Newsletter No. 27
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Free Pint
"Helping 17,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 26 November 1998 #27
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Business Management Case Studies"
by Diana Grimwood-Jones
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Online Information 98 Preview"
by Katherine Allen
FREE PINT FACT
FREE PINT FEEDBACK
"Locating a company by just its name"
"Daily news search engines"
"Year 2000"
"Internet access costs"
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/261198.htm
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ARE YOU LOOKING FOR PRIVATE COMPANY INFORMATION FOR THE UK AND EUROPE?
Try our user-driven solutions, FAME and AMADEUS - now available on
CD-ROM and the Internet. All versions have full searching and analysis
functionality.
Call 0171 839 2266 or email marketing@bvd.co.uk for your free trial.
www.bvd.co.uk/freepint for more information.
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EDITORIAL
>>> Free Pint Comes To Online Information 98 <<<
Want to meet the Free Pint team? Have questions for our authors?
Fancy winning some Christmas hampers or getting some freebies?
Then you need to visit the "Free Pint Forum" on stand 414 at
"Online Information 98". More than ten Free Pint authors will be on
hand during the show to answer your questions, and there will be a
large wall for you to post your thoughts, suggestions and of course
criticisms about a wide range of subjects. Full details, free show
tickets, and timetable of author availability can be found online at:
http://www.freepint.co.uk/forum.htm
If you can't make it to the show then send your comments by email
to forum@freepint.co.uk and we will put them on the wall for you ...
you can have a voice at the show without even being there!
The discussion topics can be found on the above page, and make sure
you check back regularly as the information will be constantly updated.
SO WHY NOT GET INVOLVED ... IS THIS THE WORLD'S LARGEST VIRTUAL FORUM?!
We start this issue with a super look at how to find case studies on
the Web to help your business decision making. This is then followed
by a preview of "Online Information 98" from the person who has
overall responsibility for organising the whole event!
You might like to consider printing this issue of Free Pint - it
will take about 13 pages, but this is still much cheaper than having
to buy a magazine.
May I now invite you to read and enjoy your twenty seventh Free Pint!
Kind regards,
William
William Hann MIInfSc, Managing Editor
e: william@freepint.co.uk
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
PS: To see the index of past issues arranged by subject, visit the
"Free Pint Community" page at http://www.freepint.com/
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ShopGuide is the The UK Online Shopping Directory where you will
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Visit http://www.shopguide.co.uk/index.html?pid=freepint
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Isn't it time YOU advertised in Free Pint?
http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm
or email ads@freepint.co.uk
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MEET INSTANT LIBRARY AT ONLINE INFORMATION 98!
Instant Library offers clients a complete facilities-managed
information service. It also allows in-house library and information
staff to juggle their resources and buy in services for projects or
for ongoing support. And if you're recruiting, Instant Library
Recruitment is the first place to call! So if you are looking for a
new job or reviewing your information services visit Instant Library
on Stand 15 (or visit our website on http://www.instant-library.com/)
and find out what we can do for you.
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Business Management Case Studies"
by Diana Grimwood-Jones
When faced with a problem, a common human response is to try to find
someone else who has already confronted something similar and resolved
it - or at least who has some advice to offer from which we can learn.
This can apply to an individual in a particular situation, or a
business facing up to the need for change, and seeking guidance on the
key issues to address, likely pitfalls, and maybe a map to take it
through all stages of the process. Case studies are always popular
where they occur in the printed management literature and on training
courses: closely tied to concepts such as best practice, and
organisational learning and excellence, they can provide insights into
how the most successful companies have carried through particular
ideas from strategy formulation to implementation. However, as a
category they are often difficult to track down, and nowhere is this
more evident than in trying to locate useful and up-to-date sites on
the Web.
In an environment where simply looking for "case studies" can generate
hundreds of thousands of hits from the major search engines, this
brief article will do no more than scratch the surface, indicating
some of the main sites which may be of use to a business needing to
tackle a particular problem, the consultancy advising that business,
or to students pursuing MBA and other business courses.
A good starting point for European or US searchers is the European
Case Clearing House (ECCH) at http://www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk/.
