular, micro-based bulletin boards are already congested with local traffic, and people calling them have to wait in the queue, listening to the busy signal for hours before getting in. Adding nationwide access will only increase their congestion. In contrast, regional multi-user systems, like The WELL, or the soon-coming New England Commons in Boston, will truly benefit from PC Pursuit by being able to recruit information providers and subscribers both locally and nationwide.

To use PC Pursuit, you must register first, then do the following: a) Use your modem to call the local access number; b) Request the city and destination phone number you wish to dial; c) Hang up and then receive your call-back; d) Await the connection and out-dial, then proceed just as if you had dialed the destination phone number yourself.

For registration or further information CONTACT: (800) 368-4215 (voice), or (800) 835-3001 (modem).

[Re"printed" from TeleTalk, a column I write for Computer Currents]