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                E          ** H-Net Magazine **           E
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                H   Volume One, Issue 1, File #15 of 20   H
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                E  MERCURY off-peak phone charges,approx. E
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                H-NET H-NET H-NET H-NET H-NET H-NET H-NET H


If you're a hacker (UK) who has big phone bills (over 90 pounds a quarter) then you should become a MERCURY subscriber - if your not already that is!
The benefits are fabulous, all the calls are logged with times - you could work
out the average cost per minute of calling your favourite bbs!

Off-peak (after 6pm and at weekends) charges per minute are roughly half those
of BT's

You can choose whether you pay your bill every month or every 3 months. I have
found that monthly payments are the easiest to cope with. 

The staff are much more helpful and professional.
 
MERCURY is the ONLY main competitor to BT at the moment - and I would rather
pay my money to Mercury than BT!

It makes line traces more difficult as MERCURY doesn't like to collude with
BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLC (BT).  A short background to this attitude comes
from Mercury's early days when BT gave them loads of hassle.  BT is the Main 
phone network in the UK - in about 1984 Mercury began to challenge this stance.
But BT have to approve (by law) any equipment attached to their network. So any
of the equipment that Mercury sent to BT to be approved was repeatedly rejected
for extremely trivial reasons (perhaps something to do with the fact that if you
had a piece of equipment rejected you had to have it resubmitted along with the 
hefty fee again).  Mercury knew what BT were up to and didn't like it a bit!

* Off-peak rates! list compiled by Bauderline, 21st April, 1990 *

MINUTES COST        MINUTES COST        MINUTES COST
------- ----        ------- ----        ------- ----
1        4.1P       21       86.1p      41      168.1p
2        8.2p       22       90.2p      42      172.2p
3       12.3p       23       94.3p      43      176.3p
4       16.4p       24       98.4p      44      180.4p
5       20.5p       25      102.5p      45      184.5p
6       24.6p       26      106.6p      46      188.6p
7       28.7p       27      110.7p      47      192.7p
8       32.8p       28      114.8p      48      196.8p
9       36.9p       29      118.9p      49      200.9p
10      41.0p       30      123.0p      50      205.0p
11      45.1p       31      127.1p      51      209.1p
12      49.2p       32      131.2p      52      213.2p
13      53.3p       33      135.3p      53      217.3p
14      57.4p       34      139.4p      54      221.4p
15      61.5p       35      143.5p      55      225.5p
16      65.6p       36      147.6p      56      229.6p
17      69.7p       37      151.7p      57      233.7p
18      73.8p       38      155.8p      58      237.8p
19      77.9p       39      159.9p      59      241.9p
20      82.0p       40      164.0p      60      246.0p
 
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