Chris noted >Bandwidth (at least in the USA) is getting larger and >larger and cheaper and cheaper every day. There becomes less and less of >a reason to charge per megabyte as each month passes
The exception is perhaps satellite. I have been trialling Inmarsat's Regional B-GAN service on my travels. It works brilliantly in places like Ethiopia where there are few telephones outside the capital, and is a cheaper, faster alternative to hotel dialup. In Egypt recently I used it in preference to the hotel's broadband for which Hyatt were charging an outrageous $30 a day, more than double the going rate. B-GAN consists of a small antenna/receiver unit made by Hughes (less than $500), an ethernet cable and some neat (free) software. Inmarsat have just launched a couple more birds so the service should be operating globally by September. The antennae are also getting smaller. Present size is that of a small laptop, though one quarter the weight. The new ones a third of that supposedly, and cheaper. Charging is volume of data transmitted/received, the cost of which has just halved, so I have it 'always on' for email but would not download a system update. Emailer works just fine although I have to link with an iPass website for outgoing mail. I dare say there is a proxy server adjuystment that would avoid that. Be interested to know if anyone is using satellite on a fixed basis Julian ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
