At 01:39 μμ 22/4/2002, you wrote:
> > > > Thierry has been a point to me for many years now. > > QBOX USA are also, but I have not had anything from them for a long > > while now - is it still going? > > > >QBox-USA has been down for a few weeks now. The power supply died and while >I got that replaced I was looking through the logs and noticing that the BBS >had received very few callers over the past year or so. I also started >looking at the increasing costs of the phone line, when I started Qbox-USA >the phone line ran approx US$15 per month. Now it's getting close to $30. > >I think the lack of use is due to most people being on the net these days >maybe not directly with a QL but still on and probably with a local phone >call (or DSL/cable modem). Could also have something to do with the fact >that the BBS was a little out of date and I haven't had the time to maintain >it other than basic functionality. There are a lot of web sites out there >with more current stuff than the BBS had. > >So I decided to shut it down and cancel the phone line, the extra $30 a >month will be put to good use. I think it had a good run and was definitely >very heavily used for a few years. We started it around September 1993 with >'94 - '97 probably it's peak years. I have no regrets running it as long as >we did but I think it's time has come and gone. That's actually a good choice in a way... I called the Q-Box BBS twice last year and surely were totally depressed whenever I received my phone bill! It was actually more expensive to call Michigan (It is Michigan isn't it?) than Greece or Germany - Heck is more expensive to call Pittsburgh and I am only 90 mi. away from it :-). The way rates are, It will cost me less to call TFS bbs or JMS mailbox instead of Michigan! and I suspect that many other users had the same problem. Indeed the files were very old and you could tell they weren't maintained as a message I left never got answered... That's not by any means a bad thing, every one has a personal life and hobbies many times take too much time out of it. Nonetheless with a fully functional TCP/IP very soon now, Websites like the SMS repository (that I currently host) as well as forums as Dave's (spodmail.com) and vendors websites can surely fill the gap. Phoebus
