SPGDCM@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU (09/28/87)
MSG:FROM: SPGDCM --UCBCMSA TO: NETWORK --NETWORK 09/27/87 20:40:22
To: NETWORK --NETWORK Network Address
From: Doug Mosher <SPGDCM at UCBCMSA>
MVS/Tandem Systems Manager (415)642-5823
Evans 257, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
Subject: Sprint FONCARD
To: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu
I don't know what or how the stripe on the back of the FONCARD does.
But the main difference between this and the previous travelcard
is that now you can always call one 800 number (a plus) but also now it
costs you something like $1.10 per call additional over what you pay
at home (formerly the travelcard had NO SURCHARGE!)
Sprint FONCARDjohnl@think.UUCP.UUCP (09/29/87)
My curiosity being piqued by the various complaints about Sprint FONcards,
I called them up to get some facts.
The FONcard number is the same as the previous Sprint Travelcard number,
usually the ten-digit phone number followed by four random digits except
for multiple cards for one billing number or possible toll fraud in which
case the whole number is made up. (There's no reason the Sprint number
couldn't be the same as the AT&T and local telco calling card number, but
that seems to be a lost battle.)
They charge 55 cents plus the dial rate for a dialed call via the 800 number,
or $1.05 if you're calling from a rotary phone. (The tone will time out and
you'll get an operator who can complete the call.) I find the 800 number to be
kind of a pain to dial, but it works a lot more places than the 950 number
ever did. The "fiber optic" business means that the 950 number connected to
their old noisy microwave circuits, but the 800 number connects to the new
quiet fiber network. On transcontinental calls the difference is very
noticable, quite worth the 5 cents extra. Unlike MCI, you pay the surcharge
even for calls placed near your home. That's new, and apparently has to do
with an internal political battle that I don't understand.
But I can't argue with people who claim that Sprint's billing is fouled up. A
visiting cousin called his office in Californa from my house collect last
June, and on my September bill, the called showed up, clearly marked COLLECT.
I called Sprint to explain what "collect" means, and they took it off my bill.
On the other hand, my latest New England Tel bill had an erroneous charge of
$12.39 for sending me a calling card, because the rep forgot to check the box
on the work order not to charge me. Nobody's perfect.
--
John R. Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349, +1 617 492 3869
{ ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something
The Iran-Contra affair: None of this would have happened if Ronald Reagan
were still alive.