Level 6: The data transporters ——————————————— When the online service's host computer is far away, the user often faces the challenges of:
1. Noise on the line, which may result in unreadable text or
errors in the received material.
2. Expensive long distance calls
There are many alternatives to direct long distance calling. Some offers better quality data transfers and lower costs. The regional packet data services used to be a popular option. In Scandinavia, the offerings of the local PTTs are called Datapak. Similar services are offered in most countries, often by a national telephone monopoly. Competitively priced alternatives are appearing in many countries as national telecom monopolies are brought to an end. For example, Infonet, TRI-P, and i-Com compete successfully with former monopolies for transport of data to and from North America. The Internet is a global network serving millions of mailboxes. It provides very cost-efficient mail exchange with private and public networks throughout the world. IXI is a packet data network operated by European Research centers. DASnet offers transport of mail between mail systems that have no direct connection with each others. (More about this in Chapter 13.)
Level 7: The user ————————- This is you and me. Turn the page to the next chapter and read about how to use the online services.
Chapter 3: How to use the online services =========================================
The user interface refers to what you get on your computer screen and how, when you call an online service. It includes menus and help screens, and various options to tailor the service to your personal preferences.
Navigating by menus is simpler ——————————————— Most online services have menus to make them easier for novices to use. A typical menu looks like this:
R)ead messages
Q)uick search available messages
W)rite messages
C)omments to Sysop
D)ownload programs
?) for help
G)oodbye. This is enough!
Enter a letter (or ?) to select a function. Enter R to read
messages. There is hardly any need to read the documentation to
use this service.
CompuServe greets European users with this menu:
CompuServe Europe EUROPE