Statement Appology

August 11, 1994

For the third time in less than two days, we have sent out our statements. The latest (and hopefully last) version completely replaces the prior two. The following is an explanation:

The transaction which credited the June UUCP payment against July transactions did not show up on either of the previous versions.
The calculation of the credited UUCP payment was reversed - it added instead of subtracting from the current amount.
Some of our users were unaware of our 'minimum $20.00 billing' for accounts not kept in a credit balance. This minimum is now automatically calculated and added to any account which has a debit balance 2 months in a row. The minimum UUCP payment previously applied to only the UUCP user id, and was not credited against all hours, only against UUCP hours. This has been changed to apply against ALL user ids on any given billing account. The minimum has been waived for this billing only, and the original UUCP minimum has been retaind for one extra month. There will only be one minimum charge entered for the whole billing account, not one per user id.
Previously this minimum billing amount had to be removed by hand and the dramtic increase in accounts in the past year has made this impractical now.

In addition, some people are not aware that our $2.00 per hour accounts had been changed to both lower the basic price, and to allow for a discount or surcharge based upon the time during the day that the user connected.

This billing shows Prime, Late, and Normal times corresponding to:

	Prime - 7PM to 1AM    surcharge 10% over Normal Rate
	Late  - 1AM to 7AM    discount  10% off Normal Rate
	Normal- 7AM to 7PM    Normal Rate

There are two distinct basic rates that these above discount/surcharges apply to:

	Port Moody dialin lines - 937-7411 		$1.60 per hour
		(call forward by 255-3954 or 521-1450)

	Burnaby dialin lines    - 420-0483		$1.80 per hour

The rate for the Port Moody lines reflects the fact that it is one step further from the Internet and our main systems than are the lines in Burnaby, and when busy it at times has slightly slower response. The lines in Port Moody are also not receiving the V34/28,800 modems in the forseable future. This facility is at its maximum capacity. All extra lines will be added in Burnaby.

NOTE: Billing accounts with special rates should be aware that these special rates will only be valid on the Port Moody numbers after the end of August. Any use of the Burnaby (or other lines) will be billed at the prevailing rates for general use. Special rates are not affected by the Prime surcharge or Late discount.

In switching to a new billing system, we have had to rationalize our many custom billing entries into a more easily managed and smaller number of billing codes. In some instances this has meant a change in the rate or minimum amount charged. If you have a concern about this with regards your current statement, please send a copy of both your previous statment and your current one with a comment to: admin@wimsey.com

We will try to explain our changes and work with you to achieve the best rate for your circumstances.

We have made a large number of changes to our facilities over the past year and although I know to some the changes really don't mean much in their use of the systems, we have in all cases tried to provide a more useful and responsive facility. I would like to point out some of the changes made as an explanation of changes we have made to our rate structures:

Internet connection has gone from 14,400 to dual 128,000 (256K total) - typical FTP throughput for individuals this time last year was 30CPS as the line was choked with incoming news and mail. Typical FTP response now is as fast as your modem can handle it!
Increase in CPU resources from one Intel 486DX2/66 to two Pentium 60's and (still) a 486DX2/66. All development and batching have been offloaded from the main interactive machine so that response on it for interactive users is 5-7 times what it was last year.
Addition of terminal servers instead of hardware serial ports. This has meant that all ports have PPP/SLIP (and IPX/SPX) direct capabilities which allows full TCP/IP connections at user modem speeds with no degredation of interactive performance. TCP/IP connections are direct to the Internet instead of going through our main CPU's. Typical 'ping' times to the US backbone are in the mid tens of milliseconds (60-80 milliseconds). Last year at this time pings were of the order of 1000-1500 milliseconds.
Addition of 8.6 Gigabytes of super fast (7200 RPM 8ms 1Meg cache) disk. This replaces 5 Gigs of older slower drives that are now on our development machines. 2 Gigs are still to be replaced and we are looking hard at a 9 Gig Seagate. News now resides on its own 2.2 Gig drive and needs more.
Addition of 1 full time and 1 part time technical support person.
Addition of 1 full time bookkeeping person who also doubles as technical support for overloads.

All of this and a whole host of other things (new office in Burnaby, more phone lines, bigger UPS's, etc.) have kept Wimsey the premium Internet provider in Western Canada. Others have started offering what might on the surface seem like similar services to ours - many at what appear to be lower prices. None offer the range of facilities, the system response, the reliablility, or the low busy-line rate that Wimsey provides.

We realize that during the past year there have been times when our facilities have been less than perfect. We hope that you realize that our tremendous growth and success has had quite a bit to do with this. Only through introducing new technologies and fine tuning can we continue to offer the kind of services that you have come to expect. We feel that we are at a point now that such minor bobbles as have happened in the past can be minimized and eventually all but eliminated. We hope you agree with us.

Now that I have given you all of the good news, I must unfortunately give some bad. Due to the incredible rise in our BC Telephone rates which is due to take place on August 15, we will have to raise our rates. Not only will this negate our recent drop, but it will take them to new highs. We will be putting out a new price list as of September 1, 1994 with an across the board increase of 20%. This will affect all pricing, including all special group pricing. We regret this reversal of what we had hoped was a general trend downwards in our prices but we have no choice if we are to keep our service as responsive as it is.

One of the things that you should note if you use Wimsey more than 15 hours per month. We added a 1 year prepaid time block account with the last price list change offering service at a flat $1.00 per hour. Although this account will also increase in price to $1.20 per hour, it remains the best deal for larger time users. The time blocks may be purchased in any amount over 15 hours per month, prepaid in 12 month increments (currently $180/year gets 15 hours per month.) Time in excess of the prepaid block is billed at current general rates (including discount/surcharge for Late/Peak hours). If the 15 hours are not used in a given month they may not be banked. There is no restriction on which of our facilities may be used, nor on how much/little time may be used in a day, only the minimum per month. You may use all the hours at one sitting, or use them 1 minute per hour, or anything in between if you wish.

This prepaid time block is only valid for individual ids at this time. It may be purchased for any user id within a corporate billing account, but may not be used across more than one user id.

I trust this information answers the many questions that have arisen from the change in billing software and prior two abortive attempts at our statments this month. I appologize for the confusion this has caused and can only say that the fault is entirely mine for not getting the changeover done in time to give it a better test before release.

Thankyou for your perseverance and for your business

Richard Pitt
Director of Services
Wimsey Information Services Inc.
richard@wimsey.com admin@wimsey.com

PS.

A copy of this and other relevant information may be found in our Digital Rag online newspaper at:

http://www.wimsey.com/Digital_Rag/current/

Our current price list may be viewed and downloaded from any of:

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	WWW:    http://www.wimsey.com/wimsey.buscard.html

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	or may be requestd via fax by phoning us or E-mail to
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