watcher@apple.com (the Watcher) (07/14/89)
In response to "what the billing is like around here", it seems to have been
arranged for the phone company (pacific*bell and/or GTE, depending) to make
lots of money. Unmeasured service is available, except that calls outside of
an 8-mile radius of where you are calling from are "zone" charges. If you
happen to live in the GTE service area, just about everywhere else in the
valley ("silicon" valley, also known as 408) costs money (ridiculous amounts,
at that) to call. I happen to be one of these unfortunates; by being less than
a quarter mile from where the pac*bell service area ends, my phone bill is
about three times what it would be otherwise (or six times what would be
reasonable). There is also no "metropolitan" option, so it all boils down to
getting the most strategic 8-mile radius you can.
watcher@uuwest.UUCP
[Moderator's Note: And per your notes to me: 'watcher@uuwest.uucp' is a
bad address. Mail is returned. Phrasing it as 'watcher@uuwest.apple.com'
causes it to bounce. Likewise, 'uuwest!watcher@apple.com' fails. Please
provide an alternative address to reach you. PT]john@apple.com (John Higdon) (07/18/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0240m03@vector.dallas.tx.us>, uuwest!watcher@apple.com (the Watcher) writes: > In response to "what the billing is like around here", it seems to have been > arranged for the phone company (pacific*bell and/or GTE, depending) to make > lots of money. Unmeasured service is available, except that calls outside of > an 8-mile radius of where you are calling from are "zone" charges. If you Current reregulation attempts by Pac*Bell would extend the 8 mile radius to 12 miles. This would (hopefully) correct some of the gross inequities that exist in the south Bay Area. For example, Campbell is a community surrounded on all sides by San Jose, yet is has its own exchange. San Jose itself is divided into three zones. All "San Jose" prefixes are local to each other, but each zone has a different local calling area, and this is where the inequities lie. Campbell<>Zone 1 is toll, and yet there are many San Jose addresses in the "Campbell" exchange. Zone 1 is the east side, but from there it's a local call to Zone 2 telephones that are located far west of the Campbell exchange all the way to the Cupertino hills! Depending on where you draw your route, a five mile call can be toll and a thirty mile call can be local. Most of this is due to the fact that the zones have very irregular shapes that resemble political gerrymandering (coincidental?) and have little to do with geographical realities. -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !