The Teleputing Hotline Covering Telephone-Computer Connections Worldwide Volume 3 Number 11 -- February 6, 1990 215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317 FAX: 404-378-0794 Phone: 404-373-7634 MCI:409-8960 GEnie: nb.atl CompuServe: 76200,3025 Editor: Dana Blankenhorn European Editor: Steve Gold Associate Publisher: Lamont Wood Correspondent: Masayuki Miyazawa Sales Manager: Hiro Nakamura COMPUSERVE SUED: Former Source members claim rip-off A class action suit was filed in Illinois state court against CompuServe, the world's largest online system. The plaintiff is Barry Neil Lowe, a former subscriber to The Source, which CompuServe bought last year. Lowe claims he and other Source customers were forced to take the $10/month Executive Service, and not told about the $1.50/month plan CompuServe gives other members. About 50,000 people were members of The Source when it was closed. One of Lowe's attorneys is Paul Bernstein, former head of LAWMUG, a legal special interest group on The Source. CompuServe has defenses. Source members, for instance, kept access to PARTI, a conferencing system not available to regular CompuServe members. The Columbus, Ohio service has 30 days to respond. In Europe, Compuserve clarified its rates. Access via Istel in the UK and Telepac in Switzerland has a surcharge of $9.50/hour, on top of the normal $12.50/hour access charges. Using Infonet also costs $9.50/hour, if the CSF access code is keyed in. Using the CSC code will switch through to the US at $50/hour! On X.25 access to Compuserve via the Swiss Telepac NUA (A228-464-510- 003), the surcharge is $5.50/hour. FUJITSU USING HABITAT TO LURE BUYERS TO FM-TOWNS Fujitsu is trying to lure Japanese to its troubled FM-Towns computer standard using an online game called Habitat. Habitat, a multi-player game, can only be played using an FM-Towns computer and special software. It was publicly launched on the NIFTY-Serve network January 26. at 30 yen (20 cents) per minute. However, there is no charge for the game until February 9, and current users get a 60% discount until the end of July. The game runs between 1-11 P.M. AIDS DISK SUSPECT ARRESTED Joseph Louis Popp, a 39-year-old anthropologist, was arrested at his home in Willowick, Ohio, in connection with the AIDS computer virus mailed to more than 20,000 PC users - mostly in Europe - late last year. The virus ruined hard disks. Popp was preparing to send out another 2 million disks when he was caught, and was receiving medication for a previous mental condition. According to UK journalist Guy Kewney, computer conferencing saved the day here. "If it hadn't have been for conferencing, then the industry really would have been taken unawares," he said. JALNET CONNECTS WITH TELENET AND BT Jalnet, run by Japan Airlines, connected with the Telenet and British Telecom packet networks February 1. This means Jalnet services, including air reservations, can be accessed from the U.S. and the U.K. at low cost. Jalnet will also connect with the Tri-P network in Japan. Jalnet offers flight and travel information as well as reservations. Jalnet has 3,000 members and JAL hopes to double the number within a couple of years. NTT DEVELOPS ISDN BOARD FOR PCs Japan's telecom giant NTT announced a digital services board under ISDN standards for the NEC PC-9801, which it will sell for $3,000. An NTT spokesman says the company is also developing the ISDN board for other personal computers. The company has also developed a low-cost telephone interface for digital services. Hayes of the U.S. has ISDN boards for the IBM PC, at a lower price. EPSON REPLACES LAPTOP BATTERIES: Old Ones Don't Work Seiko-Epson has begun replacing batteries in its PC-9801 compatible laptop computers, the PC-286L, PC-286LE and PC-286LF. The battery overheats and may emit smoke when being charged. The replacement is being given to 105,500 users at no charge. It will cost Epson 1 billion yen ($7.5 million). MERCURY DISASSOCIATES ITSELF FROM "PYRAMID" SCHEME Mercury Communications, the #2 long-distance company in the UK, announced it is not associated with a marketing company called Communications Options Integrated Network, or COIN. For UKP 65 ($100) COIN signs victims to a scheme under which they send copies of their Mercury bills to COIN, which pays a 1% commission to previous agents. COIN makes its money from registration fees and selling phones. Pyramid selling schemes were made illegal in the UK in the early 1980s. NEC PC-VAN CELEBRATES 100,000 MEMBERS NEC's PC-VAN service in Japan celebrated its 100,000th membership last week by giving away gifts to members at a ceremony in its Tokyo showroom. PC-VAN is affiliated with GEnie of the U.S. ONLINE FACTOIDS CANADA began nationwide tests of digital service under ISDN standards through Telecom Canada. Tests begin with AT&T of the U.S. shortly. MEAD DATA CENTRAL plans to sell Dataline, a Canadian quote service it bought in 1987. Mead owns Lexis and Nexis, which offer old news stories and legal opinions. MESSITER SOFTWARE updated Trans-send plus, its communications package for the IBM PC. Version 5.21 features a dramatic increase in the speed of screen updates when operating with viewdata terminal emulation. Trans-send Plus has sold over 120,000 copies at UKP 69.95 each, and it is bundled with Nokia modems throughout Europe and Scandinavia. METROLINK GROUP began building a fiber phone network for Dallas, Texas, designed to bypass Southwestern Bell locally. NORTHERN TELECOM released the Meridien 1 line of switches and phones, which work with standards of 70 countries and in 6 languages. British Telecom will distribute the system in the United Kingdom. OTC of Australia signed a cooperation agreement with Syarikat Telekom Malaysia under which the two will joint-venture throughout Southeast Asia. OTC helped STM set up its network. QUOTRON agreed that Equinet of Melbourne will distribute its services in Australia and New Zealand. Systex will be its exclusive agent in Taiwan. US SPRINT will offer a voice-activated travel card which also lets callers store often-called numbers. Speak your name and password into the phone, then say "call home" and you'll only have to dial a toll-free access number. Voice messaging services will also be offered, in competition with AT&T's VoiceMark. Based on ads placed in the U.S. Super Bowl telecast, the company may rename its cards from Fon to Sprint Travel. CONTACT: Compuserve Forum UK, +0272-255111 Fujitsu, 03-216-3211 Mead Data Central, Eileen Carr, +513-865-1168 Messiter Software, Malcolm Messiter, +01-449-2994; Fax: 01-441- 7250; Email on Dialcom - 75:MUS256 MetroLink Group, Neill Seeber, +214-701-9776 NIFTY-Serve, +0120-22-1200 Northern Telecom, Linda Henson, +615-734-4251 NTT: +81-3-509-4897 OTC, Jeff Bird, +61-2-2875760 Quotron, Roxanne Taylor, +213-302-4609 Paul Bernstein, +312-951-8451 Seiko-Epson: +81-3-377-3500 Telecom Canada, Tom Schwarzkopf, +613-560-3009 US Sprint, Terri Dunn, +816-276-6241