"John R. Covert 03-Jun-1991 0933" <covert@covert.enet.dec.com> (06/03/91)
It's time to end some misconceptions. Some folks have been complaining about AT&T being prevented from handling Intra-LATA calls when MCI and Sprint are allowed to do so. This is simply not true. Whether carriers other than the local telco can carry Intra-LATA traffic or not is determined on a state-by-state basis by the local DPU/PUC/PSC/CC. If the local regulatory authority decides to permit Intra-LATA competition, each carrier wishing to compete must file a tariff with the local authorities. AT&T has chosen not to file tariffs for most kinds of Intra-LATA service, even where they would be allowed to do so. In the case of Massachusetts, AT&T has chosen not to handle Intra-LATA Message Telephone Service (1+ and 0+ calling), but does handle other kinds of Intra-LATA service, such as Readyline 800, Megacom, and Software Defined Network (SDN). So quit your moaning about AT&T being unfairly picked on. In re calls to 800 numbers via USA Direct: This is a service that AT&T has only been providing for about a year now. So the reports of people trying a couple of years ago without avail are true, but were before the service was offered. To use the service, you must have either an AT&T or local exchange carrier calling card. Third number or collect billing is not possible, nor is billing to any bank or travel and entertainment cards. When I used the service almost exactly a year ago from Bermuda, a call to a fictitious number in Pittsburgh appeared on my bill. Calling that number yielded a recording explaining the USA Direct 800 calling service. Back then, the USA Direct operator (who can be on a console anywhere in the country; many of them are in North Carolina), had to pass the call on to another operator. Now the software in the normal Toll Services Positions has been modified so that the first operator can directly connect the call. AT&T will provide the service only to AT&T 800 numbers -- this is because to do otherwise would not only cause people to receive calls from areas other than those specified in their contracts with MCI/Sprint or whoever, but would also provide a benefit to their competition which AT&T seems to consider not to be worth the small added revenue of handling the call. john