by the byte

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

                 MCI ANNOUNCES NEW SMDS RATES


MCI has announced prices for its new Hyperstream switched long distance
data service, which is now available in several markets. The high-speed
data service is aimed at companies with the need to move large amounts
of data across the country. The costs do not include the price of
transmission to the LEC, but service is available to customers served
by BellSouth, Bell Atlantic, and Pacific Bell. There is a monthly
'subscription' charge, plus transport usage charges as outlined below.
Unlike analog service, MCI charges prices according to the actual
amount of data it moves (and mileage), not by the minute.




PORT/SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES-MCI SMDS SERVICE
------------------------------------------
SPEED                       MONTHLY FEES   INSTALLATION CHARGES
-----                       ------------   --------------------
DS-0                        $50            $300
DS-1                        $250           $300
CLASS 1 (4 Mbytes)          $750           $750
CLASS 2 (10 Mbytes)         $1,500         $1,000
CLASS 3 (16 Mbytes)         $2,000         $2,000
CLASS 4 (25 Mbytes)         $2,500         $2,000
CLASS 5 (34 Mbytes)         $3,250         $2,000




TRANSPORT USAGE CHARGES PER MEGABYTE
------------------------------------
MILEAGE            LESS THAN T-1       GREATER THAN T-1
-------            -------------       ----------------
0-249              $.0169              $.0135
250-499            $.0208              $.0166
500-749            $.0248              $.0198
750-999            $.0350              $.0280
1000-1999          $.0444              $.0355
2000-UP            $.0600              $.0480