Ed_Greenberg@3mail.3com.com (01/24/91)
Patrick, Thanks for your comments on Teleconnect (Telecom*USA). I have a few followup questions: 1. You mention a rate of .29/minute for voicemail. Is that also the rate for Voicenews? [Moderator: Yes, I think it is. You can also get Voice News on a 700 number if you are registered with Telecom*USA for 1+ or 10835.] 2. What's the timed rate for incoming 800 service? Is it distance sensitive or flat? Does it work instate? [Moderator: It is flat rate; I think 29 cents per minute during the day and 21 cents at night. The 800 caller reaches the switch in Iowa; it in turn outdials to the appropriate number.] 3. How are the rates for LD calls placed on your personal DID 800 number (let's call this a payphone call.) Do they reflect the .29/ minute inbound to the switch, or are they competitive to other direct dialed point-to-point service? [Moderator: All they charge for calls to my 800 number is the 29 cent or 21 cent rate. For outgoing calls I make through them the rates are much less; whatever they charge; competitive with others.] 4. On a payphone call, can you reorder the switch after your called party disconnects, thus saving a second hotel charge for an 800 number call? (Press # and "dial another call"?) [Moderator: On any call I make to their switch (for voicenews, outbound on a long distance call, etc, the # will reorder the switch. In voicemail / voicenews it has another meaning at some levels, but once back at the main menu then it reorders the switch there also.] 5. If you don't have tone available, will the payphone service time out to the Teleconnect operator? [Moderator: Yes. I think if you are noted in their records as having rotary dial then once you dial your 800 access number to the switch it immediatly shunts you to the operator. Otherwise it will eventually time out to the operator anyway, whence she will first ask for your card number, then take your request. However to use the enhanced features such as voicenews or voicemail, you obviously have to have tone to work through the menus. The operator won't stay on the line to help with that stuff.] 6. You state that MCI took over. Have you experienced any changes in service as a result of this? I'm skittish -- my SBS service was once taken over by MCI (or was it Sprint) then disappeared and turned into the surviving company's generic service. [Moderator: So far I have noticed nothing except that customer service now answers the phone 'Telecom/MCI, may I help you'. Skyline merged with SBS, then SBS went into MCI. One reason I am not yet dropping my AT&T account (or converting Telecom*USA to one-plus is I want to wait and see what happens when MCI digs in in earnest. If they screw it up too badly I can bail out in a hurry.] Thanks for your comments. It sounds neat. An 800 number to call home on (and check messages) sounds worthwhile. Of course, Pathetic*Bell doesn't have distinctive ringing yet... Ed_Greenberg@HQ.3Mail.3Com.COM [Moderator's Note: You are welcome. IBT has distinctive ringing and all the CLASS features now in about seventy percent of the offices. They expect to be fully converted within a few months. We've always been first here. We had the first ESS in the late 1960's in Morris, IL. Downtown Chicago had ESS in 1974. The entire area was all ESS as of about 1986. IBT has always been a leader in new telephone technology. The only exception to full CLASS service is Caller*ID and that should be in place throughout 312/708 within a year or so. You'll recall we were also first with cellular service in the early 1980's. We had E-911 in the middle-1970's, and TSPS in all offices about the same time. We had Centrex here in 1967. Yes, they had Centrex in the old #5 crossbar offices as well as TSPS. Truly amazing, the folks from IBT. PAT]
wah@zach.fit.edu (Bill Huttig) (01/24/91)
>[Moderator's Note: The thing about Teleconnect (their subsidiary) ... >MCI just recently took over ... :) let's give MCI a chance! :) Let's not (after my billing problem). [stuff deleted] >The Telecom*USA Card is much more advanced than AT&T's and includes: True >A personal 800 number for accessing their switch. It is *my* number, >and goes in DID-style to their switch where it identifies me. Then the >seven-digit number on the card serves as a PIN. Once I call into their From what I've been told is that there are several users per 800 number. [stuff about calling cards deleted] The Telecom*USA card is surcharged $.40 (at least in their southern region ). I still have a card that was a SouthLand calling card. (They were bought by SouthernNet which merged into Telecom*USA.) There is no surcharge on this card when dialing via 950. [stuff about 800 numbers deleted] >me off that the incoming call is via the 800 number(s). The personal >800 numbers cost $2.75 each per month plus calls, billed in six-second >increments. The (third) 800 number used for voicemail costs $2.75 per Telecom*USA is not offering the Hotline 800 service since the merger with MCI. The Personal 800 service is the new one ... there are two rates for it. The non PrimeTime rate of $5/mo and something around $.25/min billed in full minutes. PrimeTime rates (in addition to the normal primetime rates) is $2/mo and $.225/min day and $.1083/min evnings/night/weekend (PrimeTime Hours). [stuff deleted] >800 number -- used to access the switch itself in Cedar Rapids, IA -- >is free. Telecom*USA does not charge a surcharge for calls made on the >card ... just the cost of the call itself. The rates are 'competitive'. See above. >service. I get *one bill* monthly for *everything* from them, all >nicely detailed, with ANI on the 800 numbers, time of day and ANI on >callers in voicemail, etc. They seem to have full international >service and are willing to bill it in on their card, should I be at a >payphone, etc. I think I will call them tomorrow and ask them to give >me an 800 number for each of my cell phones also. At $2.75 per number, >the price is certainly right! I dont think they will add the hotline 800 numbers anymore. The ANI is also done with the Personal 800 service ... But with the Telecom*USA card and MCI Card (which looks like the Telecom*USA card but as a 14 digit PIN) and the SoutherNet/SouthLand card they only give origninating city. You can probbly add Personal 800 numbers to a Telecom*USA/Teleconect account. Telecom*USA/MCI summary of rates: Telecom*USA card surcharge $.40 + regular rates. MCI*CARD surcharge $.80 + regular rates. SouthLand/SouthernNet no surcharge on 950; same as Telecom*USA dial one. PrimeTime $7.50/mo $.1083/min during plan hours. PrimteTime 800 $2/mo additional $.225/min day and $.1083 other times. >I'd say my average bill from Telecom*USA for the 800 numbers, >voicemail, voicenews, etc is about $60 per month and they are not >handling any of my outgoing long distance yet since I still give all >that to AT&T. PAT] Wow, and I thought my bills were high ... Bill [Moderator's Note: My total LD bill from AT&T and TelecomUSA for *personal* calls is about $100-120 per month, not including the voicenews and voicemail stuff from Telecom*USA. The bill is higher than that, but I get my office to pay for their share of it. PAT]