Question

When the internet first launched, it was slow, clogged up phone lines and was most certainly not cheap. In fact, most Internet service providers (ISP) charged a flat rate access fee that included 20 hours a month of internet time. After twenty-hours of use, the ISP’s charged an additional per-hour fee. Suppose in 1995, Charter charged a flat rate of $39.95 for the first twenty hours of service and an additional per-hour charge of $5.99.How much would a Charter bill for 18 hours of internet used be in 1995? How much would a Charter bill for 28 hours of internet used be in 1995? Write an equation that could be used to model the total price of your internet service in 1995 from Charter.

Answer 1

Based on the problem, here are the given data:

Flat rate for the first 20 hours = $39.95

Additional charge per hour = $5.99

a. How much would a Charter bill for 18 hours of internet use be in 1995?

Answer: Since 18 hours is less than or equal to 20 hours, the charge will just be the flat rate that is $39.95.

b. How much would a Charter bill for 28 hours of internet use be in 1995?

Answer: For the first twenty hours, the charge is $39.95. Since we have an excess of 8 hours of use here, we'll have to charge an additional $5.99 per excess hour. Therefore, 8 hours x $5.99 = $47.92.

Therefore, the bill for 28 hours of used is $39.95 + $47.92 = $87.87.

c. Write an equation that could be used to model the total price of your internet service in 1995 from Charter.

Answer: Let "h" be the total hours used and C = total internet charge.

If h ≤ 20 hours, the charge is C = $39.95.

If h > 20 hours, the equation will be C = $39.95 + $5.99 (h - 20)

or C = $5.99 (h - 20) + $39.95.