BRUCE@ccavax.camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) (11/10/90)
In article <14303@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gutierrez@noc.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Michael Gutierrez) writes: > [BTW ... is this a chain hotel??? That would explain how they can > get/afford AT&T SDN.] Yes it was. BUT need not have been. You don't in ANY WAY need to be big or chain related these days to be using SDN. You just have to be using an AGGRAGATOR/RESELLER that has an SDN. You have probably been getting calls from them and not known what they were. Just simply ask if they are using SDN. There are many different ways these folks get money out of you. The smarter ones are NOT grouping you under a multi-location watts plan and then getting you to pay them a slice of your savings. Much better for them to get an AT&T SDN, and select the arrangement where the bill for your usage goes to YOU directly, but at a discount THEY control. The remainder of the discount, and any bonus 'deals' gets credited to their AT&T account and their own calls get to use that money. Of course AT&T occasionally sends them a 'refund' check for overpaying. All totally legal. SDN allows that. For instance, a hotel chain of independantly owned properties could get whopping discounts and the central group could cover their 800 and other network expenses servicing the chains reservations, etc. The separation allowed for here also lets anyone open an office and start peddling membership in his group. It is an easy sell - you pay him nothing, he gets you 21 or 25% off your AT&T bill from dollar one. His money slithers back a while later from AT&T. There is some sort of limit of 400 locations per month that can be added to any SDN. Some AGGRAGATOR/RESELLER (is there a better name for these useful sleezes) have more than one SDN. These are not configured for neat translation or international corporate network schemes, but are simply giving plain phone service at discount. SDN provides for such things as city-pairs being defined. A monthly charge of $200 gets better rates from any 'on-net' calls between these. I assume the big AGGRAGATOR/RESELLER watches for traffic patterns that allow him to subscribe to 'features' that maximise how much he gets beyond what he lets you get. Note well that YOU PAY HIM nothing! He, to get the biggest deals has to sign up for four years, and wants to stick you the same way. You can probably get a contract that lets you bail out any time. Just dig your heels in. They typically get you 21% starting at dollar one, not at dollar 2000 or what ever. If they know there are others after you, you should have NO PROBLEM getting 25%! There is plenty left beyond that for them to get fat on. Your even knowing what SDN is proves to him he better offer you the his better deal. BTW AT&T has useful promos. It used to cost BIG $$ to start an SDN, but now not so. You may want to look at starting your own if you are anything other than tiny. Right now, til sometime in December, AT&T is waiving their T1 installation charges for folks connecting that way. Some promos get 'extended' but they have to be careful that they don't get accused of lowering the tariff permanently without re-filing. They ARE working hard to get SDN to grow very fast. The A/R may not bother to mention these promo deals, but cost him nothing for you to use them if they are currently available. AT&T credit cards get discounts this way, too. There are MANY facets to SDN, and there are remote access schemes for staff from home, and depending on whether you let AT&T control passwords etc., you or they get fraud responsibility. They can get SO TIGHT that if you give your wife your access number to reach you on the road, and you use it elsewhere within certain time intervals, it gets invalidated. And small business *owners* joining an A/R's SDN might consider having their home phones included in the SDN. The assumption is that all LD calls from home would be for business use. For best discounts in a large chain operation where there are no problems splitting the bill up, you get billed at one location. The A/R would opt to have AT&T be responsible for getting bills to you. This may be changing come January, but some A/Rs have made seperate deals with the AT&T owned company that will be handling billing then. AT&T wants to save what they pay the LECs now for billing servises, I guess. The GREATEST SCHEME for J.Q.Public would be for some entity like the Audubon Society to set up an SDN that ALL members could join simply by paying the annual membership! Their membership would GROW FAST! The big rub here is that you NEED a base of heavy usage to get your monthly minutes way up so all get the best discount, but there is the darn 400 added sites per month limit that currently could kill this idea. I would MUCH RATHER have the extra discount I can't get go to some worthy cause than into the greedy A/R's pocket. There is very little effort they have to expend to do it! Failing that, I have heard that there is at least one SDN set up for 'members' that gives ALL discounts to the users - is a 0 profit one. I assume it is some professional society or trade group, but the AT&T staffer mentioning it was not allowed to say who/what it is! Does ANYONE know? AT&T has to be in a love/hate relationship with the A/Rs. AT&T is getting back a LOT of business under conditions that AT&T could not possibly themselves offer to those same small users. THEY are the dominant carrier, and MCI and Sprint etc would do everything possible to stop them. The A/R does what he wants. Who has an uncle that is on the <pick-your-favorite: Sierra, Greenpeace, NRA, Oxfam, Audubon, AMC) board and another relative that is a 'retired' AT&T brass? Have a little family reunion, and lets get low prices for all, and some extra 'cream' going to some favorite cause.