Established almost 25 years ago, ECCH has a stock of over 14,000
titles emanating from the world's leading business schools including
not only case studies but teaching and technical notes, industry
background notes and videos. Links are provided from the site to
organisations such as Harvard Business School
(http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/) the London Business School
(http://www.lbs.lon.ac.uk/) and INSEAD
(http://www.insead.fr/).
You can access abstracts of the case studies through COLIS (Case
Online Information System), which claims to be the most comprehensive
electronic bibliography of management case study materials in the
world. Its free-text retrieval system allows searching on any set of
characters in the textbase. A sample search combining 'China' and
'marketing' produced 28 hits, one on 'Internet' or 'Web' for 1997 or
later gave 20 hits (including some false drops). About 100 cases are
added monthly. The cases themselves - some of which are substantial
documents - can be obtained from Cranfield at a modest charge either
individually or on subscription.
The Asia Pacific region is also well served, through Melbourne Case
Study Services (MCSS) (http://www.mbs.unimelb.edu.au/Services.htm). At
the time of writing, the site is still under development, but you can
browse the 1996 Australian Case Catalogue, which contains details of
360 case studies. There are 15 subject categories, including
Accounting, Employee Relations, Operations Management and
Organisational Behaviour. While you're in the area, visit the Centre
for Management of Information Technology site
(http://www.mbs.unimelb.edu.au/mbsresea/kctm/kctmcase.htm)
This has details of cases from 1991 to 1998, and includes topics such
as refocussing the Information Resources Department in BHP Petroleum's
Australia Division and using mobile technology at Hewlett Packard. All
cases are obtainable via MCSS.
The Expert Marketplace (http://www.expert-market.com/client/),
developed in cooperation with Dun & Bradstreet, is a resource geared
to consultancy firms or companies needing consultants. Click on
'Business Improvement Centers' to access business case studies and
articles in a variety of focus areas which include Engineering
Services, Construction and Real Estate in addition to the usual
finance, HR, IT and marketing mixture.
Don't expect an unbiased view - the cases are created by satisfied
clients of the consultants who carried out the work, whose details are
prominently displayed - but the range of problems is interesting and
varied, and you do get access to the case itself, rather than just an
abstract. You can also subscribe to a free Business Case Study Alert
Service.
Where the Expert Marketplace has an American flavour, Bnet: business
on the Internet (http://www.bnet.co.uk/), developed in conjunction
with the Department of Trade and Industry, promotes itself as the UK's
leading source of business management information. An annual
subscription is 50 UK pounds, though the service is free to business
students. Case studies is one category of materials offered. The site
simply lists a topic (e.g. 'Innovation, research & support', 'Quality
standards and benchmarking') followed by a list of the company names
involved in the case study. Many of these are household names - Tesco,
Kodak, Ind Coope - but there are also smaller organisations such as
Macclesfield Health Authority and Falcon Cycles.
Off at a slight tangent, the Innovation Institute
(http://www.servicesector.iwaynet.net/nc.htm) offers bulletins
delivered by e-mail, which "illuminate a new practice, product,
process or strategy just introduced at one of today's leading-edge
firms". The example given is that of Nissan, who galvanised its
flagging design team into creative action by means of an extended
lunch which included a showing of 'Silence of the Lambs'. As a Nissan
driver, I'm not sure I like this story ...
The above are general sites, covering a whole range of business
topics. More specialised are the sites relating to use of the Web
itself, or Web technology, as business tools. In issue no. 22 of
Free Pint, Martin White examined resources available in e-commerce,
and listed the main sites. To add to his list, there are a couple of
sites which contain case studies. Web Marketing Today from Wilson
Internet Services ("The largest collection of e-commerce resources
any place on planet Earth") has two sites. Business Models and Case
Studies (non-sales) are available at
http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/bizmodels.htm, and include details
of a range of journal articles covering the problems and benefits of a
Web presence from such disparate organisations as Kansas City Power
and Light, museums, non-profit organisations and the New England film
community. Subscriber-only access is offered to Direct Sales Business
Models and Case Studies.
As Martin White noted, IBM has been one of the leaders in the
e-commerce field. It has a site of e-business case studies at
http://www.europe.ibm.com/nc/customer/ which is searchable by customer
(several dozen are given from all over Europe), industry (e.g.
banking, distribution, government, travel and transportation) or
opportunity (e.g. collaboration, customer service, security).
