OT: AT&T and usenet access - Page 4

 (entshuldigen@oopla.com) says...


You purchased Internet service (I'm assuming DSL, Dialup or U-verse).  
That gives you access to the Internet.  They also gave you other
services, such as (I'm guessing) a Web host with some space to set-up a
site, email with x-number of addresses, maybe FTP server space, etc.  
And apparently access to a Usenet server they hosted.  They didn't give
you 'browsing services'-- they gave you a connection that lets you run a
browser on your PC that can connect over the Internet to HTTP sites.

The Internet connection is the main thing you're purchasing.  The other
services are thrown in to stay competitive.  They probably decided that
only a small percentage of customers used Usenet services, and the small
amount of business they would lose outweighed the cost of providing the
service.  If you were locked-in to a long term agreement, then I would
say you'd have a case to get out of it, based on losing a service you
wanted.  But if you're paying month-to-month, then you can just drop
their service if it's no longer a good deal for your needs.


Yeah, it would be like grocery stores where you scan and bag your own
items, or gas stations where you pump your own gas.  Oh, wait.  We've
already got them.

I have an Internet connection with my cable company, but don't use any
of the email, Web server or other stuff they give me.  If I could get it
for less by having just the access, that would be great for me.  It's
like your electric service: they give you the electricity, but you need
to supply all the lights, appliances, electronics, etc. that you're
going to plug into it.

A big problem with our society is that every time someone is even
slightly inconvenienced, or feels somehow slighted, the knee-jerk
reaction is "sue them." If companies didn't have to pay all the nuisance
law suits and out-of-court settlements, not to mention the lawyers,
stuff would be a lot cheaper (including, especially, healthcare.) And I
wouldn't have to plow through umpteen warning messages every time I turn
around, or agree to a 'Terms of Service' document the size of a small
novel every time I bought something.

 

I live in the boondocks.  I have one broadband provider subsidized by the
technology tax you and I pay when we pay our phone bill.  It's not as if I
can switch to another ISP.  Before retiring, I was an ISP (among other
things) so I am intimately familiar with that business.  Unlike my present
ISP, I had competition and wasn't subsidized.

 Was Istoben wrote:


Check out this for inexpensive Usenet access:

http://forteinc.com/apn/index.php

 - Leo

 

I was also annoyed by AT&T's decision to drop newsgroups; but tinkering with
services is what service providers do and when there is a good reason to
move to another ISP because of cost or service, I'll do it.  In the
meantime, eternal-september, a free newsgroup provider, has been a fine
alternative -- no problems at all and 43,000+ newsgroups is certainly enough
for me.

TKM