Ralph.Hyre@IUS3.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU (01/18/89)
[avoid these if you can, I suppose. I was travelling from Pittsburghgh
to Boston when these things happened to me.]
Bad experience #1:
C{e,o}ntel, random operating company first rest area in NY on East 84:
950-1022 MCI access works, but the tone pad is dead after connection.
I can't enter any numbers to call or access codes.
theory: polarity is reversed after the call is completed, and the lousy
phone doesn't have diodes to handle this.
The nice operator connected me to the 'MCI operator', who took the
information verbally and then connected me. I plan to fuss if I don't
get billed at the '950' rate (50c surcharge)
Bad experience #2 (worse)
[don't remember the company, can anyone tell me who serves that area?
They mostly use GTE pseudo-phones.]
Somewhere on I-81 S (rest area between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre)
try {,1,0}-950-1022, no luck. try 1-800-950-1022 and get the operator.
I think I have a wrong number and hang up. I pick up the phone again
and just dial 0, asking the operator to connect me to the MCI operator.
She says (~) "No, I can only connect you to AT&T or Bell of PA". (I recall
it being more like a refusal to speak with an ALDS carrier than anything
else.)
Not wanting to push the point at 5am, I give up and say OK, then call
collect using AT&T (the AT&T operator was friendly, at least.) No
answer, so next time I try MCI's 800-950-1022 number again, again get
an operator, and say 'I was trying to call <number>. She connects me
and all proceeds normally, except for that hated $1 surcharge.
Does anyone know of any other company that doesn't have a travel surcharge?
I signed up with SBS Skyline originally, but then IBM sold them to MCI and
they kept my $20 fee for this service and provided nothing.
- Ralphjbn@glacier.stanford.edu (John B. Nagle) (01/21/89)
It can get much worse. A few months ago, I attempted a call from a Pay-Tel Systems private coin station (at the Diana Market #2 on 9th Street in S.F.). The call was to a S.F. suburb, and would cost about $0.75 from a Pacific Bell phone. The Pay-Tel unit's voice synthesizer came out with a demand for $18.75. John Nagle
edg%bridge2.3Com.Com@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Ed Greenberg) (01/25/89)
In a previous article Ralph Hyre discusses bad experiences with pay
phones.
1. The case in which 950-xxxx connects but the pay phone doesn't give
tone. Usually the operator can reconnect you to the 950 number and
the tones work. (This assumes a cooperative operator.)
2. Can't get 950 from the sticks. That's the breaks, I think. Some
of these phone companies are still living in the dark ages. Carry an
ATT credit card for just in case.
Here are some of my pet peeves.
1. I call my voicemail via AT&T credit card, but the phone
disconnects me when I hit the pound. It tells me that I may dial
another call now. Solution: call via the operator or on MCI.
2. Hotel phones that either block 950 or charge you 50 cents for it.
Solution: Complaining bitterly usually doesn't help. In the old days
you could sic Sprint on a hotel and they'd try to sell the hotel on
unblocking the 950 access. I don't use Sprint any more, so I don't
know if this is still done.
3. Hotels that use Alternative Operator Services for credit card
calls. If it don't say "Thank you for using AT&T" or "Thank you for
calling on Pacific Bell [insert your BOC here]" hang up. Be sure to
fill out the comment card on the bureau and tell them you don't
appreciate being raped. This is especially nasty when the hotel
charges you a $.50 or more charge for making a credit card call from
the room and then places your call on an AOS that kicks back a hefty
percentage.
4. COCOTs of any kind. Local calls are charged as toll calls (deposit
.85 for a call that should cost .20.) COCOTs that route to AOS's.
COCOTs that cut off the touch tone pad so you can't unload your
voicemail. COCOTs that tell you to call *611 for a refund and then
don't answer.
Sorry I blew my stack. The state of telephony is declining, even as
the technology improves.
-edg
--
{decwrl|sun|oliveb}!CSO.3com.com!Edward_Greenberg Ed Greenberg
-or- 3Com Corporation
{sun|hplabs}!bridge2!edg Mountain View, CA
415-694-2952