"DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" <DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu> (02/13/90)
Hi! In case this wasn't mentioned in the Digest already (it's hard to keep up!), AT&T now considers ALL out-of-state Calling Card calls, made after 10PM or on weekends,to be part of their "Reach Out America" program. This means that after 10PM or on weekends, if you make an AT&T Calling Card call (using AT&T of course) to an out-of-state location, you don't have to pay the $.80 calling card surcharge, and the calls are billed to your Reach Out plan. If you are on your first hour of calling, this comes to about $.14 per minute, and on your second (or more) hours, $.11.5 per minute. Compare this to the 80 cents plus 17 cents it would cost for a 1 minute Coast-to-Coast call, and it seems like a pretty good deal. (Although as the call gets longer the difference becomes less, of course...) Previously, you could only take advantage of this is you called the phone number which your plan was under. So I would only save if I were out of my home state and called back during the plan's hours. AT&T told me they started "testing" the new program in California over the summer, and that this year they adopted it nationwide (perhaps to compete, indirectly, with MCI's "Around Town" feature?) I doubt this will work on calls to/from Canada, or even between Provinces while I'm up there...Oh well, wishful thinking! :-) Interestingly, I can use this new feature on my Cell Phone during Off-Peak (and AT&T plan) hours to save money. My cellular company charges 14 cents per minute night rate, while AT&T would cost only 11.5 cents! Of course I have to pay if I don't connect since the cell company starts billing when I connect to AT&T's Calling Card system (or even before that!), but if I'm pretty sure to get through it's worth it... Please note that the $.14 off-peak vs. 11.5 cent off-peak rate mentioned for cell phone calls is ONLY for land-charges, of course. IE, I still get billed $.20 per minute airtime no matter what, it's just that with AT&T's plan I can get a lower land-line rate and thus save money over the somewhat higher land-rate which my Cell Co. charges. (Yeah, I know you can't charge airtime to an AT&T card, but just in case someone read my post got suddenly excited and wanted to move to Connecticut for our "low" rates, well, sorry...! :-) ) Doug dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu (and just plain old "dreuben" to locals!! :-) )