(E-mail and Historians in Germany) Date Sat, 3 Sep 1994 18 46 20 -0500 Reply-To: German History list Sender: German History list From: H-GERMAN MODERATOR Dan Rogers Subject: Re: No e-mail in Germany Submitted by: Fotis Jannidis Some minor corrections are necessary: > Submitted by: Angelika Meyer > > The problem is not a general reluctance to embrace new technology, but > economics. > > I recently spent half a year in Germany, and that's what I observed > regarding Germany and the net: > > Getting an email account is still difficult in Germany. > Unlike in the US, universities don't provide them to any > student/staff/faculty member who asks. Someone has to sponsor the account. > For students, it is next to impossible to get accounts through the university. It would help to name the university you have been visiting. The politics differ a lot from one u. to another. In Munich, where I work, in the German department every student can get an email account without any problem and as far as I know this is true for all universities in Munich. But I agree, I have heard it to be very difficult in other universities. > Many faculty have never even heard of email - keep in mind that the > internet domain .de is just a year old. > > What about getting an account from the private sector? > The postal service is pushing its Datex service, but it is pay per minute, > has a clumsy interface, and lacks full internet access. There are some Internet access providers who charge around 40.- DM as far as I know. Their addresses have been published in one of the most read German magazines (Der SPIEGEL). The Datex-J isn't comparable to an Internet account. > Modems over there are VERY expensive. There is a law on the books that > people can only use modems approved by the German equivalent of the FCC. > Such a modem (with the appropriate stamp of approval) costs at least twice > as much as the same modem (i.e. same make and manufacturer) without this > stamp. This has been the very sad truth for quite a time. But the market has changed in the last year. Nowadays a 14.4 modem with the German FCC approvement costs about 280.-DM. (about 150 $) A V.fast modem costs about 500.-DM. > There is a huge market for illegal (US) modems, but if you hang such > a thing on your German phone line, you are committing a felony, punishable > by up to five years in jail. (This applies equally to built-in modems in > laptops. So much for the portable international office. The German police > could legally arrest dozens of unsuspecting American businesspeople every > day for this "crime", but I guess this would not be good for international > relations.) > > Also, would you use a modem in a place where every LOCAL call costs money? > Every 4 minutes, another "unit" (30 Pf.) is added to your phone bill. So, > the fancier internet tools like ftp and gopher are pretty much off limits. A unit costs 23Pf. A local call between 8-18h takes a unit every 8 minutes. A call between 18-8 takes a unit every 12 minutes. If you use your Internet account in the evening a 2 h session costs 2DM 30Pf. You can use gopher, email etc. without becoming poor. > I hope this gives you an idea why email is so slow in catching on there. > > Angelika Meyer > I am afraid the economic situation alone cannot explain why email and other internet services are in Germany not as widespread as in the USA. But in other universities the situation may be worse than in Munich. Maybe somebody would like to comment? Fotis Information provider: Unit: H-Net program at UIC History Department Email: H-Net@uicvm.uic.edu Posted: 10 Sep 1994 .