BRUCE@ccavax.camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) (10/03/90)
The new tariffs are about to go into effect in Mass. There is at least one thing you may want to check IMMEDIATELY before Oct 19., and others possibly a bit more leisurely. Not in the central Boston area, but 'out a bit' you can actually still get unlimited usage business trunks. If you have these, you are NOT allowed to also have measured ones. If you really use these hard, they can be an incredible deal. They DO cost more per month. NET&T and assorted 'agents' have been trying to 'helpfully' suggest that customers switch to the lower cost measured service and see if the actual usage charges still don't bring the bill up to the former level. For some this might be a smart idea. For others this is really DUMB. What you all better know NOW is that if you have UNLIMITED trunks on OCT 19, they are grandfathered and you can keep them! If you don't have them then, you will NEVER EVER get them again. They have been working hard to switch everyone over before "D" day. And for something else you should look at, you will now find that it is often SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to route your calls (10xxx style) to an IXC for delivery a few towns away! They have leveled the toll calls so almost anywhere in eastern MA will be the same charge (and will be a savings on the long connections), but you will be really reamed on your local calls. 11 cents (Boston area business - 1 MU call) for the first 5 minutes is no longer. 10xxx routing can save bundles, but not all carriers have filed with the state to be allowed to do intra lata traffic. If you have T1 directly into them, you will find more allow intra lata, and on T1 intra-lata pricing is apt to be 1/2 of NET&T's. The DPU claims to have disallowed feature group access for the general public, but will consider it again in Jan. I assume some end users that are using it ostensibly are terminating traffic off private interlata nets. That would be swell, imagine terminating-only style feature group D trunks just to be able to afford intra-lata calls! (that is what IXC is using to be able to give you that pricing). At least you would get another BIG win. NYNEX would have to give you the answer supervision they perversely refuse to otherwise! Small companies that previously could not justify a PBX or T1 to IXCs may well now need both just to keep local calls affordable. Before the dust settles on this mess, a few THOUSAND concerned consumers should suggested to the DPU (at one of their hearings, even) that NET&T MUST provide default 10xxx routing of your choice FREE on ALL intra lata calls other than possibly the very local ones that previously were the one MU calls. It may be trivial to have a PBX route that way, but try to get my kids or an office full of average folk using a 1a2 key system to use 10xxx for 3 towns away calls. It just won't happen. It should be quite clear the regulation isn't working too well and our local telco NEEDS it in a bad way.