From Internet to intranet. CIO WebBusiness devotes a site to Intranet
Case Studies (http://www.cio.com/WebMaster/wm_cases.html) derived from
issues of CIO WebBusiness and WebMaster. Companies include Harley
Davidson, Ford, Wang and Digital. One entry is entitled 'Librarians at
the Gate' - swapping their search engines for siege engines,
perhaps...
Internet specialist NTG International offers an Intranet Handbook
online (http://www.ntgi.net/ntg/intra_hb/). This is still under
development, but excerpts are available, which include the full text
of some 14 case studies.
The inexorable rise of Knowledge Management has seen KM sites
proliferating, but for the case study searcher, they are
disappointing. The NTG International site mentioned above (which used
to offer a KM space) appears to have dropped all mention of it. A
Business Researcher's Interests (BRINT) (http://www.brint.com/),
described as a 'one-stop resource' for business, management and
technology research has what it calls a WWW Virtual Library on KM. It
certainly includes articles and papers, but case studies as such are
difficult to tease out. Given the ongoing popularity of the KM
concept, this is a gap expected to be filled very soon.
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Diana Grimwood-Jones provides independent consultancy advice on
strategic and operational issues in information resources management.
Recent project work has focussed on business research and database
development. She can be contacted at Artemis Consulting on (tel./fax)
0171 249 3181 or diana@artemisconsult.demon.co.uk
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*** DO YOU NEED TO STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE INFORMATION INDUSTRY? ***
If so, then you should be reading Information World Review.
With key coverage of online, Internet, intranet and CD-ROM content
worldwide, IWR is all you need to stay informed.
To receive all this every month for only 38 pounds UK/ 45 pounds ROW
please visit www.learned.co.uk or email: customerservice@learned.co.uk
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Free Pint can only remain free if you continue to recommend
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FEATURE ARTICLE
"Online Information 98 Preview"
by Katherine Allen
It's that time of year again, and the Online Information conference
and exhibition are fast approaching. Most Free Pint readers have no
doubt already diary-dated 8-10 December and will arrive at Olympia to
be greeted by the usual array of impressive stands and presentations,
not to mention the wide-ranging programme of conference sessions and
satellite events.
This will be my first year as Event Director at Learned Information,
although I have worked on the show since 1989, back in the days when
you had to explain what a CD-ROM was. The show itself has been around
since 1976, when 15 'table-top' exhibitors showed their wares - and
yes, some of these inaugural exhibitors are still with us. Take a bow,
British Library, Information Access Company, Dialog Corporation,
Inspec/IEE and CAB International, who despite mergers, acquisitions
and ongoing name-changes have been represented at all 22 shows. At the
other end of the spectrum, an unprecedented number of first-time
exhibitors this year includes International Market Research Mall,
new kids on the block Northern Light, and of course "Free Pint".
What goes on behind the scenes to make sure that Online Information
happens? The best analogy I can make is to putting on a play, where
enormous amounts of preparation, careful planning, plenty of
experience, inspiration, teamwork, late nights, and frayed nerves
eventually translate into a successful show. There are the same
pre-opening jitters, the same last minute panics, and sometimes the
same backstage emergencies that go unnoticed by exhibitors or visitors
front of house. And at the end of it all, the same conviction that all
the hard work was worthwhile as visitors go away full of new ideas and
inspiration.
As you would expect for so large an event, the planning for next
year's show begins even before the current year's event takes place.
Preparation starts in earnest in January, with evaluation of feedback
from exhibition visitors, conference delegates and exhibitors. These
comments, opinions and ideas are then incorporated into the plans for
the show.
The pace really steps up in September, when all 300 exhibitors come
back from their summer holidays and put their Online Information hats
on. It continues unabated through registration of 1000+ conference
delegates and 17,000 exhibition visitors. As we move through November,
there is a myriad of questions to address. Where shall we put the
doughnut man? Can an airship be tethered to the outside of Olympia?
What about hanging a banner over the Hammersmith Road? Are there any
tube station closures that we need to pre-warn visitors about? Can an
exhibitor sponsor the plates in the cafe? Two camera crews want to
film at the same time - how shall we fit them in? Can we get a
conference speaker on to Radio 4's 'Today' programme and still get him
to Olympia in time? Or will they send the radio car?
