Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu (08/17/89)
Speaking of US West (somebody was...), I was just in their area this past week. I noticed that payphones cost $.35 for a local call. Is that something just peculiar to Iowa or is it a sweeping trend I'll have to deal with all the time soon? People always have a quarter on them. But who has a quarter and a dime? Yeech. [Moderator's Note: Are you sure these were US West payphones, or perhaps privately owned COCOTS under the auspices of a greedy shop-keeper? PT]
jones@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Marvin Jones) (08/18/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0304m10@vector.dallas.tx.us>, Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich. edu writes: > Speaking of US West (somebody was...), I was just in their area this past > week. I noticed that payphones cost $.35 for a local call. Is that something > just peculiar to Iowa or is it a sweeping trend I'll have to deal with all > the time soon? What's wrong with this picture? Iowa is served by SouthWestern Bell. I grew up there; my uncle worked for SW Bell. I'm quite sure this hasn't changed in the past 10 yrs. :-) Must have been a private pay phone ... which may account for the price, also. -- Marvin Jones {pyramid, pixar, tekbspa}!optilink!jones Optilink Corp. ATT-net: 707-795-9444 X 206 1310 C Redwood Way CI$: 71320,3637 Petaluma, CA 94952
eric@cs.utexas.edu (Eric Schnoebelen) (08/19/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0308m07@vector.dallas.tx.us> optilink!jones@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Marvin Jones) writes: - -In article <telecom-v09i0304m10@vector.dallas.tx.us>, Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich. -edu writes: -> Speaking of US West (somebody was...), I was just in their area this past -> week. I noticed that payphones cost $.35 for a local call. Is that something -> just peculiar to Iowa or is it a sweeping trend I'll have to deal with all -> the time soon? - -What's wrong with this picture? - -Iowa is served by SouthWestern Bell. I grew up there; my uncle worked for SW -Bell. I'm quite sure this hasn't changed in the past 10 yrs. :-) - -Must have been a private pay phone ... which may account for the price, also. What is still wrong with this picture?? That Iowa is claimed to be served by Southwestern Bell. All of the Iowa I grew up in was served by Northwestern Bell, or independents ( like the Sharon Center Telephone Cooperative.. ) When I was in Iowa just weeks ago most of the phones in Ames were still marked Northwestern Bell, although I noticed the phone books were put out by US West. The only potential Southwestern Bell service area in Iowa might be along the southern border ( with Missouri, which is SWBT territory ) although I remember that area being served predominately by independents (GTE/Contel/ various little cooperatives ) Oh, and the payphones were still a quarter.. ( at least the GTE payphone I attempted to use.. ) -- Eric Schnoebelen egs@u-word.dallas.tx.us egsner!eric@texbell.swbt.com coming soon: eric@egsner.cirr.com
fritz@uunet.uu.net (Tim Russell) (08/21/89)
optilink!jones@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Marvin Jones) writes: |In article <telecom-v09i0304m10@vector.dallas.tx.us>, Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich. |edu writes: |> Speaking of US West (somebody was...), I was just in their area this past |> week. I noticed that payphones cost $.35 for a local call. Is that something |> just peculiar to Iowa or is it a sweeping trend I'll have to deal with all |> the time soon? |What's wrong with this picture? |Iowa is served by SouthWestern Bell. I grew up there; my uncle worked for SW |Bell. I'm quite sure this hasn't changed in the past 10 yrs. :-) |Must have been a private pay phone ... which may account for the price, also. Well, sorry to say this, but I was just in Spirit Lake Iowa yesterday, and called back to work on a pay phone that wanted 35 cents and also had a VERY large logo marked "US West Telecommunications" on it. I used my calling card and got "Thank you for using MCI" after I entered my number, which surprised me - I had thought you ALWAYS got AT&T when using one of their calling cards, but this is evidently not the case. Regardless, the original claim is validated, and things have changed in the past 10 years (can you say "divestiture"? :-) As far as the 35 cents goes, pay phones in Omaha still only want a quarter, thankfully. It's probable that this trend is still confined to small towns. Tim Russell, Computer Operator | Internet: russell@zeus.unl.edu Campus Computing | Bitnet: russell@unoma1 University of Nebraska at Omaha | UUCP: uunet!zeus.unl.edu!russell
mlm@homxc.att.com (Mark L Milliman) (08/28/89)
I am not sure what you mean by this article. SouthWestern Bell does not provide local telephone service in Iowa; US West Communications does (formerly Northwestern Bell). The US West pay phones were still 25 cents the last time I was in Iowa. There are several vendors of private pay phones that can charge anything they want (I suppose this is regulated). The property owner gets a commission from use of the pay phone. I suppose that this person stumbled across one of these phones. I have seen phones that charge 35 cents for a three minute call. This situation is no different in any other state. Was this person joking? How could you live in a state for ten years and not know who your local phone company was? It is even harder to believe that he thought his uncle worked for them. Am I confused, Mark Milliman E-mail: mlm@homxc.att.com AT&T Bell Laboratories Holmdel, NJ