wrs@mcshh.hanse.de (SuperVisor) (03/24/91)
Since MCI now offers "Call USA" from Germany (by toll-free number 0130-0012), unlike AT&T's Calling Card, everybody can get the MCI Card, as long as he has a MasterCard or VISA Card. With sign up until March 31, 1991 you will receive $15 off calls to the U.S. The address is: MCI International, Langstrasse 50 6450, Hanau. Phone: 06181/252021-22-23-24 FAX: 06181/252086 Wolfgang R. Schulz, Hamburg, Germany BTX (and phone): 0405521878 Bang: ...unido!mcshh!wrs UUCP: wrs@mcshh.UUCP Internet: wrs@mcshh.hanse.de MCI: 241-2526
david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) (03/25/91)
wrs@mcshh.hanse.de writes: > Since MCI now offers "Call USA" from Germany (by toll-free number > 0130-0012), unlike AT&T's Calling Card, everybody can get the MCI > Card, as long as he has a MasterCard or VISA Card. As we in Australia have access to Call USA (0014 881 100) what are MCI's rates for such a credit card call from Australia to the USA? Is there any financial advantage over OTC's rates? OTC Aus->USA Peak: A$1.60/min Off-Peak: A$1.19/min The above are charged in A$0.22 units. David Wilson Dept Comp Sci, Uni of Wollongong david@cs.uow.edu.au
wrs@mcshh.hanse.de (Wolfgang R. Schulz) (03/26/91)
david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) writes: > As we in Australia have access to Call USA (0014 881 100) what are > MCI's rates for such a credit card call from Australia to the USA? Is > there any financial advantage over OTC's rates? David: Why not just call that toll free number and ask for the rate, so it would be easy to compare. From Germany this is very clear: after the third minute you start saving using the MCI Card towards the national PTT's direct dial rates. For DD we pay DM 0.23 (the message unit price), which is approximatly fifteen cents, and for a call to the U.S.A. you get 4.42 seconds for a unit. MCI Call USA charges a $2 basic fee, $1.68 for the first minute and $1.03 for each additional minute. If you take your calculator, you will see that in the third minute both charges are the same, for shorter calls, DD is cheaper, for longer calls MCI becomes more and more cheaper. I bet it will be the same in Australia. Wolfgang R. Schulz, Hamburg, Germany BTX (and phone): 0405521878 Bang: ...unido!mcshh!wrs UUCP: wrs@mcshh.UUCP Internet: wrs@mcshh.hanse.de MCI: 241-2526
covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 26-Mar-1991 0003) (03/26/91)
Two observations on this: With the per-minute rate that MCI charges at a little over a dollar a minute and the Bundespost's rate at a little over twice that, anyone in Germany who occasionally calls the U.S. should get one of these cards. The way you would use it would be to direct dial to see if the person you want to talk to is there and available for more than three minutes (something you can probably do in about three or four DM 0.23 units / 13-17 seconds) and then call back via MCI Call USA. This is how I use AT&T's USA Direct service when I'm travelling overseas. But issuing MCI cards to German nationals is likely to upset the Deutsche Bundespost. The CCITT Recommendations on international call charging mention that unequal rates in opposite directions are undesirable, and actually imply that the higher rate of the two is the preferable one! The DBP could increase its charges for terminating traffic in order to retaliate for this effort by MCI to let Germans bypass the high German telephone rates which are, in effect, a tax, subsidizing other government services run by the Post Office. AT&T, the last I checked, would only issue cards to people living overseas if they were U.S. citizens, probably precisely in order to avoid annoying the telephone administrations of foreign governments with which they want to do business. john
wrs@mcshh.hanse.de (Wolfgang R. Schulz) (03/30/91)
Since MCI offers "Call USA" from Germany too now (by toll-free number 0130-0012), unlike AT&T's Calling Card, everybody can get the MCI Card, as long as he has a MasterCard or VISA Card. With Signup's until March 31st 1991 you will receive $15 off calls to the U.S. The address is: MCI International Langstrasse 50 6450 Hanau phone 06181/252021-22-23-24 fax: 06181/252086 ***Wolfgang R. Schulz, Hamburg, Germany ***BTX (and phone): 0405521878*** ***Bang: ...unido!mcshh!wrs *** UUCP: wrs@mcshh.UUCP *** ***Internet: wrs@mcshh.hanse.de *** MCI: 241-2526 ***