phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai) (07/26/85)
My sister, who lives on the other side of the country from me, recently
got a note from her RBOC asking her to choose a long distance carrier.
She didn't understand the concept of equal access and just threw out
the note. A little while later, ATT sent her a note expressing concern
that she hadn't chosen any carrier, much less ATT. If she doesn't choose,
she will be assigned in a lottery to a long distance carrier. Of course,
ATT didn't like that idea. Apparently, the way ATT expressed themselves
came across to my sister as a threat and she got mad at them, threw
ATT's note out, and signed up with MCI. Now, I think she screwed herself
because she probably can't call my parents on MCI, but still, if other
people are reacting this way, I think ATT has a problem.
Any comments?
--
There are two kinds of people, those who lump people in groups and
those who don't.
Phil Ngai (408) 749-5720
UUCP: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra}!amdcad!phil
ARPA: amdcad!phil@decwrl.ARPAche@ptsfb.UUCP (Mitch Che) (07/29/85)
In article <2126@amdcad.UUCP> phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai) writes: >My sister, who lives on the other side of the country from me, recently >got a note from her RBOC asking her to choose a long distance carrier. >She didn't understand the concept of equal access and just threw out >the note.... >ATT didn't like that idea. Apparently, the way ATT expressed themselves >came across to my sister as a threat and she got mad at them, threw >ATT's note out, and signed up with MCI. Now, I think she screwed herself >because she probably can't call my parents on MCI, but still, if other >people are reacting this way, I think ATT has a problem. > >Any comments? Apparently, there are a lot of consumers who are going to end up assigned to one of the long-distance carriers through the "lottery" process. It's unfortunate that all of us don't attempt to get further information if we don't understand something like equal access. I haven't seen the AT&T notice that was sent to Phil's sister, but I would think that the idea of getting stuck with a long-distance carrier at random is MORE threatening than any sales pitch/warning from AT&T. I think the main points are: be aware of the long-distance options available, be aware of the pros/cons of individual companies (e.g. concerning access to places you call frequently, quality, price), and MAKE a choice when the time comes. Various sources of information, such as consumer groups, and, yes, the RBOCs, are available on equal access, the various long-distance choices, etc. just for the asking... -- Mitch Che Pacific Bell --------------------------------------- disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer, too (415) 823-2438 uucp: {ihnp4,dual}!ptsfa!ptsfb!che
mikey@trsvax (08/02/85)
If you expect to run a modem over the long distance service, MAKE SURE IT WILL WORK FIRST!!! I use U.S. Telecom as an alternate long distance service to AT&T, but 1200 bps just will NOT work with them. It took me over a week for them to even admit it. Finally they told me they only guaranteed voice quality lines, not data. Seems they haven't heard that modems use voice frequencies. Oh, well, I guess Cliff Robertson is right. I still keep AT&T as my primary service for the modem and I use U.S.Tel as secondary. I may even drop that and switch. mikey at trsvax
heneghan@ihu1m.UUCP (Joe Heneghan) (08/02/85)
I think someone needs to educate the public about all this telephone hoopla in a non biased, informative way. There are complex issues that will continue to be wrestled with for some time to come, but there are simple facts that could be addressed to unconfuse the confused. Unfortunately most sources of information tend to be biased including the media. I think Judge Green should publish a simple memo to the world to describe what he has attempted to do. This is my personal opinion having nothing to do with my employer, family or freinds. Joe Heneghan
scott@hou2g.UUCP (N. Ersha) (08/05/85)
What bothers me about this whole thing is the assumed intelligence level of the "average" telephone user. I mean, how difficult is it to understand the following sentence: "You will soon be asked to indicate whether or not you wish to change the company providing your long distance service--if you don't indicate a choice, you may have your service changed anyway." I know the average consumer CAN be pretty ridiculous at times (even me :-)), but you'd have to be moronic to not understand the personal IMPLICATIONS of the industry's changes. The REASONS for the changes I'll leave to the lawyers and politicians (They can HAVE them!) Reminds me of the article/editorial I read last weekend. It seems some company (Del Monte?) got a lot of flack for removing the heating instructions from their cans of corn. Consumers were confused. How difficult could it possibly be? "Place corn in pan. Heat" Sheeeeeeesh! Scott Berry
hgp@houem.UUCP (#H.PAGE) (08/06/85)
> What bothers me about this whole thing is the assumed > intelligence level of the "average" telephone user. > > I mean, how difficult is it to understand the following > sentence: > > "You will soon be asked to indicate whether or not you wish to change > the company providing your long distance service--if you don't indicate a > choice, you may have your service changed anyway." > > I know the average consumer CAN be pretty ridiculous at times > (even me :-)), but you'd have to be moronic to not understand > the personal IMPLICATIONS of the industry's changes. The REASONS > for the changes I'll leave to the lawyers and politicians (They > can HAVE them!) > > Reminds me of the article/editorial I read last weekend. It seems > some company (Del Monte?) got a lot of flack for removing the heating > instructions from their cans of corn. Consumers were confused. How > difficult could it possibly be? "Place corn in pan. Heat" > > Sheeeeeeesh! > > Scott Berry Seems to me that I read something somewhere which said that 1/2 of the population of the United States is not aware of the breakup of AT&T. Howard G. Page ..!ihnp4!houem!hgp
phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai) (08/08/85)
I compared ATT and MCI and ATT appears to be only 10% more.
There is also talk about how ATT wants to cut their long distance
prices even more but the FCC is making them slow down.
I never hear competitors say their quality is better than ATT.
To me, ATT's superior quality is worth the small and decreasing premium.
Why would anyone use MCI? (or the others)
(I do not now or ever plan to own stock in or otherwise benefit from ATT.
I just wonder why people do what they do.)
--
Even a cabbage may look at a king.
Phil Ngai (408) 749-5720
UUCP: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra}!amdcad!phil
ARPA: amdcad!phil@decwrl.ARPAandrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers) (08/08/85)
In article <577@hou2g.UUCP> scott@hou2g.UUCP (N. Ersha) writes: >...some company (Del Monte?) got a lot of flack for removing the heating >instructions from their cans of corn. Consumers were confused. How >difficult could it possibly be? "Place corn in pan. Heat" What next? Instructions on toilet paper? AWR
moroney@jon.DEC (Mike Moroney) (08/09/85)
>To me, ATT's superior quality is worth the small and decreasing premium. >Why would anyone use MCI? (or the others) What superior quality? The last few times I called long distance (using ATT) I got very noisy lines. They were only marginally useful. In fact the last time I could hear another conversation (both sides) almost as well as the person I was speaking to. I heard them hang up, then I heard a phone ring 2 minutes later and then I heard yet another conversation start. That's when I said the hell with it and terminated my phone call. If seems to me that perhaps ATT cut back on their quality as well as their price. I'm going to get another service soon, as I see no advantage to using ATT. "There's a madness to my method." Mike Moroney ..decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-jon!moroney
peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (08/12/85)
> In article <577@hou2g.UUCP> scott@hou2g.UUCP (N. Ersha) writes: > >...some company (Del Monte?) got a lot of flack for removing the heating > >instructions from their cans of corn. Consumers were confused. How > >difficult could it possibly be? "Place corn in pan. Heat" > > What next? Instructions on toilet paper? > > AWR They already have instructions on toothpicks. -- Peter da Silva (the mad Australian) UUCP: ...!shell!neuro1!{hyd-ptd,baylor,datafac}!peter MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076