eli@ursa-major.spdcc.com (11/17/89)
Do all carriers charge in .1 second increments for 800 numbers? I just got my first 800 bill from US Sprint -- half of the calls were for 1 cent or 4 cents! It's cheaper to call cross-country with their 800 service than it is to dial in-state with NYNEX, at least for short calls, which I often do to check voice mail.
john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (11/20/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0520m11@vector.dallas.tx.us>, eli@ursa-major.spdcc. com writes: > Do all carriers charge in .1 second increments for 800 numbers? I > just got my first 800 bill from US Sprint -- half of the calls were > for 1 cent or 4 cents! It's cheaper to call cross-country with their > 800 service than it is to dial in-state with NYNEX, at least for > short calls, which I often do to check voice mail. The smallest increment in billing that I have ever heard of is .1 minutes, or six seconds. My full state 800 number with AT&T bills in this manner. As far as the amazement goes about calls across the nation costing less than calls across the state, Californians have been up in arms about this fact of life for decades. As far as I can determine, the most expensive call in the US is one from San Diego to Crescent City. It matters not which carrier you select, they all charge some ultra-rip-off rate. This is our great Public Utilities Commission at work. The only benefit an intra-state call enjoys is that the "night" rate applies all day on Sunday, even after 5 PM. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: See the final message in the Digest today regarding '700 Intra-Area Code' service from Telecom*USA. This may be a way for some people to save on some intrastate calls. PT]
rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu (Linc Madison) (11/21/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0523m03@vector.dallas.tx.us> John Higdon writes: >As far as the amazement goes about calls across the nation costing >less than calls across the state, Californians have been up in arms >about this fact of life for decades. As far as I can determine, the >most expensive call in the US is one from San Diego to Crescent City. >It matters not which carrier you select, they all charge some >ultra-rip-off rate. This is our great Public Utilities Commission at >work. Ah, John, have you tried calling Crescent City yourself?? I believe you will find that it is even MORE expensive from your location than from San Diego, since Pac*Bell's intra-LATA rates are even higher than the LDCs' inter-LATA rates for the same distance. Perhaps even worse than Santa Cruz-to-Crescent City would be Los Angeles to the northeastern tip of Area Code 619 (south of Lake Tahoe), within the L.A. LATA. Yes, here in California we have a very logical system: toll call charges vary inversely with distance.... Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu
john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (11/22/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0525m04@vector.dallas.tx.us>, rmadison@euler. berkeley.edu (Linc Madison) writes: > Ah, John, have you tried calling Crescent City yourself?? I believe > you will find that it is even MORE expensive from your location than > from San Diego, since Pac*Bell's intra-LATA rates are even higher than > the LDCs' inter-LATA rates for the same distance. Perhaps even worse > than Santa Cruz-to-Crescent City would be Los Angeles to the > northeastern tip of Area Code 619 (south of Lake Tahoe), within the > L.A. LATA. Good point. This silliness is even more apparent in my full-state 800 bill. Off-peak (the only kind of calling I do) is divided into intra-lata (Pac*Bell) and inter-lata (AT&T). Intra-lata is $8.60/hr and Inter-lata is $6.00/hr. Which brings up an interesting on-going problem. The sole reason for having my 800 number is for cheap communications with southern California. I receive NO calls from anyone north of Bakersfield. About two years ago, my bill started showing up with about 60% of the traffic on the intra-lata column. For two years they have been unable to find out why that happens, but each month I get a call from the business office and they tell me what the credit will be for the month. Initially they were very surprised that I could catagorically state that there was NO intra-lata traffic. Most businesses would never notice anything like that, but as an individual, I have total knowledge of who calls on that line. The total hours are correct (which would cause any SMDR I, or a business, might be using to jibe with the bill), but the disbursement is wrong. If one didn't know better, one might think that this is intentional. Not only do they get more money from intra-lata, they don't have to share it with AT&T. Now how many businesses are out there that have no idea that this could be going on? This is no itemization. > Yes, here in California we have a very logical system: toll call > charges vary inversely with distance.... Amen, brother! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !