TELECOM Moderator <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu> (02/12/90)
In an article in the Digest a few issues ago, a reader commented on a visit to Walt Disney World, and having long distance calls from his hotel room routed through a service called 'Vista-United'. I did some checking to see exactly who/what this company is. It turns out that Walt Disney World does own its own telephone company. They actually became one of thirteen regulated telcos in Florida by buying 51 percent of a small local carrier. United Telephone owns the other 49 percent. The main facility of Vista-United Telecommunications is quite impressive. General Manager Joe Hegerty tells about growing from a 300 line system to one with over 25,000 lines since the company was founded 20 years ago. Much, perhaps most of the growth was due of course to the renowned vacation resort which started there several years ago we know as Walt Disney World. Among the array of communications equipment serving the 40-square-mile complex are Northern Telecom's DMS, SL-1, and ISDN switches, as well as 800 miles of fiber-optic cable. Vista-United was one of the first telcos to start using fiber about eight years ago. Hegerty's domain also includes several hundred pay telephones, long-distance operators, and Centrex service to some of the hotels and businesses operating at Walt Disney World. He sold a 3000-line Northern Telecom ISDN PBX to the new Walt Disney Swan Hotel, which is operated by Westin Hotels & Resorts. The Walt Disney management has always advertised quality control, and it would appear owning their own telco is one way of assuring themselves of quality communications on the grounds of the resort. Probably other TELECOM Digest readers like myself will be interested in hearing again from our correspondent when he has received his phone bill. We'll see if call pricing in a way to please consumers is also part of Walt Disney's scheme of things. I just thought other readers might be curious about Vista-United. Patrick Townson