mat@uunet.uu.net (06/14/91)
>> Also, telco *could* now >> provide 'programmable forward on busy / no answer' if they wanted to. > This isn't available on all Ameritech switches (especially those nice > 1A ESS(tm) switches). Ameritech Mobile's oldest switch is probably > two years old; they ditched all the original switches. > Try to talk the regulators into allowing the wholesale replacement of > all those old(er) switches!!! This is a MAJOR consideration. Telco equipment has to be depreciated over a 15 to 20 year period. It all used to be 20 years until AT&T took some senators and House representatives into its factories and said `Can you tell the difference between the telephone circuit boards and the computer circuit boards? Then why can't we depreciate them on the same schedules?' They didn't get 5-year depreciation, but they got 15 year depreciation on some things. What this means is that the last fellow into the market on a given technology cycle has the advantage of the better, cheaper, more capable equipment and nobody else can afford to upgrade. (This man's opinions are his own.) From mole-end Mark Terribile