Dialling up in 1982 (was Re: old modems (was Telephonyswitches))

[Ethan Dicks]

On 6/29/07, Jim MacKenzie <jim at photojim.ca> wrote:
> In 1984-1985, I paid $1.04 a minute (Canadian) daytime to call most of
> Canada and all of the US.

Daytime, I can see being pricey - it was in the States, too.

>  From 6 pm to midnight or all day Sunday it was
> $0.59, and from midnight to 6 am it was $0.42.  We would do our long
> distance BBS calling at midnight, almost invariably, because it was so much
> less expensive.

Sure... I don't think I could make a "night rate" call (23:00 to, I
guess, 06:00)  for much under $0.40/min.  We made most of our calls
late back then.

> Of course, things have changed a little now.  I can call Copenhagen, Denmark
> for 2.5 cents a minute on my home phone.  :)

Sure.  I was just at lunch with someone in the telecom industry. Not
because of this thread but for independent reasons, it came up that
their employer (a large wireless company) paid $0.005/min for long
distance pumped from their customers to get onto a land line.  That's
why you can get Europe for $0.025/min now... there's room for profit
even at that level.

Thank you, Judge Green.

-ethan
(who never once did long-distance modem dialling, especially after
that first CIS bill)