johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) (01/02/91)
I was perusing a flyer for AT&T's Reach Out World program, and some
aspects of it are extremely peculiar. The general plan is that for $3
per month, you get reduced off-peak rates on many international calls
as well as 5% off all domestic calls.
Most of the rates and times make sense, but some don't. For example,
the rate to Panama is slightly higher than that to continental Europe.
What's more the peak time for calls to Panama, Peru, and Uruguay is
2PM - 10PM (caller's local time.) Panama keeps the same time as
Chicago, Peru keeps the same time as New York, and Uruguay is two
hours later than New York, give or take different daylight savings
schedules. Does AT&T think that they all sleep late? Peak hours of
2PM-10PM in California translate to 8PM-4AM in Uruguay since it's
summer there now. The peak time to Brazil is 8-5, which makes more
sense, the same peak time as calls to Canada and the Bahamas.
Calls to Mexico are extremly expensive. Calls cost 15 cents/min plus
a termination charge that depends on where you call. Calling Mexico
City off-peak costs $1.26/minute, more than Pakistan or Ghana. Is
that normal?
But the most obscure thing in the flyer was the footnote on calls to
Canada. Calls to Canada cost 18 cents/minute off-peak, with off-peak
being before 8 AM, after 5PM and all day weekends. But the footnote
says "There are additional charges when calling Atlin, Canada." Where
is that?
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnlmingo@uunet.uu.net (Charles Hawkins Mingo) (01/07/91)
In article <15775@> johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: >But the most obscure thing in the flyer was the footnote on calls to >Canada. Calls to Canada cost 18 cents/minute off-peak, with off-peak >being before 8 AM, after 5PM and all day weekends. But the footnote >says "There are additional charges when calling Atlin, Canada." Where >is that? Rest assured that very few Canadians would know where "Atlin, Canada" is (especially since a place-name is usually given with the province, not the country). A quick check reveals that Atlin is a small mining town in the extreme NW corner of British Columbia, near the Yukon border. It's over a hundred miles NNE of Juneau, Alaska, so you can imagine what the climate is like. I'm not sure why Atlin is singled out thus; however, I do know that facilities to remote company towns (which Atlin appears to be) are often provided by the company running the operation, and not the usual LD provider (which is Telecom Canada). Thus, even if AT&T has a deal with Telecom Canada, it may have to pay extra to whomever owns the lines to Atlin. (I've also heard that that section of BC (behind the Alaskan panhandle) sometimes gets phone service from Alaska, as opposed to southern BC.) I'll bet that very few US residents have ever called Atlin, and that there's some obscure legal reason why AT&T felt compelled to use the footnote (after all, why not just tell us what the rate to Atlin is, instead of suggesting it might be different?) Charlie Mingo Internet: mingo@well.sf.ca.us 2209 Washington Circle #2 mingo@cup.portal.com Washington, DC 20037 CI$: 71340,2152 AT&T: 202/785-2089
ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) (01/11/91)
In article <15775@> johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: >But the most obscure thing in the flyer was the footnote on calls to >Canada. Calls to Canada cost 18 cents/minute off-peak, with off-peak >being before 8 AM, after 5PM and all day weekends. But the footnote >says "There are additional charges when calling Atlin, Canada." Where >is that? The additional charges are known in some circles as "other-line" charges. At a guess, Atlin is served by Northwestel Inc., which serves the Yukon, the western half of the Northwest Territories, and parts of northern British Columbia. Northwestel was formerly part of Canadian National Telecommunications, but was sold a few years back to BCE Inc. (formerly Bell Canada Enterprises), the parent company of Bell Canada. "Other-line" charges may also apply for calls to points served by Quebec- Telephone (51% owned by GTE Corp.) and Telebec Ltee (another BCE subsidiary). Northwestel, Quebec-Telephone and Telebec all serve some fairly remote points, and don't have the same economies of scale as more urban carriers. Presumably this at least partly justifies their higher rates and "other-line" charges. Nigel Allen ndallen@contact.uucp 52 Manchester Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6G 1V3