Internet 101: Commercial Services
Overview of Commercial Services
The following summary is drawn from a number of sources. This list was current as of May 1995. Ratings are based on an average of reports done by a variety of newspapers and magazines.
America Online
Users: 6,000,000 in the US
Basic Monthly Fee: $9.95
Free Hours/month: 5
Per Additional Hours: $2.95
Surcharges for the cool stuff?: No!!!
Ease of Use: **
Quality of Email commands:
Web Connection: Mac, Windows
Offers free webpages for user
CompuServe
Users: 1,800,000 in the US
Basic Monthly Fee: $9.95
Free Hours/month: 5
Per Additional Hours: NA
Surcharges for the cool stuff?: Yes. The average premium is about $5/hour or $20/month depending on the service.
Ease of Use: **
Quality of Email commands: * but charges after 90 emails!
Web Connection: Windows only
Offers free webpages for users
Other: Only service that is compatible is OS/2.
Prodigy
Users: 1,000,000 in the US
Basic Monthly Fee: $9.95
Free Hours/month: 5
Per Additional Hours: $2.95
Surcharges for the cool stuff?: No
Ease of Use: *
Quality of Email commands:
Web Connection: Windows only
Delphi
Users: 100,000 in the US
Basic Monthly Fee: $10
Free Hours/month: 4
Per Additional Hours: $4
Surcharges for the cool stuff?: Yes. Internet access is $3/month
Ease of Use: **
Quality of Email commands:
Web Connection: Dos
Other: Dos and partial windows compatibility.