'Got a New Home Computer'?

Here we have one of StarText ads we ran in the Star-Telegram, no doubt in January.

Why? January was always a big month for StarText, especially in the early years, because so many people got home computers as Christmas presents. And any computer (as well as "dumb" terminal) that could connect to a modem was a candidate for StarText service.

Note also the line, "No time charges!"

Just about all our competitors -- CompuServe, The Source, Dow-Jones, etc. -- levied a charge for each minute you used the service, the dreaded "connect" fee. In Texas we enjoyed unlimited use of our local phone line for a flat monthly rate. As a result, you could use StarText as long as liked, whenever you liked.

As I recall, the average connect session was around 10 minutes, so there were usually no busy signals. Not to mention a busy signal meant your "newspaper" didn't get delivered. We couldn't have that.