DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Douglas Scott Reuben) (05/17/91)
Just a quick (minor) addition: David E. Sheafer (nin15b0b@stan.merrimack.edu) wrote: > These are the * prefixed numbers for NYNEX Mobile in New England > (MA,RI and southern NH) and the appropriate charges: > *18 follow-me-roaming activation No Charge # > *19 Follow-me-roaming deactivation No Charge > # In certain instances the host cellular service carrier may charge a daily > activation fee for Follow-Me-Roaming activation. Hmmm ... there are other systems that charge for this? If anyone knows of any, could you please drop me a note? NYNEX/Boston (Mass, RI, and NH) bills AIRTIME and a daily charge for BOTH *18 and *19 calls. (Follow Me Roaming Activations and Deactivations). This is the ONLY system that I know of which does this. Thus, hitting *18 or *19 once, and not doing anything else that day will result in: $ .75 FMR ACT $3.00 Dialy Access Charge $ .22 Tax ------------------------- $3.97 Total NYNEX/Boston charges. Also note that if FMR won't activate (ie, it is not working, or slow, which is VERY common in the Boston system), you will still be charged. Additionally, if you don't receive the confirmation tone (a three-way dial tone, sort of), you will still be billed, and you will be billed for any additional *18/*19 afterwards. This happened to me once - The system did not return the dial tone, I hit *18 several times during the day, wound up with a bill for $25 for the DAY!. Note also that there is what seems to be a SEPARATE system (at least for roamers) on the Cape, and if you somehow access that system (it comes in around Hingham at times), you will also be billed the whole $3.97 all over again. I'm not too happy with this, which is why I don't use them too much, even though GTE/SF removes all these charges for me. I've gotten bills from GTE with $30 of NYNEX/Boston charges, all due to FMR, which GTE had to remove. I know GTE absorbs the cost for this, so I hate to keep doing it. I don't know of ANY other system which does this, but there may be, so look out! This is VERY unusual for a "B" system, and many systems, such as Bell Atlantic, are quite upset about this. NYNEX is making a LOT of money this way, while the other "B"s, probably in the interest of their customers (to an extent) do not asses this charge. In my opinion, NYNEX/Boston is being patently unfair, and by taking advantage of other "B" roamers, is making the FMR system (which is marginal at best) even less useful. Just some more thoughts on roaming ..:) (or really, :( ) Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu // dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet [Moderator's Note: Ameritech charges $4.50 per month to have *18 activated on your line. Of the various B carriers I am familiar with, they are also the only ones to hedge when you activate it, by responding that ' ... follow me roaming will be activated on your line in approximatly 30 minutes ...'. None of the others respond with a message giving that delay, however Ameritech has never taken that long when I have used *18. PAT]