Through the year, we keep a close eye on developments in the
information industry, so that these can be incorporated into the
conference programme, or new features can be added to the exhibition
floor which will appeal to both seasoned visitors and first-time
attendees. This year, for example, 40 minute Technical Tutorials on
the show floor will cover topics such as 'Creating Your Own Web Pages
using Microsoft FrontPage', 'Ecommerce: Setting Up Shop on Your Web
Site' and 'Getting the best from search engines'. Another new feature
this year, 'Ask the Experts', offers pre-bookable one-to-one
consultancy slots on the vital topics of Information Audits, Careers
in the Information Industry, and Knowledge Management. And free
lunchtime lectures in the Conference Centre give you the chance to
hear Hubert St Onge, reknowned knowledge management guru discuss
'Building Capability through Knowledge', or Cynthia Hill of Sun
Microsystems Inc giving the annual UKOLUG lecture on the development
of the SunLibrary intranet.
Visitors who want to make the most of their time at the show often ask
me for tips. The best advice I can give is to take time to plan.
Ideally, visit the Online Information website
http://www.online-information.co.uk/ before you come. You can review
the exhibitor list and check out the special features, including
booking yourself a seat for a Technical Tutorial or reserving your
'Ask the Experts' consultancy slot.
We have also devised 'Information Trails' which list exhibitors with
specific expertise - this year, our trails are Accountancy and
Finance, Sales and Marketing, Health and Pharmaceutical, Investment
and Securities, Scientific Technical and Medical, Legal and
Government, Knowledge Management, and Digital Publishing Technologies.
You will find a page in the Event Guide dedicated to each of these
trails. When you arrive at the show it's worth taking a few moments to
review the Event Guide itself to familiarise yourself with the layout
of the exhibit halls. The Event Guide also features a useful Products
and Services index which will help you find companies that interest
you. And the UK Online User Group will once again be providing a
helpdesk which is an invaluable starting point for visitors.
I've got some great memories of past Online Information events. Tony
Benn came one year, and introduced himself with the words 'Hello, you
must be Katherine, I'm Tony Benn', both statements undeniably true,
yet I didn't know that he was coming and had never met him before. It
turned out he was supposed to be meeting another Catherine. At another
event, I received a call from the registration desk saying that Mick
Jagger had just come in, and naturally enough dismissed it as a
wind-up - only to be confronted with Mick and his entourage on the
show floor (he was thinking of investing in one of the exhibitors).
And there are other memories - the information science students we
welcomed as stewards over the years who are now playing important
roles in their own information departments, the new companies who
exhibited with us in their early years and are now pivotal in the
industry, the conference delegates who return year after year to meet
and network with international colleagues. It's incredible to think
that the show has been around for twenty-two years, and the fact that
we have a record-breaking number of new exhibitors in 1998 convinces
me that the industry has successfully conquered the ups and downs of
recent years and is entering the new millennium in really good shape.
Now, where are we going to put that doughnut man?
Katherine
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Katherine Allen is Event Director at Learned Information.
Online Information 98 is the largest event of its kind in the world
and, in 1998, will be bigger and better than ever, providing a
unique meeting place for international business professionals
interested in accessing, distributing and providing information.
Taking place at the National Hall & Olympia Conference Centre from 8
-10 December, Online Information 98 will keep information
professionals and the growing number of end-users abreast of the
latest developments. With the launch of four new shows under its
umbrella and an extensive three day conference programme, including a
whole day dedicated to the key issues surrounding knowledge
management, the event promises to be the leading-edge platform for the
launch of new technologies and for the discussion of industry trends.
Visit www.online-information.co.uk for further details, or phone the
Online Information 98 ticket hotline on +44 (0)1923 690665.
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REGISTER AND OWN A ".CO.UK" DOMAIN FOR 45 POUNDS
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FREE PINT FACT
Following excellent press reviews, Free Pint has gained 400 new
subscribers EVERY DAY during the last week and a half.
