"John R. Covert 11-Apr-1991 1237" <covert@covert.enet.dec.com> (04/13/91)
NYNEX/New England *used* to serve Western Mass, ie, Springfield. > (Metro Highbill serves the same area, even though it was/is a CT > company.) About 1 1/2 years ago, NYNEX seemed to have "abandoned" > Springfield, and SNET took it over. I would call that "West Central Mass", not "Western Mass", since NYNEX has and will continue to keep Berkshire County (which runs from CT to VT along the NY border). What happened with Springfield was the following: The original license for the Springfield (Hampden and Hampshire Counties) MSA was issued to a joint venture between NYNEX and SNET. NYNEX was operating the switch, but SNET was doing the customer service. Since the Hartford-Springfield corridor is one continuous populated area, with the airport located at a point where I had trouble sticking to one of the two systems (back when they were separate), SNET's customers were screaming about the lack of interconnection. NYNEX and SNET applied to Judge Greene for permission to interconnect the two systems. MCI and Sprint filed letters of objection, stating that they, and not Baby Bell NYNEX, were authorized to carry the traffic between the 413 and 203 LATAs. NYNEX, in one of the rare cases of cellular carriers doing something good for the majority of the customers, gave up, and sold their portion of the system to SNET. Since SNET isn't a Baby Bell, they are allowed to carry inter-LATA traffic, and were able to integrate the two systems. > As it is now, SNET indicates on their maps that they plan to have all > of CT, and all of Western Mass in the near future (a year?) SNET will have only West Central Mass: the Springfield (Hampden/Hampshire) MSA they now have, and the Franklin County RSA (Mass RSA 1). This doesn't really inconvenience NYNEX customers from the eastern LATA, since until the whole interconnection problem is solved through legislation or a change in the Justice Department, NYNEX in the 617/508 LATA would be prohibited from connecting with any NYNEX in the 413 LATA. > Cell One in Boston has two plans with FREE nightime airtime. One plan, > for $59 per month, gives you 60 minutes of FREE peak airtime (after > which 61+ minutes will costs $.43 per minute), and ALL airtime is FREE > *off-peak*. Cellular One still charges local (eleven cents per five minutes) and toll (at N.E.T. rates from their nearest point of interconnection) for all calls. NYNEX Mobile has bundled all calls to Eastern Mass, R.I., and at least southern NH (if not all of NH) into their airtime rates. No landline charges unless the call goes beyond those points. john