Paul, at 10:05 on Nov 26 1995, you wrote to Rod Speed...

PE> 1. You said the modem manufacturers were gouging.  What is the evidence for 
PE> that?  

It's rather graphic actually.  Do you have Altzheimers, or what?

PE> A V34 modem for $400 is not much more than the $300 you used to pay for 
PE> V32bis.

How quickly you forget.  What about the Netcomm M7F which originally cost
$1199, or the Worldblazers at $2199?  When V.32bis first came out, I
imported mine from the US (the Lightcomm 144F and the Intel 400) which cost
me A$500 and A$700 respectively, considerably less than any Austel modems
available at the time.  Entire PC motherboards could be had for a quarter
of those prices, and if that ain't gouging by modem makers, I don't know
what is.

PE> 2. When do you think the gouging will stop, and what price do
PE> you think I can get by delaying?

How long is a piece of string?  Who knows, but the V.34 price curve has
only recently levelled out after falling quite dramatically over the past
year or so, as evidenced by the USR Courier which used to cost well over
$1K, and now retails for just $695.  Same with the local manufacturers too.
 I think it's called "recovering R&D costs".  ROFL!

PE> 3. Was it the Melbourne place you said had a 14-day money-back
PE> guarantee?  Where did you see that?

That's the Victorian Modem Superstore, which is affiliated with the Qld
branch of the same company, and which (up here) is owned by Mike Richardson
(Computer Hand Holding).  Indeed, the shop is right next door (and
connected by an internal door).  :)

They do have a 14-day satisfaction guarantee, where they will refund your
money with no questions asked.  Normal refunds as dictated by the TPC still
apply, so you can't really go wrong, even in the long term.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20