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From the Editor's Desk...
The "Gouge" is unfortunately, alive and well.  Not only is it alive and well, its with us today more than ever.... Take a look at the Phone Company's charges for (1) long distance (2) T1 Access (3) dsl access, both types (4) ISDN and you'll soon see what I mean. Back in the days of Atari, 1982 and later, the baud rates of modems gradually came from 300 baud to 28.8 baud and the phone company literally wanted gold for both the "dedicated" line and the modem they had for sale or lease.  Today, we see the gouge roaring away in the T1 areas. Yet, if one were to go to a competitor (private phone companies) the rates are much LESS!  How is it a private telephone carrier can charge less than say, BellSouth when the private provider is leasing the lines they are offering from BellSouth??  That's easy, the wholesale cost of the lines to the private carrier is so much less than the gouge retail price BellSouth charges that there's plenty of room for very attractive discounts to the customer. Of course, the Hard Drive Companies are no angels either..... "In the beginning," a Seagate 25mb ST225 mfm hard disk mechanism cost approx 325 - 450 dollars depending upon where you bought it.  Then came the cost of the Adaptec adapter and the host adapter to make it work on the platform for which it was intended.  Usually, the final retail cost was approaching 800.00 dollars.  Today for that kind of money one would be looking at an entry level Raid Array.  Its sad to see the gouge become so plain to see.

In modern terms, the Router companies, like the "GREAT" Cisco are the REAL BANDITS.... they, like many modern day Bells, are using technology that's been around for a while and they still want thousands of dollars for their routers.  Want to see the real values of routers?  Check out the "used prices and the lease prices".  Cisco is enjoying bad press across the country because many businesses are realizing the actual "customs cost" of Cisco's products are easily 300% less than the prices they charge!  These companies had better wake up lest they be awaked by the applause being offered to an offshore company offering similar if not identical products for considerably less.  The US Consumer, be it a business or private individual is sick and tired of giving the lion's share of either their profits or disposable income for item they need to make their computers communicate properly. For those of you who are in agreement.... forward or send this editorial to your congressional representative and let them know how upset you are.  The FCC can and will step in and stop the gouge.

I don't think I'm wrong, I could be... what do think?  Let's hear from you!

As an aside, in case you haven't noticed, You can get a free EMail account through STReport! Sign-up on our website. Its FREE for life.  Enjoy!

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