david@uunet.uu.net (David E. A. Wilson) (12/24/89)
Just got my telephone bill and it contains a little leaflet. I thought I would share some of its contents with you and ask a few questions. "By the mid-1990s we intend that every domestic customer in Australia will have a push button phone." Has a claim like this been made anywhere else in the world (or has this been achieved)? "What Telecom handles in one year - 10,000 million phone calls - including 85 million overseas calls - 7.4 million phones in operation - 124 million 'dial-it' service calls - 683,000 new telephone services - 1871 new connections daily Handled by 84,000 staff What Telecom spends in one year - A$2,810 million to employees on wages, superannuation & compensation - A$1,240 million to lenders, as interest on loans - A$2,240 million reinvested in the business..." How does this compare with other phone companies around the world? Re all the fuss about area code splitting in the USA: With the Australian/ British (where did it start?) format of area codes starting with 0 we will never have your problem of not being able to use some area codes because they look like exchange prefixes. How long is it expected to be before 10 digit phone numbers have to be dialed as 1+10 digit numbers? Re 800 numbers and dialing the real number: In Australia we have the same choice when we get a 008 number - either it is a new phone + line or it is overlaid on an existing service and both the old & 008 numbers can be used. Re cellular phones eating up numbers in LA: In Australia our cellular phones have their own prefix (018) and thus do not contribute to code splitting. Is this not possible in the USA because of the splitting up of the Bell network? Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from Wollongong, Australia. David Wilson