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Seminar: 'The Information Professional in the Internet Age'
Has the Internet turned your professional life upside down? Are you
bewildered, insecure, and even a little paranoid about your current
and future role as an information professional? Do you need help to
structure and improve your career in today's uncertain Internet
dominated environment? If you answer "yes" to any of these questions,
this new half-day seminar is for you. Friday 11 December 98, Novotel,
Hammersmith. Cost: 153.19 pounds + VAT. Visit
www.online-information.co.uk or call +44 (0)1865 388000 for more info.
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FREE PINT FEEDBACK
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Subject: Locating a company by just its name
From: Various
In the last issue we had the following request from Steve Rickaby
of WordMongers Ltd.:
"I have a specific query. Do any readers know of any web resource that
will allow me to find the location of a UK business from only it's
name?"
As usual, our ever helpful readership have come up trumps, and I have
summarised the responses here for the benefit of all [William]:
"The smart way to have found it was to have mentioned the company
name in the letter, and I'm sure all us info people who love to show
off our skills would have inundated you with answers (and their
accounts, average shoe size, etc).
But if you want to do it yourself, try Yell, yellow pages on the Web
(http://www.eyp.co.uk/ takes you straight there).
Or alternatively, if you can battle your way through, go to
http://www.dunandbrad.co.uk/ Dun & Bradstreet have a database of
companies world-wide. The results only give address details unless
you feel brave enough to put your credit card number in to buy the
fuller record. But then if you've got the name and address, you can
always ring directory enquiries! It has 19 million companies
world-wide. However whilst we're in the D&B books and on the CD's,
I couldn't find us ... Kelly's isn't bad either at
http://www.kellys.co.uk/ or try and find a site related to their
industry. Happy hunting Steve!"
Gareth Lodge, Information Manager, The Technology Exchange Ltd
http://www.uktech.net/
"Here in the British Library Business Information Service we have
found the Dun & Bradstreet site very useful for this purpose. It
gives access to the D&B Direct Marketing Database. The database
can be searched by a number of parameters, including business name.
The only slight drawback is that the records on this particular D&B
file do not contain telephone numbers. If anyone has this particular
type of enquiry, they can always try ringing our telephone enquiry
point - the British Library Lloyds TSB Business Line on 0171 412 7454
- and we will check it out for them. Looking forward to the next
issue."
Phil Ruston, British Library Business Information Service
"Thomas Register of European Manufacturers http://www.tipcoeurope.be/
UK Business Directory http://www.milfac.co.uk/milfac/bisindex.html "
Roddy MacLeod, Senior Faculty Librarian, Heriot-Watt University
"Mamma's search engine, has a UK business section which is
available at http://www.infospace.com/info.mamma/intldb/intl-uk.html
Hope the business card turns up Steve! Maybe one day people will
actually put their snail mail addresses on their websites"
Jenny Gristock
"I would suggest Infospace a good place to start. The UK URL is:
http://www.infospace.com/intldb/intl-uk.html
It is possible to search for a business by Business Name, or part of
the name if you can't remember all of it. You'll get not only the
full postal address but the telephone number too."
Sue Black, Systems Librarian, Middlesex University
"Try Yellow Pages (http://www.yell.co.uk/) or Scoot
(http://www.scoot.co.uk/ or 0800 192192). Also the Thompson Business
Directory has a web site but I can't recall it off the top of my head."
Andrew Shuttleworth
[The site is ThomWeb at http://www.infospace.com/uk.thomw/ WH]
"A comment on Steve Rickaby's question as to how to locate a firm
with only the name. Here in the USA there are many resources to
support that, and I suspect similar ones exist in the UK. National
phone listings are available on CD, so it is possible to search on
the company name and get address and phone number (or for that matter
name and address from a number, or name and number from an address).
Another reference is 'Thomas Registry' - often referred to as the
'tomcat' This lists all industrial firms in the US, as well as
their products and locations. Barrons and Moodys each publish
financial listings of firms for investors, and these list contact
information too. Finally, a perusal of old phone bills should
disclose the phone number with a little work, and some research
should reveal the location (city code at least). There is also
a resource called a 'Fictitious Names Registry' which relates the
corporate name to the names of the officers of a company. With this
you can determine - if you plan to sue a company for example - who
the responsible parties are. I suspect that there must be something
similar in the UK. And lastly, if you sent them a check the
cancelled check should have the bank clearance information on it, and
you can determine their address from their bank."
