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Hi everyone -
I have some growing concerns about the completeness of the data we are
receiving from DBC, whether via Signal or BMI, and I would like to
propose a study to determine just how bad (or good?) the services are.
Last year I upgraded my Signal service from FM to cable. I did so as a
participant in the settlement agreement arising out of a class-action
lawsuit against DBC claiming that their service was not truly
"real-time". (I don't know all the details, but I suspect that the
claim was based upon both tardiness and incompleteness of the DBC FM
data.)
Out of the update alternatives which were offered under terms of the
settlement agreement (from FM to any one of: Signal cable, Signal
satellite, BMI cable, BMI satellite, or Signal internet), I chose Signal
cable based upon DBC's representation that (1) cable delivery would
"solve the FM problem", ie, miss few if any ticks, (2) the cable
delivery system would be updated to 56Kbps sometime in 1998, and (3) the
BMI service would distribute exactly the same data as the Signal
service.
Unfortunately, what I am getting from DBC now is that they are almost
certainly NOT going to upgrade the cable or FM delivery systems, that
BMI is a MUCH better service than Signal (is the end of Signal near),
and that they would like to phase-out the broadcast-delivery systems
altogether in favor of internet delivery.
Now for my PROPOSAL:
I would like to get reports, as many as possible, from a cross-section
of subscribers to this list. I would like a report on the number of
ticks collected for the front S&P 500 contract, SPM8. I would like such
counts for each day of a 2-day period, let's say for May 6 and May 7,
for the DAY SESSION ONLY, please (ie, not for the BMI combined
session). It is important that I get reports from subscribers receiving
the data through each of the available channels: FM, cable, satellite,
internet (if any). It is also important that I receive several reports
for EACH channel, preferably from different parts of the country
(world).
I will then download the correspond files from the CME and compare these
data with the reports. I'll publish the results, with respect to both
completeness AND timeliness, on this list. (Timeliness will be based
upon my own collected data, although I may request tick files, in ASCII
form, from a couple of you.)
For the benefit of those who may not know how to get the tick count:
Go to the Server, open the "Symbol Portfolio" window, highlight the
symbol for SPM8, click on the "Edit Tick" button, enter the desired date
in the "Date" slot of the "Edit Tick Data" window, click on the "Load"
button, and the tick count for that day will be found at the bottom of
the window. To get the count for another day, enter another date and
click "Load" again. After noting the count, click on the "Cancel"
button then the "Close" button to remove the edit and portfolio windows.
SUMMARY:
Please obtain daily tick counts, after market close, for SPM8 on Wed,
May 6, and Thur, May 7, and e-mail the numbers directly to me (rather
than cluttering the Omega list) along with: your service (Signal, BMI,
or ???), delivery speed (9.6 Kbps, 19.2, 38.4, ???), delivery mode (FM,
cable, satellite, internet, or ???), and location (Miami, Baghdad,
Moscow, or wherever).
Thanks.
Carroll Slemaker
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