wtho@uunet.uu.net (Tom Hofmann) (08/16/89)
In consideration of several of long-distance carriers (LDC) in the U.S.A., I have two questions concerning international calls. 1. International calls TO the U.S.A. Who handles these calls? Always AT&T? If not: Can it be influenced by the calling/called party? 2. International calls FROM the U.S.A. Have each LDC their own international access, or are all international calls forwarded to one single LDC (AT&T)? In the first case: Are the direct dialable countries the same for each LDC? Another question arises, not restricted to the U.S.A.: What is the reason that some countries cannot be dialed directly from one country while they can be dialed directly from other countries? The USSR e.g. cannot be dialed directly from the U.S.A. but from Western Europe. I think it cannot be a technical problem. Must there be an agreement between the two governments? Tom Hofmann wtho@cgch.UUCP
covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 21-Aug-1989 1807) (08/22/89)
>From: mcvax!cgch!wtho@uunet.uu.net (Tom Hofmann) >Date: 16 Aug 89 09:02:36 GMT >Organization: WRZ, CIBA-GEIGY Ltd, Basel, Switzerland > >In consideration of several of long-distance carriers (LDC) in the >U.S.A., I have two questions concerning international calls. > >1. International calls TO the U.S.A. > Who handles these calls? Always AT&T? If not: Can it be influenced > by the calling/called party? This is up to the other country to decide. A similar situation has always existed with Telex, since there have always been multiple carriers for record traffic to and from the U.S.A. Some countries would pick a carrier (such as I.T.T.) for all traffic, other countries would send traffic based on available trunks or would return the same percentage volume of traffic to each carrier that originated from each carrier. >2. International calls FROM the U.S.A. > Have each LDC their own international access, or are all international > calls forwarded to one single LDC (AT&T)? In the first case: Are the > direct dialable countries the same for each LDC? It works just like for domestic calls. Your calls are carried by your default long distance carrier unless you prefix the call with a 10XXX code for another carrier. Resale of international calls was authorized about a year or so ago, at which point some carriers started sending calls to countries which they could not handle via AT&T. Before that, if your carrier didn't serve the country you were calling, you had to dial 10288 (or another carrier) and then the number. >Another question arises, not restricted to the U.S.A.: What is the >reason that some countries cannot be dialed directly from one country >while they can be dialed directly from other countries? The USSR e.g. >cannot be dialed directly from the U.S.A. but from Western Europe. >I think it cannot be a technical problem. Must there be an agreement >between the two governments? Yes, there does have to be an agreement. In the case of the USSR, the U.S.A. had direct dial service to the USSR until it was cut off by the Soviets (for all of the West) right after the Moscow olympics were over. Service has only recently been restored for Western Europe, and is due to be restored for the U.S. some time this fall. In addition to the requirement for an agreement to exist, AT&T tends to prefer to keep calls handled on a manual basis for countries where there are an inadequate number of circuits (this is the problem with the USSR at the moment) or where calls do not complete reliably or incorrectly return answer supervision on wrong numbers. /john [Moderator's Note: In answering this correspondent, you correctly note ("Who handles the calls?") that it is up to the foreign PTT to decide what they want to do. Yet you somehow think they do not have the same right to decide what charge shall be levied for the call, and that AT&T makes that decision for them? What about the use of MCI and Sprint cards in other lands for calls to the USA? Do you think Sprint and MCI dictate to the PTT also? PT]