toddi@yang.cpac.washington.edu> (09/22/90)
In article <12176@accuvax.nwu.edu> eli@pws.bull.com (Steve Elias) writes: >C'mon, folks. Enough whining about Sprint "putting it in writing". I don't think so. I wish I HAD it in writing before I did switch to Sprint, it might have saved a lot of time and some money. Both on their TV ads and on the phone to both myself and my wife, their sales staff promised that I would save money switching to Sprint. LIE!!! I found out about their lie when AT&T "slammed" me after my wife called for information. I was infuriated that I had been slammed and demanded GTE change me back and refund the difference I would have saved if I had been on Sprint, as was my desire. The nice service rep at GTE called back and told me I would have paid $8.50 MORE if I had Sprint for the (typical, for me) calls on my bill. She called each carrier and got their costs for those calls and compared them for me. That worked out to about 10% of that bill. Yes, all my LD calls are normally intRA-state, inter-LATA (206 to 509) but Sprint never EVER mentioned intER-state call savings, or intRA-state exceptions, or "average calling patterns" or anything like that. >10 cents per minute anywhere in US. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is a continuation of the BIG LIE. It means "anywhere except within your own state." But, who would ever dial long distance inside their own state? (sarcastic smiley here) And you want to talk about Customer Service? Took six calls, with LOTS of auto-attendant menus and "on-hold" time to get Sprint to credit me for the difference between them and AT&T and the $12 dial-1 LD changeover fee. While I'm ranting, let's talk about those 100% digital calls. Yes, CALLS is what they've told me, not NETWORK. Lie #2, especially if you're in the west half of the United States. How many miles of analog lines does your call travel through to get to their digital network? I don't know, maybe it does help if you're calling cross-country, but I just can't get past the notion of your quality is only as good as the weakest link. Is this as opposed to a satellite-based network? Maybe that is the weakest link for the other guys. Well, I haven't thrown out the 800-service literature from Sprint yet, and I did give the lady an hour of my time to discuss the company's LD plans, so I'm not totally predjudice about Sprint, they just don't help me at home and I don't like sales jer ... uh, people, lying to me. Can anyone comment on the modem-connection quality via Sprint from/to the Seattle area? Sounds controversional in central CA, anyway. I also don't like being slammed, but that did show me true costs, and they (AT&T) paid for the changeover themselves. I also give them a little leeway since my wife did said she was interested, but didn't explicitly ask for or authorize the switchover. Interesting note here, GTE swears the LD carrier cannot authorize a changeover (maybe local policy?), that the subscriber has to call it in himself, but obviously it can happen here. Todd Inch, System Manager, Global Technology, Mukilteo WA (206) 742-9111 UUCP: {smart-host}!gtisqr!toddi ARPA: gtisqr!toddi@beaver.cs.washington.edu
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (09/23/90)
On Sep 23 at 0:51, Todd Inch writes: > Yes, all my LD calls are normally intRA-state, inter-LATA (206 to 509) > but Sprint never EVER mentioned intER-state call savings, or > intRA-state exceptions, or "average calling patterns" or anything like > that. > >10 cents per minute anywhere in US. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > This is a continuation of the BIG LIE. It means "anywhere except > within your own state." But, who would ever dial long distance inside > their own state? (sarcastic smiley here) This is a point that should probably get more than a mention, particularly for those who live in the western United States. Intrastate rates, not being regulated by the FCC, are usually a ripoff. And ALL advertising by the IXCs involves interstate calling. That's just fine for folks who live in the tiny (areawise) eastern states and make lots of calls across state lines. But a lot of us out here find that virtually all of our calling is within the state. In fact, many businesses find that the majority of calling is within the LATA. A frequent converstation I find myself having is with LD salescritters who can't understand that it doesn't make any difference what carrier my client uses -- it won't affect the amount spent on telephone calls one bit. Ninety-nine percent of the toll calls are carried by Pac*Bell anyway. A number of well-meaning readers advised me a while back to check out this plan or that plan involving long distance. Unfortunately, no IXCs currently offer any calling discounts for traffic within California. Since I make about two calls outside the state per month, no IXCs interstate rates or packages