sbrack (Steven S. Brack) (05/16/91)
I recently had an experience with an ATT-defaulted Ohio Bell payphone.
I was at work and received an urgent message to call home. I live in
Columbus (614), but my "home" is in Toledo (419). So, I pulled out my
trusty ATT nonsubscriber calling card (thanks for the tip, Pat),
dialed 0-419-XXX-YYYY, got the "AT&T" announcement, dialed my card
number, and got connected. I talked only long enough to find out that
nothing terrible had happened, then hung up.
Well, I got my ATT bill yesterday, and it showed a one minute
call (the call I just described) as costing $1.17!! My "normal"
alling-card rate is $0.21 / minute. I called ATT, and the rep I spoke
with told me that since it was an Intra-LATA call, Ohio Bell handled
it, and could charge up to $1.20 per minute.
If the phone "says" AT&T to you when you place the call, isn't
it reasonable to assume that AT&T rates would be applied? The system
already knew where I was calling from & what number I was dialing, so
it should have been able to tell me Ohio Bell was handling my call.
I can't help but think that saying AT&T was handling the call,
then having Ohio Bell actually handle it is a little unfair to the
consumer, to say the least.
Is what happened to me legal?
Steven S. Brack | I don't speak for OSU.
InterNet: Steven.S.Brack@osu.edu | (Bill Miller just can't
BitNet: Steven.S.Brack%osu.edu@ohstvmsa.bitnet| understand that.)"Robert E. Zabloudil" <nol2105%dsacg2.dsac.dla.mil@dsac.dla.mil> (05/23/91)
In article <telecom11.376.3@eecs.nwu.edu> telecom-request@lll-winken writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 376, Message 3 of 10 > I recently had an experience with an ATT-defaulted Ohio Bell payphone. > I was at work and received an urgent message to call home. I live in > Columbus (614), but my "home" is in Toledo (419). So, I pulled out my > trusty ATT nonsubscriber calling card (thanks for the tip, Pat), > dialed 0-419-XXX-YYYY, got the "AT&T" announcement, dialed my card > number, and got connected. I talked only long enough to find out that > nothing terrible had happened, then hung up. > Well, I got my ATT bill yesterday, and it showed a one minute > call (the call I just described) as costing $1.17!! My "normal" > alling-card rate is $0.21 / minute. I called ATT, and the rep I spoke > with told me that since it was an Intra-LATA call, Ohio Bell handled > it, and could charge up to $1.20 per minute. Something is wrong here. Ohio does not have that many LATA's, and 614 is one of them. If you dial outside our area code, it must automatically be inter-LATA. Similarly, all of 513 is a LATA (except Cincinnati Bell territory), all of 419 is a LATA, and 216 has more than one LATA. I don't have my phone book in front of me, but I like to study it .. 8^), and I'm sure that's what it says. I'd investigate further. Bob Zabloudil rzabloudil@dsac.dla.mil Opinions my own, etc.