ted@mitre-bedford.ARPA (10/01/88)
Why does New England Telephone bother advertising on TV and radio? They have a whole bunch of very professional comercials which give you nice warm-n-fuzzy feelings, but the bottom line is that they have no competition (for local service) and the commercials are a waste of money. Their jingle "We're the one for you New England, New England Telephone", really ought to be "We the *only* one for you New England..." I guess that wouldn't rhyme. I can't complain too much about N.E.T., their service is reasonably priced, and who else gives you Net 45 to pay your bill. I just seems to me that the money could be better spent elsewhere. Maybe I'm missing something obvious. Ted Ede -- ted@mitre-bedford.arpa -- The MITRE Corporation -- Burlington Road | linus!mbunix!ted -- Bedford MA, 01730 -- Mail Stop B015 -- (617) 271-2524 | | - this line intentionally left blank - | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) (10/05/88)
In Telecom 8/149, Ted Ede asks why New England Telephone bothers to advertise when it has no (or little) competition. David Ofsevit mentions that the advertisements help NET increase their volume by making people more aware of services (and prices). But most importantly, the things N.E.T. advertises most, long distance calling withing the N.E.T. Calling Area (L.A.T.A.) and CENTREX service, are two areas where N.E.T. does have fairly stiff competition. Massachusetts permits other common carriers to provide long distance service within New England Telephone's calling areas -- I could call from Acton to Boston on Sprint, MCI, or First Phone (but not AT&T because AT&T hasn't filed an intra-LATA tariff). CENTREX competes directly with PBXs provided by other companies. N.E.T. is also facing competition in the local exchange plant -- other carriers can now provide tie trunks between buildings in Boston. /john