PE> $200 is a HELL of a lot of money.  You do realise that even
PE> if I put the $200 into my home loan, the INTEREST alone will
PE> be 40c per week to me, so I would have to save 40c per week on
PE> my phone bill from DAY 1, nevermind paying back the principle.

I dont believe his real name is Edwards, I bet its really
Finkelstein and the neoNazi stuff is just a smokescreen.

BG> And if you delve a bit deeper into that premise, you might be
BG> horrified to learn exactly how much your computer has cost you as
BG> well.  And your TV, and your VCR etc, etc, etc.  It's just a fact of
BG> life, but I've already made the mistake of going without for 5 years
BG> (4 years and 11 months, to be precise), and working my arse off so
BG> that I could pay off my 30-year mortgage in just 5 years.  But at
BG> what cost?  Sure, I saved over $160,000 at current interest rates,
BG> but I wonder now if it was really worth all that forced deprivation.

Depends on how much depravity you could have bought for that.

It did however give you heaps more options on bothering
with full time work once you had that paid off etc.

PE> In actual fact, the cost factor made me want to buy a Yum Cha.
PE> It made my heart bleed to pay $100 more for a Netcomm, when I was
PE> very dubious about whether I would actually see an advantage at all.

Or Weissman.

BG> Hard to say.  Some yum-chas, like the V.34 Dynalinks for example, are
BG> actually rather good value for money, as long as you don't mind using
BG> X3 (and I sure don't).  Others, like the Ellcon, are absolute garbage,

You have a HELL of a capacity for making EXTREMELY sweeping
pronouncements based on sweet fuck all evidence Bill |-)

PE> It was a tough choice though.  I was basically planning on running
PE> my modem until the next lightning strike (I do not switch my modem
PE> off during storms normally).  I wait until my fish tank jumps 1
PE> foot in the air before I decide that I might disconnect the modem.

BG> Does your contents insurance policy cover lightning damage?

He doesnt have ANY insurance, calculated the risk and chose
not to. It can pay to go that route in his circumstances.

BG> Mine does now, but I had to change companies (to NZI) to get it.
BG> Suncorp refused to cover that sort of damage at all, the bastards.

I noticed an ad for GIO that was raving about you could tailor
your policy on a whole heap of choices like that particular one.

BG> Also, whilst modem manufacturers don't cover such damage under
BG> warranty (and quite rightly so too), I now know of two separate cases
BG> where lightning-destroyed (to the point of actual charring) USRs have
BG> been physically replaced WITHOUT CHARGE.  And that impressed me no end.

Yeah, certainly unusual.

BG> the future upgradeability of the Courier, which IMO, is its most
BG> valuable feature.  It basically means that there's no longer any need
BG> to replace your modem every time a new feature is introduced, and over a
BG> year or two, that more than makes up for the extra $200 up front anyway.

Maybe. I cant see too many buying a new modem to get the V34 -> V34+
tho. And its quite possible that the next step we want to do is ISDN or
a cable modem and the Courier is unlikely to do either for a free SDL.

And you can buy two yumchas for one Courier anyway.

PE> you might want to go and keep your zealotry in check next time.

BG> It's called "enthusiasm", if you don't mind...

That what they said when they burnt people at the stake |-)
@EOT:

---