DREUBEN@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU (Douglas Scott Reuben) (05/20/88)
In response to Dan Watson's question(s) in Digest #73 about
Mass. 550 numbers, yes, in New York we have the same system.
NY Tel recently renumbered a lot of these services. Previously, there
were some interactive 976 numbers, as well as the standard recordings, and
"premium" 976 numbers that charged rather high rates (like San Francisco
has).
New York Tel is now changing the services over to the "new" numbering
scheme:
976 - General recordings, such as Weather (1212), Time (1616),
sports, etc. (I think that only Chicago has a similar system)
970 - Premium services, including pornographic ones, although not
all HAVE to be at a higher cost. Generally, the 970 will
contain the more objectionable services.
540 - Interactive services, which callers can activate using a
Touch Tone phone. (Trivia questions, Horoscope, wake-up
calls 540-WAKE, etc...)
550 - Chat lines, billed at $.20 for the first minute, and $.10
each additional, and are somewhat regional. (IE, Long Island
has one, NYC another, etc. I wonder what it would be like for
someone with Three-way Calling to conference the two of them!!)
900 Svc- These are the hardest to understand. I though 900 numbers
were national numbers, which any caller in the U.S. or
Canada could access for a specific fee, usually $.50 for
first minute, and $.35 cents for each additional. (Certain
services were blocked from Canada, and other Premium services
tended to cost more, but overall 900's fit the above pattern).
Now, in New York and New Jersey, there are two 900
"exchanges", 909 and 999 which offer REGIONALIZED conference
(chat) services, at about $.85 per minute. Callers from
201, 212, 914, 516, and 718 area codes can call, and be
conferenced with other callers from the same area. (One
of the 900 services says 215-Philadelphia can also access
its chat line, but I suspect callers from 215 only get to
talk to other callers from 215, and no one from the NYC
area.)
Some of these servies even charge you a "toll" if you are
near them. IE, if you are calling from certain sections
of Westchester, besides the normal rates, you pay a toll
charge! That never happened with other 900 numbers!
These seem to be "acting" a lot less like the "old" 900
numbers and more like a 700 number, or some sort of
phone number which transfers your call to a specific service
and allows for special billing. Are 900 numbers regulated
to the same extent (if at all) by local public service
commissions? Or are they a way to get around regulation
which may exist by using the 976/970/550/540 system?
Finally, perhaps the reason that the numbering system in
New York and Mass are the same is that both NY Tel and
and New England Tel are part of NYNEX. Here in Connecticut,
we don't have any of these, and the only 976 number is for
race track results (976-xxxx will get the recording...IE,
there seems to be only one 976 number...The weather is still
WEather6/936...) Good thing NYNEX wasn't able to buy SNET
some while back...Otherwise, we would have these silly TV
ads on at 2AM for the 900 services...You really have to
see them to believe them! They are INCREDIBLY idiotic!
Any corrections/additions/deltetions/etc. are greatly
appreciated, as always....
-Doug
DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet
DReuben@Eagle.Weslynjimmy@PIC.UCLA.EDU (05/21/88)
In article <8805192151.AA29742@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU.MIT.EDU> DREUBEN@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU (Douglas Scott Reuben) writes: > > 900 Svc- These are the hardest to understand. I though[t] 900 numbers > were national numbers, which any caller in the U.S. or > Canada could access for a specific fee, usually $.50 for > first minute, and $.35 cents for each additional. (Certain > services were blocked from Canada, and other Premium services > tended to cost more, but overall 900's fit the above pattern). > > Now, in New York and New Jersey, there are two 900 > "exchanges", 909 and 999 which offer REGIONALIZED conference > (chat) services, at about $.85 per minute. Callers from I run three of the (900) numbers in New York (and Chicago), so let me explain. The (900) prefixes, like those of the (800) area code have been allocated to telcos and long-distance companies. This is a temporary fix in the (800) arena until the BOCs have SS7 going full blast. I don't know what the eventual plan is for (900). The traditional (900) numbers that you speak of are those provided through AT&T. Currently, AT&T only offers vote-counting and mass announcement service on (900). There is an option whereby a small percentage of calls placed to one of these numbers can be routed to a live person (this is what they do on David Letterman), but there is no way to route all calls to a normal, analog telephone line. The 321 and 999 prefixes are assigned to Telesphere International, a long-distance company that primarily serves the lodging and shared-tenant markets. (909 is an AT&T prefix.) Right now, the only area served from their New York switch is the NYC LATA. Philadelphia can not currently access it. Within a few months though we will be adding equipment in Philly which will also serve South Jersey, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and D.C. eventually. About the middle of next month, Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Boston will be backhauled into the New York switch. Telesphere's plan is to reach 60%-65% of the U.S. television households by the end of the year. The other big players have really blown it on this one. Since AT&T can serve the entire country right now, they are in the perfect position to capture this market. Likewise, MCI and Splint currently cover most of the country. But all three keep delaying their (900) offerings, and when queried at the ICA show this week report nothing will be done this year. Re. pricing: We are able to set any price (within reason) for the first minute and for additional minutes. We are paid by Telesphere about 4 months after the calls take place, placing a severe cash flow problem on many vendors right now. > Some of these servies even charge you a "toll" if you are > near them. IE, if you are calling from certain sections No. There are no toll charges to call (900) numbers. If you have seen this mentioned in ads, it is only vendor stupidity. > ...Otherwise, we would have these silly TV > ads on at 2AM for the 900 services...You really have to > see them to believe them! They are INCREDIBLY idiotic! Ours included, I'm sure. <jimmy@PIC.UCLA.EDU> or <jimmy@denwa.UUCP>