Henry Laguillon
"I've used Applegate to locate companies very quickly at
http://www.apgate.com/ ... well set out and free."
Ian Hamer
"Check out http://www.eyp.co.uk/ - this is the electronic version of
the Yellow Pages. Many times, I've used them to find the contact
information of companies. EYP.com lists the companies by type and
location. You should be able to find the address of the company you
are interested in easily."
Charles Tang, Action Marketing, http://www.marketing-tips.net/
"Tell Steve Rickaby to phone, or visit, the Business/Commercial
Department of any large city reference library (e.g. Birmingham,
Manchester, Nottingham). They will have a stack of up-to-date
directories plus their own devious ways of winkling information out
of a whole range of sources. The Web is not always the answer!"
Tony Walker [Librarian, as if you hadn't guessed]
Thanks also to Chris Wooff and T Kirby for their suggestions which
are incorporated above.
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Subject: Daily news search engines
From: Various
Date: Friday 13th November 1998
"Dear Free Pint,
In response to a mystery reader's question in issue #26 regarding
daily search engines, I've been enjoying several free services that
I rely on to feed me information for my own weekly newsletter.
TracerLock http://www.peacefire.org/tracerlock/ has been invading my
inbox daily with valuable information. TracerLock is an engine that
watches keywords on AltaVista and lets you know when new sites are
indexed containing your keywords.
The service is free, but you need to visit to open an account. Once
you have your free account and password, log in to your User page.
There you can select up to five keywords or phrases to monitor in the
AltaVista database, and an additional five that you can monitor in
the Usenet listings.
Every night, TracerLock searches for your keywords on AltaVista and
sends you the listings of the first 10 new listings it finds in
AltaVista and also in the Usenet discussions.
This is one of the handiest free services I have seen, but be warned,
choose your keywords carefully. Don't be too general in your keyword
selection. For example I typed in "literature" without being really
specific and received a post of no relevance to me: it is a follow up
message explaining how burning a complete manuscript, may have
improved this particular writer's sex life.
There is another similar service called The Informant at
http://informant.dartmouth.edu/ It is every bit as useful as
TracerLock. The Informant lets you register up to three
keywords/phrases and at intervals selected by you, it searches Lycos,
AltaVista, Excite, and Infoseek for any new sites that appear in the
top 10 results from each of those engines and sends you an email to
let you know to visit the Informant sites to view your results. Every
time you visit, the Informant logs your visit and the next time it
informs you, it doesn't show you any sites that you have already seen.
I have also found some press release services useful. Though you will
have to pay for some of these services listed, and there is a heavy
American influence:
PR Newswire - http://www.prnewswire.com/
Internet Wire - http://www.internetwire.com/
NewsBytes - http://www.newsbytes.com/
PR Web - http://www.prweb.com/
Internet News Bureau - http://www.newsbureau.com/
Andover Net. - http://andovernews.com/
Hope this helps to make better use of the 48 hour ruling?"
Gary Crucefix, Editor Fiction House, http://www.fictionhouse.com/
"I'd love to see keyword specific e-mail notification for TV
programmes. A few sites have promised to do keyword searches and the
one that currently claims to does not work whenever I try it. Perhaps
you could put this query to the Free Pint populace."
Andrew Shuttleworth
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Subject: Year 2000
From: Olly Ogg
Date: Tuesday 24th November 1998
Well I feel that I have known about the problems with Y2K for a few
years now, so I guess the professionals have known for much longer.
It is interesting that many of the Y2K jobs are advertised through
agencies - do you think that is to protect the company? For example
if you saw your bank advertise for a Y2K position 'ASAP' and an
inflated high salary wouldn't you get worried?
Railtrack has just signed up a massive (10 million pounds) Y2K
contract with Logica. This gets me worried. It is only a year to
2000 and the Y2K problem doesn't just mean Jan 1st. There are a few
dates before and after the millennium which can cause problems. Can
one imagine that the British rail system could get any worse....
Olly Ogg
http://rochesterchoirs.home.ml.org/
William Hann replies:
What do other readers feel about the Y2K problem as it relates to the
Web? Is it a SERIOUS problem for the Internet? Are there any Y2K
consultants who can shed a little light on what really might happen?
