Ronnie@SUTCASE.BITNET (10/30/85)
I called up ATT Alliance Conferencing and found out some information.
There are four ``bridges.'' They are in White Plains, NY, Dallas, TX,
Chicago, IL, and Los Angeles, CA. When you dial the 0-700 number, you
are immiediately billed for a call to the nearest bridge. It will answer
and identify the bridge you are calling. You may then form a conference
of as many people ass you want and it is billed as follows:
You are charged 25 cents per person/PER MINUTE (!) including yourself.
You are charged the standard rate for each call to each person FROM
THE BRIDGE.
The charge for the call to the bridge continues.
Curiously, this charge is billed at the cheapest rate (as though you dialed
after 11pm)
I commented to the person that this was quite expensive, especially since I
could call my AT&T operator and have her do it for the cost of a person to
person call. She just replied with:
``We understand that is cheaper but the quality is better this way. ''
Also, if you want to bypass the ``find-nearest-bridge'' algorythm and select
the bridge yourself (which makes things cheaper when most of your calls are
nearer to a different bridge) you can call 456-1001,1002,1003,1004 to
select them individually.
Now for my question:
In the newsletter that came with my Sprint bill, was the following:
In the near future it [digital technology] will enable us to offer
you a lot of new services, at greatly reduced costs. For instance
you'll be able to get things like call-conferencing, call-forwarding,
and call-messaging. With call-messaging you can be anywhere in the
world served by Sprint and simply by pushing a few buttons, you can
call up your phone and get your messages--without using an answering
machine. Your messages will be stored in a computer that is linked
to the Sprint network.
Has anyone heard anything about this? What exactly does call forwarding
mean in this case, and how can anyone but your local phone company provide
that for you (unless only the calls coming in through Sprint will be
forwarded??)
Thanks for your time,
#Ron (ronnie%sutcase.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa) (ronnie@mit-eddie.usenet)
(ronnie@syr-sutcase.csnet)