herrickd@uunet.uu.net (CONTR HERRICK, DAN) (01/27/91)
dgp0@bunny.gte.com (Dennis Pratt) writes: >Instead of charging the 911 caller, (allowing users of the >system to directly pay for the increased functionality), NYNEX has >convinced the politicians to have non-users of 911, specifically 411 >users, pay for this system. If they are going to price directory service out of reach, someone should offer a $0.40 per minute (or maybe .50) 900 directory information service. It should be possible to base the operation in a state other than Massachusetts, thus staying out of the reach of the Massachusetts regulators, and offer nationwide directory service, again staying out of the reach of Massachusetts regulators, but advertise more heavily in Massachusetts to get it started. It would require cutting a deal with the operators of that data base accessible through COMPUSERV that provides all the directories of the US online. Directory service prices from the various telephone companies are going up. It should be possible to start this service in a kitchen with one operator serving one phone line. As the demand increases, add servers. Thus, most of the up-front expenses are initial advertising. Start with a daily ad in the Boston Globe, one column inch. Pyramid it from there. Anyone want to see if we can make this work? dan herrick Aricol Communications POBox 1419 Mentor, Ohio 44061 (216)974-9637 herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com [Moderator's Note: You'd have to price it much higher. If you were using CIS, they get regular connect rates plus 25 cents per minute surcharge for that service. You'd pay 30 cents or more to the provider of the 900 line. The similar service doing reverse lookups is getting about $1.50 per minute I think. No one would pay that much for your service. PAT]