Re: RAT internet

[CasaLobos@aol.com]

Mr. McAdams:

I know of several other people with business phones who have this problem.  
The dial-up number is not the problem, its the difference between a 
residential and business phone account in L.A..  I don't think that it is 
possible to get a business account in L.A. with unlimited dialing, but you 
might check with Media One about getting a cable modem.  The last I heard it 
was 150 to install and 40 a month.  In your case, this could save you bucks.  
It would also speed up your access.  You might also check out webTV.  I have 
no experience with them, but since it comes over the tv cable, it wouldn't be 
impacted by high phone rates.

In the meantime, perhaps you can set your software to automatically retrieve 
and send your mail and sign off afterwards.  Then read and reply offline.  I 
think you'll find that just making that change will eliminate a significant 
potion of your online time.  Also, compose and edit your HTML offline, and 
just connect to upload.  Save your surfing for your home phone line.  (From 
which you should still be able to access the same account.)  Another way to 
save 20 bucks a month is to take advantage of Altavista.com's free dial-up 
service.  You quickly become unaware of the ad banner.  This won't change 
your phone bill, but it'll cut some cost monthly on the whole 
thing.............

hope some of these ideas are helpful

paulmackley