pf@islington-terrace.csc.ti.com (Paul Fuqua) (08/12/89)
I'm moving from one apartment to another this weekend, and called
my friendly Southwestern Bell office to arrange for the phone service to
be moved. The amusing thing was that the representative offered me my
choice of three basic services: unlimited, "economy" (charge-per-call
over 25 calls), or two-party (!).
This is within the Dallas city limits (although only by 100 yards),
and I was and am surprised that two-party service is still offered, much
less in an apartment built only three years ago. Are there other major
cities still offering party-line service?
Here's another question: how come the electric company can switch
my service for only $7, while the phone company charges $60? Since all
the wiring is in place, about all that's involved is a billing change.
Paul Fuqua pf@csc.ti.com
{smu,texsun,cs.utexas.edu,rice}!ti-csl!pf
Texas Instruments Computer Science Center
PO Box 655474 MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75265morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) (08/14/89)
(Paul Fuqua) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 290, message 4 of 13 > I'm moving from one apartment to another this weekend, and called >my friendly Southwestern Bell office to arrange for the phone service to >be moved. The amusing thing was that the representative offered me my > ...edited... > Here's another question: how come the electric company can switch >my service for only $7, while the phone company charges $60? Since all >the wiring is in place, about all that's involved is a billing change. Well, you're assuming that the apartment you're moving into has phone service (99% (or more) likely, but there's always the chance...) Back when I was doing interconnect, my insurance agent moved from one office in a building to another on the same floor. She was quoted an outrageous sum to move her 6 lines. I told her to tell GTE (the Great Telephone Experiment) that the move had been canceled, and I'd move her. THe job was simple - move 6 pairs in the wiring closet. The mailman delivered the bills correctly, so there was no difference to GTE. A couple of months later she called GTE and told them that they had been sending the bills to the wrong address from the beginning, and would they please correct it? No problem, says them... End of story. Her comment was that GTE stood for Graft, Theft & Extortion. Something like $100 _per line_ for something that took me under 10 minutes for all 6!. Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov #Include quote.cute.standard | The opinions above probably do not even come cat flames.all > /dev/null | close to those of my employer(s), if any.
roy%phri@uunet.uu.net (Roy Smith) (08/15/89)
In vol 9, issue 297, msg 1/8, Mike Morris <morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov> writes: > Her comment was that GTE stood for Graft, Theft & Extortion. Something > like $100 _per line_ for something that took me under 10 minutes for all 6!. I used to think it was outrageous what TPC charged for service changes when all it involved was throwing a few switches (or, more likely, typing a few commands). Then, I had a second line put in where I used to live. Some guy shows up in a truck to make the connections (yes, we already had phone service, but didn't have a spare pair into the apartment from the box in the back yard (4 unit apartment building). So the guy has to get into the back yard. But, the only normal access to the back yard is through the garden apartment, and nobody is home there, so the guy ends up climbing down our fire escape. In the pouring rain. With all his gear. All his gear turns out to include his ladder, since it seems there aren't any good pairs from the pole to the box in the back yard. To make a long story short, he was there for several hours piecing together a pair all the way down to some panel on the next block. All for the same $60 or whatever it was. I don't know what a man and a truck cost for several hours (not including travel time) but I'm sure TPC lost money on that one. It probably averages out. -- Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 {att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu "The connector is the network"
davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) (08/19/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0301m07@vector.dallas.tx.us>, roy%phri@uunet.uu.net (Roy Smith) writes: > I used to think it was outrageous what TPC charged for service > changes when all it involved was throwing a few switches (or, more likely, Or better yet, the infamous "Record Order Change". In what other industry is the customer required to pay for the paperwork required to fulfill his or her request? Or how about the old "once-in-a-lifetime" charge for a color phone? I've read there was no cost justification for that (other than greed). I do think the phone companies did a remarkable job in developing a reliable phone system over the years, but I also believe that to some degree they accomplished this with money that came from "padded" bills paid by customers. There's a fascinating book called The Phone Book, written by a disgruntled phone executive. I don't buy everything he wrote, considering his bias, but he does discuss some of these "scams". Of course, divestiture has changed the picture so much that the book is mainly of historical interest now. -- "ANGRY WOMEN BEAT UP SHOE SALESMAN Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) WHO POSED AS GYNECOLOGIST" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef
bzs@BU-CS.BU.EDU (Barry Shein) (08/21/89)
Re: Roy Smith's service anecdote I had a similar experience, no line to the house so they needed to install one. There's a steep hill behind my house, I watched the guy climbing trees, the hill and all sorts of rather interesting gyrations like several attempts to throw a large wire spool over the garage in the back to get that line in from the street below. Again, all for $60. -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die, Purveyors to the Trade 1330 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02146, (617) 739-0202 Internet: bzs@skuld.std.com UUCP: encore!xylogics!skuld!bzs or uunet!skuld!bzs
keller@uunet.uu.net (08/21/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0290m04@vector.dallas.tx.us>, pf@islington-terrace.csc. ti.com (Paul Fuqua) writes: < The amusing thing was that the representative offered me my < choice of three basic services: unlimited, "economy" (charge-per-call < over 25 calls), or two-party (!). < This is within the Dallas city limits (although only by 100 yards), < and I was and am surprised that two-party service is still offered, much < less in an apartment built only three years ago. Are there other major < cities still offering party-line service? Two-party service is still available in Houston. I seem to remember that party lines are only available with pulse service.