[comp.dcom.telecom] What I Did About AT&T ACUS

bnick@andrews.edu (Bill Nickless) (11/16/89)

My apologies for not attributing an earlier poster, but the gist of
their message was that their college campus has gone onto AT&T ACUS
campus calling service.

Originally we could dial 8 to get an ACUS line or a 5 to get a
payphone- style line--one that allowed collect and standard Michigan
Bell calling card calls.  However, that changed such that 5 no longer
worked in the residence halls.  (They say the traffic was to high on
the "5" trunks.  I wonder why.....)

In our phone system, 8 also works to get local area calls, as well as
1-800 numbers.  So, I called US Sprint, applied for, and shortly
received one of their FonCards.  Since they use a 1-800 number I was
able to call home and avoid the ACUS business altogether.

Another anecdote about ACUS calls:

Andrews is a very international school.  We have an extremely high
ratio of foreign students to domestic students.  An acquaintance of
mine went on to the ACUS calling plan, but his foreign roomate did
not.

This foreign roomate received a collect call from overseas.  Guess who
got the bill.  That's right, our friend who went on ACUS.

My advice is to avoid anything like this if you have to pay the bills
and have any choice.  Get a Sprint/MCI card and use it.  If your
department provides you a card for business calls use it, but don't
get one personally if it can be avoided.


Bill Nickless               | bnick@andrews.edu or 71640.2533@compuserve.com
Andrews University          | sharkey!aucis!bnick or uunet!zds-ux!aucis!bnick
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