interest me in any way. Periodically, I do review my calling within the state and look for the best bargain. Right now, it's AT&T, particularly their WATS service. Recently, I checked the various rates and found Sprint intrastate INWATS to be nearly twice the AT&T rate. When the Sprint rep proudly quoted me the rate, I mentioned that I would stick with AT&T. He asked why and I told him that he had just quoted an amount that was double AT&T's. He insisted that I was mistaken and then went into a spiel about how when I actually got the bill, I would find that I had been "misled" by AT&T. Then I told him that I was looking at my bill. He told me that he needed to check it out and would call me back. Still waiting. Moral of the story: Be very careful when shopping for intrastate rates. Don't just assume that everyone is cheaper than AT&T. In fact, don't assume anything! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
konstan@elmer-fudd.berkeley.edu (Joe Konstan) (09/25/90)
In TELECOM Digest #669, John Higdon writes: > A number of well-meaning readers advised me a while back to check out > this plan or that plan involving long distance. Unfortunately, no IXCs > currently offer any calling discounts for traffic within California. > Since I make about two calls outside the state per month, no IXCs > interstate rates or packages interest me in any way. That is not presently true. While AT&T does not offer a "Reach Out California" plan (and I keep getting told by their reps that the PUC will approve it any month -- this has been for over two years), MCI's PrimeTime Plus *does* include in-state long distance calls in its 10.whatever cents per minute (one hour min) rate. An additional benefit is that this rate starts at 5pm weekdays. MCI is missing a bunch of other features (no calling card integration) and has the annoying habit of not allowing calls that would have been cheaper to be deselected from the bulk plan (except by 10XXX with some other carrier) but it is a pretty good savings for me (as my Wife has family in Sacramento and San Diego). Joe Konstan
greg@cheers.bungi.com (Greg Onufer) (09/25/90)
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >A number of well-meaning readers advised me a while back to check out >this plan or that plan involving long distance. Unfortunately, no IXCs >currently offer any calling discounts for traffic within California. >Since I make about two calls outside the state per month, no IXCs >interstate rates or packages interest me in any way. >Moral of the story: Be very careful when shopping for intrastate >rates. Don't just assume that everyone is cheaper than AT&T. In fact, >don't assume anything! I just called AT&T because they sent me a little insert in my bill stating that, after routine examination of my bill, they have determined that I would save money with Reach Out America (or whatever). Seeing how 99% of my calls are intrastate (209->408/415), Reach Out America plans do not really apply. The interesting comment the sales critter made was that a new intrastate plan was going to come into existence at the end of the year and that information would be sent to me then. There may be hope in California after all. Apparently the plan already exists on the East coast (at least in some areas) --- anybody know about it? Cheers!greg
carols@world.std.com (Carol Springs) (09/26/90)
Joe Konstan writes in Vol. 10, issue 677: >In TELECOM Digest #669, John Higdon writes: >> A number of well-meaning readers advised me a while back to check >> out this plan or that plan involving long distance. >> Unfortunately, no IXCs currently offer any calling discounts for >> traffic within California. >That is not presently true.... MCI's >PrimeTime Plus *does* include in-state long distance calls in its >10.whatever cents per minute (one hour min) rate. An additional >benefit is that this rate starts at 5pm weekdays. Starting October 1, Sprint will institute a California plan called Sprint Select Intrastate Evening/Night/Weekend. The first hour of in-California calls made after 5 p.m. or on weekends is billed at $7.90, and additional hours are $6.50 (prorated per minute). There are extra five to ten per cent discounts on daytime direct dial calls and (I think) on interstate and international direct dial calls regardless of time of day. Perhaps someone with more hard facts can post about the discounts and about how Sprint's Intrastate and Interstate Sprint Select plans work together if a Californian signs up for both. Carol Springs carols@world.std.com
GUYDOSRM@snyplava.bitnet (Ray Guydosh) (09/29/90)
In Vol 10, Issue 682, Carol Springs writes: >Perhaps someone with more hard facts can post about the discounts and >about how Sprint's Intrastate and Interstate Sprint Select plans work >together ... I must have missed something somewhere. How is this new "Sprint Select" different from the old "Sprint Plus". Ray Guydosh