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Subject:Why 2400? It's Faster Than Nothing! From:"George F. Hayhoe III" <george -dot- hayhoe -at- SRS -dot- GOV> Date:Tue, 20 Dec 1994 08:49:00 -0400
Mike Uhl asked why anyone would still use a 2400 baud connection to an
online service. Well, many of us living in rural splendor don't have any
choice. I'm delighted to have local access numbers to AOL, Prodigy, and
CompuServe that provide even a 2400 baud connection. Less than a year ago
it took a toll call to go online with these services in my home town of
less than 30,000 souls.
While 2400 baud communication isn't fast enough to support usable,
graphics-rich WWW access, it's okay for e-mail and text file transfer.
Given the results of the recent election, it's anyone's guess how long it
will be until the National Information Infrastructure or a leaner-but-not-
meaner commercial equivalent provides an acceleration lane for those of us
in the boonies.
In the meantime, those of us providing access to documents over the Net
need to be mindful of those who can't even connect at 9600 much less
14,400. We may be in the minority, but we do exist!
--George Hayhoe (george -dot- hayhoe -at- srs -dot- gov)
Assistant to the President for Recognition Programs, STC