"It's definitely much better [than long distance calling," Rebane says.

Business and Pleasure

For Rebane, e-mail is a cost-effective way of communicating with his borther. Rebane and his brother co-manage the Baltic Development Group, a company the two founded together in 1993.

"We actually work together on several projects in Estonia related to the entertainment business--we're involved in marketing cinemas, casinos and nightclubs," says Rebane, former president of the Harvard Baltic Relations council.

"Mostly I help with major day-to-day decisions, so it's necessary to stay in touch. Last year I used to fax and phone, and it cost a couple of hundred dollars a month."

Of course, Rebane admits that the cost effectiveness of e-mail is no substitute for an actual presence in business dealings. Rebane says the cost of a plane ticket home can easily eat up his savings on long-distance calls.

For Harvard students without business connections abroad, e-mail is still a sensible way to stay in close contact with far away friends.

Boston native William G. Ferullo '96, whose girlfriend Marta R. Weiss '96 will be in Nepal this spring, says he was motivated to obtain an e-mail account so that he can keep in touch with her easily and affordably.

"She's going to be in Nepal in a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to set up my e-mail account," Ferullo says.

Weiss is taking advantage of the increasing commercialization of the Internet to contact friends here in the United States, Ferullo says.

"Marta is going to be teaching at a school there," he says. "They don't have e-mail at the school, but they have it at a shopping mall in Katmandu. So she's been trying to find out how she can get an e-mail account at the shopping mall."

Ferullo, who spent last semester studying at a Paris program where Internet access was not available, says he will be glad to avoid long distance bill by using e-mail.

"It would be very expensive and just kind of inconvenient, in terms of timing, to be calling her," Ferullo adds.

Reach Out and Touch Someone?

However, despite the advantages of using e-mail--speed, nominal cost, and convenience--several students say letter-writing is more satisfying.