*** PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS FILE AS FROG1294.WRI *** FROGnet Its hip to hop... Are you a FROG? Have you been hopping around from BBS to BBS at all hours of the night? Are your eyes starting to bug out from staring at your monitor all night? Are the pads on your fingertips getting flat and wide from pounding messages out on your keyboard? And, do you look a little green in the morning after a full night of BBS'ing? If so, maybe you're a FROG. And if you are, you need FROGnet. What's FROGnet? FROGnet is a new long distance service designed especially for BBS sysops and callers. FROGnet saves you up to 50% off regular long distance rates. FROGnet is provided by Emerge, Inc., a provider of communications and computer products and services. Is FROGnet easy to use? You make long distance calls on FROGnet the same way you do now, by dialing "1" plus the long distance number. There's no change to the way you dial now, there are no special access numbers to dial, and there are no special lines or equipment to install. And you can call anywhere, anytime. With FROGnet, there are no modem pools to swim through and no X.25 gateways to slow you down. Its that simple and easy. And you can use your FROGnet service to save money on both your long distance voice and BBS calls. Why is FROGnet better than the long distance service I'm currently using? Let's be frank. FROG to FROG. Most long distance companies target their services at the general public, not FROGs. FROGnet is for FROGs, not the general public. Using a regular long distance service to call BBS's is like trying to hop on one leg. For example, like most FROGs you probably do most of your hopping at night, usually after 11 pm and on weekends because that's when rates are lowest. So FROGnet made the night longer by getting rid of the "evening" rate period. In our neck of the swamp the moon comes out at 5 pm on weeknights, not 11 pm. Of course, the night rate flows through the entire weekend as well. But while every other phone company charges a higher, evening rate on Sunday from 5 pm to 11 pm, we don't. With FROGnet you can start hopping sooner and keep hopping longer. And farther, too. Most phone companies increase the cost of a call by its distance so that the farther away the call is, the more expensive it is. Its called a "mileage-sensitive rate". The point is, you never know what you're paying unless you know the airline mileage between the two points you're calling. But FROGnet rates aren't distance- sensitive. You pay the same low rate whether you're calling a FROGpad on the Colorado River or a FROGpad in the Okeefenokee. So the next time you get a nationwide list of BBS's you want to call, you'll know how much you're paying regardless of the mileage. Finally, while other phone companies round the cost of every call in full minutes so that a 4.1 minute call is charged as a 5 minute call, we round each call in 6 second increments so you only pay for the time you actually use. Every FROG makes a lot of short calls. For example, you may be trying out new BBS's, or just polling your messages, or just cruising different boards for new files. Or maybe you can't get a clear connection to a particular BBS and have to dial back five times. FROGnet would have charged you for five 6 second increments or 30 seconds. That's 7.5 cents. But your phone company would have charged you for five full minutes or 75 cents. All these little things add up to big savings on FROGnet. Plus, each month your calls are conveniently charged to your credit card (no surcharge) and your invoice and call detail are delivered as an attachment to a private mail message addressed to you on our BBS, FROGnet BBS. You can read your invoice on-line, download it, or store it for future reference. No way would the other phone companies do that for you. But that's what they should be doing if they were really "green". FROGs live in the streams, rivers, and lakes, and in the forests and the trees. And we don't like the idea that the other phone companies generate mountains of paper to collect their bills. We don't like the idea of cutting down huge forests to make paper bills and envelopes and stamps. And we don't like the idea of bleaching the tree pulp white using poisons that get dumped into our rivers. And we don't like having to burn barrels of oil to deliver the bill to you and then back to us. And we don't like the idea that it ends up in landfills for the next generation to deal with. For you its just one envelope and a couple or pieces of paper. But for FROGs and FROGnet its a wasteful depletion of our resources and unnecessarily irresponsible given an electronic alternative. We believe in less paper, more trees, cleaner rivers and air, and less landfills. We like our riverbeds free of chemicals, we like our trees big and strong and lots of them, and we don't like waste paper buried in our deserts, mountains and canyons. It's a FROG thing and we're proud of it! What kind of savings does FROGnet offer and how much does it cost? FROGnet rates are a flat 15 cents per minute at night, $0.25 per minute during the day. Every call you make to any BBS who's also a FROGpad member of FROGnet is discounted 25%. That's $0.1125 per minute, night rate. And each month you get a discount of 35% to the top 10 FROGpads you call the most. That's $0.0975 a minute. And finally you get a 50% discount to the five FROGpads you called the most. That's 7.5 cents a minute to your favorite FROGpad! Plus, you don't have to maintain any calling circles or lists like other phone companies require. We do all the work, automatically. How much would you pay for a service that saves you up to 50% on your calls? Or one that bills your calls in 6 second increments? Or one that makes the night rate start at 5 pm instead of 11 pm? Or one that doesn't increase the cost of a call based on distance? Or one that delivers your call reports on-line? Would you pay a measly $1 a month? Good, because that's all it costs, just one skinny, slightly wet, very green, FROGbuck a month. That's only 12 greenbacks a year. 1995 may not be a leap year but next year you'll be hopping in the fast lane. As a Sysop, why should I sign my BBS up as a FROGpad on FROGnet? FROGnet will dramatically enhance the success of your BBS. When you add your BBS to FROGnet you become part of a national network that attracts callers from all over the country to your system. You'll have a national presence "on the network" instead of a local or regional one. Your BBS will be preferred by new users who are test-driving new systems. You'll be more competitive versus other BBS's who aren't a part of FROGnet (unless they sign-up and you don't!). You'll attract more new users to your BBS and your current users will call more often and stay on longer. Your peak usage will start at 5 pm instead of 11 pm on weeknights resulting in improved system utilization. And all of your users, both new and old, will appreciate the fact that you chose a service that's "BBS friendly". And that will make your BBS more successful. Plus you get all the same great benefits when you call other FROGpads. So join us! Be a part of this great leap forward in the BBS industry. Jump right in and get hopping before everyone else beats you to the water! Last one in's a toadie! Ok, let's do it! How do I sign-up? Sign-up is simple. Call FROGnet BBS at 404-663-0760 and complete the on-line order script. We'll instruct your local phone company to do a PIC conversion of your lines from your current long distance service to FROGnet long distance and you'll be on your way. Your local phone company will probably bill you a nominal fee for changing long distance service. And we will bill your credit card for the annual fee. The whole process takes about 5 business days. And don't forget to tell other FROGs and other sysops about FROGnet. Feel free to upload this file to your favorite BBS's and spread the fun. To contact us by mail or phone: Emerge, Inc. 320 W. Broadway Suite 520 Louisville, KY 40202 Phone (502) 568-2711 BBS (404) 663-0760 Fax (502) 561-8586 FROGnet service mark pending.