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Subject: Internet access costs
From: Various
Date: Thursday 25th November 1998
Following debate in earlier issues about the cost of accessing the
Internet around the world, we summarise some more feedback here
about exactly what is charged for and when.
"I am responding to the issue concerning Phone Charges In The US. I
hope I provide some insight into exactly how we are billed here
stateside. I understand that some terms - such as LATA (Local Access
Telephone Area) or PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) - may be
foreign to many of you, so I will avoid using them as much as
possible. Also, as I cannot seem to locate my itemized phone bill at
this exact moment, I will be using estimates for some of the charges.
Here in the US, phones are billed such that you effectively pay for
phone _access_ as opposed to phone _service_; that is, as long as you
pay your bill, you have access to the phones to make as many local
calls within your area code (a.k.a. "city code" outside the US and
Canada, etc.) as you wish. So, basically, yes, local calls in the
US are free.
Exceptions:
a) if you select a "low-cost" calling plan; those limit you to 30
free local calls. After that, you are billed per call (35 cents;
almost as much as you would pay at a phone booth)
b) if you select the normal plan, but exceed 500 calls. This may
not be as far-fetched as it sounds if you redial often and/or have
(many?) other people using your phone. Again, you are billed per
call.
c) if you are making a call well beyond your immediate vicinity
(LATA; see above) but within your area code; these are actually known
as "long-distance local calls". When making these calls, you dial
the area code you are in, and then the exchange, along with the rest
of your phone number. The call is billed as a "zone call" (an
additional charge - again, it seems to be 35 cents). This is because
some area codes are very large, and the phone companies - publicly
regulated monopolies, but companies nonetheless - have found an
excuse to add an additional charge for "maintaining the lines" or
something like that. Some area codes cover entire states of the US !
d) if you are a business. Businesses are charged for every little
thing, including a small fee per call. Not exactly by the minute,
but an additional charge nonetheless.
e) (rare) if you call a business that charges an additional toll.
Believe it or not, companies have the option of charging the caller
an additional toll for calling them. It is very rare. I work at a
job where I make quite a few outgoing calls. In seven months, I've
seen this once - when I had to call a collection agency. Yes, I get
paid to call collection agencies, amongst other things - but more on
that another day.
The only time one is billed per minute in the US (or Canada, etc.) is:
a) long distance phone calls, and
b) 900/976 numbers. These are special toll numbers that allow the
business to bill you however they see fit. The businesses that use
these most often are dating services, phone sex lines, and psychic
hotlines that bill you, e.g. $3.95 the first minute, and 95 cents
each additional. I am quite sure those fall into the "Only In
America" category, but the only foreign country I have been to is
Canada, and they utilize the same PSTN (see above); as does Bermuda
and the Caribbean.
Hopefully, I have answered some questions you were asking (and plenty
you weren't, I'm sure !) And I would be very interested in knowing
how the phone system in the UK works."
Damien Calloway
"Recently there was an item on BBC Radio 4 about the cost of using the
internet. There was a call for a day's boycott of the internet in
Germany on Sunday 1st November, to protest about the telephone charges
there. It was mentioned that a similar boycott might be arranged in
the UK for 'around December 12th'. A spokesman said that 'people in
the UK are being ripped off but are too apathetic to do anything
about it'. BT declined to comment."
Lynn Robertson, Aberystwyth University
"I recently moved to Japan, where I no longer have the luxury of flat-
rate service. Like my understanding of the phone system in the UK, I
must pay a per-minute charge for phone service in addition to the
line fees, and my phone bills are higher now than they were when I
was in the USA.
It is true that phone service in the USA is probably cheaper than in
most other parts of the world -- many things in the USA are.
However, to say that phone service is "free" is a misunderstanding.
Rather than complain that the cost of phone service is too low in the
USA, I complain that the cost of phone service is too high in the
rest of the world, including where I am now!"
Timothy D. Lee http://www.bigfoot.com/~theLAMP/
Thanks also to Mary Kindred and Henry Laguillon for their
contributions which have been covered above.
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William Hann, Managing Editor
william@freepint.co.uk
(c) Willco 1998
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17/12/98 #28 - Best of 1998 | Review of Online Information 98
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- Publication Date: 26th November 1998
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