Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!pro-carolina.cts.com!delton From: delton@pro-carolina.cts.com (Don Elton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: 1-900 BBS Message-ID: <8908111748.AA01506@trout.nosc.mil> Date: 11 Aug 89 02:34:17 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 35 I hadn't heard of the idea before so I called up AT&T to find out what the costs would be in setting up a 900 access BBS system. 900 access for those of you in the hills is sorta like 800 toll-free service except that the caller gets billed, normally in minute increments and the larger portion of the bill goes to the recipient. TV is full of ads for silly dating services and talk to the rapper services on these lines and you'd have to figure they wouldn't be advertising this much if there wasn't money to be made on them. Here are the rates to have a 900 number: $1200 installation fee (flip a couple of switches I imagine) $1000 per month $0.30 per minute collection fee You get to charge up to $2 per minute for the first minute and $1 per minute for subsequent minutes. This would mean it would take several hundred minutes per month to pay the monthly costs of the service and anything beyond that would be profit I guess. Would anybody call such a BBS (would have to be single-line I suppose)? What would such a BBS have to offer to get people interested in paying by the minute like this billed on your phone bill? Note that the feeds to the user are set by the owner and could of course be less than the $2/$1 per minute stated depending on the value of the service provided and the demand for that service. This could be an interesting angle for someone with time to pursue it. Comments? UUCP: [ sdcsvax nosc ] !crash!pro-carolina!delton ARPA: crash!pro-carolina!delton@nosc.mil INET: delton@pro-carolina.cts.com Pro-Carolina: 803-776-3936 (300-2400 baud, login as 'register') US Mail: 3207 Berkeley Forest Drive, Columbia, SC 29209-4111