brian@ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) (03/16/91)
In the news today there was mention that the FCC is proposing a rule that 900 numbers must announce the cost of the call at the beginning of the connection and allow the caller to disconnect then without being billed. I think that's a wonderful idea, and would suggest that the ruling be such that the TELEPHONE COMPANY handling the 900 call should provide that automatically - they can do it, since they already have the voice intercept equipment, and since they're doing the billing, they also know what the charges would be. By having the telco do the announcement, there'd be no chance for a sleazeball 900 service operator to collect money without the announcement in disregard of the law. Brian
john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (03/17/91)
Brian Kantor <brian@ucsd.edu> writes: > In the news today there was mention that the FCC is proposing a rule > that 900 numbers must announce the cost of the call at the beginning > of the connection and allow the caller to disconnect then without > being billed. I think that's a wonderful idea, and would suggest that > the ruling be such that the TELEPHONE COMPANY handling the 900 call > should provide that automatically - they can do it, since they already > have the voice intercept equipment, and since they're doing the > billing, they also know what the charges would be. Guess what? This is exactly how it is done in Japan. The charge announcement and grace period is handled by NTT before the IP ever gets the call. Unfortunately, it is a little more complicated here since there is a plethora of carriers and it is they, not the local telco that "knows" the rate. Each and every LEC that could possibly handle a 900 call would have to have the current rate database from each and every carrier that has 900 service. Just because an LEC does the billing does not mean that it has the billing information. It simply passes on billing data to the customer that is provided by the IEC. But if this could be accomplished, we might be able to curb some of the deception now going on such as: * "Call our super sleaze lines for FREE. That's right, for FREE. [Rate: free first minute, $15 thereafter.] * "Only $2.00 per minute". [Rate: $2.00/min--20 minute minimum] It is stuff like this that brings about calls for regulations. > By having the > telco do the announcement, there'd be no chance for a sleazeball 900 > service operator to collect money without the announcement in > disregard of the law. This would also be applicable in the COCOT industry. Just think if all payphones, COCOTs and utility coin phones, were operated from utility coin COS lines. The coins would only be collected if the call was indeed completed, the rate would be quoted by the telco, and there would be a one-stop shop for complaints. But there will always be complainers. People would much rather moan and groan about the evils of 900 slime rather than simply call the telco and have it blocked individually from their phones. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !