public nets

[mo at seismo.UUCP]

John Bass's suggestion that Usenet use public networks within the US
is not very reasonable.  If you look at them at all (any one you
care to name), you discover that if you do any kind of traffic 
volume, you can quickly lease fast lines from The Phone Company
(AT&T Longlines) and install your own modems and packet switches
for price the carrier charges paying the per-packet rates.
This has observation has not escaped
the thousands of companies who started looking at public nets, but
decided it was worth the grief to own their own.

Public networks are useful for their ubiquity of access, not for
their price-performance on bulk traffic.  

The public nets are VERY valuable for international traffic,
but in the States, don't waste your time and money.

	-Mike O'Dell