Ed_Greenberg@3mail.3com.com (01/30/91)
My brother-in-law (Torre) has a small business which employs about ten
people. He currently uses a LD system wherein there is a dialer on
each line that absorbs the phone number and a unique ID code, then
redials the call on a 950 number. When the bill comes, it is sorted
by ID number and thus Torre can see who made what calls and how much
each employee spent on the phone.
Calls are being processed on "Call America," a undistinguished (IMHO)
LD carrier giving what seem to be average rates. They seem to excel
at saving money on INTRA-LATA calls, while are competitive on
INTER-LATA calls.
Questions:
Does anyone know anything of interest about Call America?
Can anyone suggest any similar solutions that are CO or LD-switch
based, i.e.do not require the dialer on the line?
Ed_Greenberg@HQ.3Mail.3Com.COMjohn@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (01/31/91)
Ed_Greenberg@3mail.3com.com writes: > Can anyone suggest any similar solutions that are CO or LD-switch > based, i.e.do not require the dialer on the line? If you are looking for savings within the LATA, you will need to use a service that employs FGB. This is because Pac*Bell will NOT route a LATA call through an IEC. Hence, any "equal access" solution can be ruled out. There are still some LD providers that use FGB, and some of these will allow you to use a smart switch to route the calls rather than bozo dialers. This is always preferable; you as the customer can control your switch programming but you have not a clue about the dialers. There have been many cases where dialers have skimmed off even local calls (charging considerably more than local rates). There is one other creative solution to intraLATA savings, and that is by using the services of a reseller that has CENTREX access. A company called Centex does just that. You install a number of lines from their CENTREX group and place your calls normally. Your LATA calls are carried via highly-packed WATS, FX and other routes. Their rates are considerably less than standard Pac*Bell. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !