Re: ISP charges was Re: No more....

At 05:44 PM 6/13/96 +0100, you wrote:

>>	   Yeouch!  Man that is expensive.  Here in Canada I am paying
35$ a
>> month for 50 hours access time via my ISP.  That works out to about
$0.70 an
>> hour or $1.5 British Pounds.
>
>How do you figure. The pound to US dollar exchange is 1.5 dollars to
the
>pound. So it should be about 45 pence an hour.

You're right, though it should be about 35 pence. The conversion is
about 2
Pounds Sterling to the Canadian dollar. I pay C$25 for 25 hours. This is
a
fairly typical (if slightly high) ISP cost in the Toronto area. A more
typical cost is about C$30 for 60 to 90 hours access. 

That's NOT how you should calculate the cost, though.  If you're
comparing
an hourly ISP with a flat fee ISP, then you should take the flat fee
cost
and divide it by your typical monthly usage. For instance, as I said, I
pay
about C$25 per month. I only use my account about 12 - 13 hours because
I
have a high-speed work account I use for most of my net surfing.
Therefore
I'm paying about C$2 per hour. If I went to an account that gives me 60
hours for $30, I'd be paying about $2.40 an hour. If you only spend an
hour
a month on the net, then even Compu$erve's high cost might be cheaper
than a
flat fee ISP. Of course, if I were to use my home account a lot more, my
hourly cost goes down.

Allan

Allan Goodall:	agoodall@sympatico.ca
"The secret rules of engagement are hard to endorse,
 When the appearance of conflict meets the appearance of force."
     - The Tragically Hip