History
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- Gerard Thery, General Director for Telecommunications, announces an ambitious based
on producing and marketing a low-cost terminal associated with an Electronic Directory
service.
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- The initial testing of the electronic directory began in Saint-Maio, a small town of 46,000
people in the county of llle-el-Vilaine.
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- A full-scale implementation of the electronic directory was started in the whole county of
Ille-et-Vilaine. The county is made up of both rural and urban areas and is home to
250,000 people.
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- The terminals were distributed to subscribers free of charge. They reasoned that with the
cost of each paper telephone book being FF100 (and increasing), the FF5001 cost of a
dedicated terminal could be recovered in less than five years. As well, the anonymous
kiosk charging system is launched. It allows users to consult
Minitel services directly
without taking out a subscription. An advantage for service providers is that France
Telecom handles charging and collection on their behalf.
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- Crash of 85 - the only system failure since its inception. The crash was the result of
very heavy traffic of "messageries roses" services. The heavy traffic caused an overload
of the Transpac switching system, and the network went down generating considerable
attention in the national press. The technical problem was easy to solve: the switching
system was changed to handle higher volumes, and there has not been another crash since.
The perceptual problem that Minitel was mostly about "sex" lingered much longer, slowed
down Minitel's development, and, paradoxically, increased its international visibility.
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- The Minitel Service Guide came on-line with an interface that allows users to access the
guide to Minitel services using French, without the need for special commands or the
correct spelling.
The line of Minitel terminals has been expanded to include eight models with varying
levels of intelligence and functionality (e.g., color screen, extended keyboards,
compatibility with ASCII standards, service number memory). These second and third-
generation terminals are no longer free; they must be paid for or leased.
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- Authorized transmission speed increased from 1,200 to 9,600 bits/second. Over 600,000
micro-computers use a Minitel emulation.
A new generation of Minitel terminals is
marketed. All European videotex networks are interconnected.
Some Figures......
