stv@qantel.UUCP (09/28/85)
Okay, I got my Sprint bill, so I can report on the difference between using Pacific Bell and an Alternate Long Distance Service to call from one point in my Pacific Bell Service Area to another. It says in many places (like the front pages of my phone book and on the back of my Pacific Bell phone bill) that calls within the boundaries of these Service Areas can only be placed thru Pacific Bell. This is part of the divestiture agreement that broke up AT&T. However, I have never had any trouble using Sprint or SBS to make such calls--they aren't blocked or anything. Nobody answered my previous posting asking why this is so. I hypothesized that Sprint might route such calls thru some Location X--outside my service area--to get around the regulation, but I really have no idea. My reason for wanting to use Sprint is that I sometimes want to make personal toll calls from where I work, and don't want them charged to my company. I could use my Pacific Bell Calling Card, or Sprint. Here is how these compare for the 5 Sprint calls I made last month: call PacBell PacBell with type mins Sprint direct dial 40c CC fee DE 26 4.98 5.51 5.91 DN 1 .21 .15 .55 DD 2 .68 .65 1.05 DD 1 .43 .36 .76 DD 8 2.17 2.39 2.79 This is not a systematic study. These were calls I just happened to be making. I called the Operator to get the comperable Pacific Bell rates. When using my Calling Card, there would be a 40-cent service charge. Conclusion: I will continue to use Sprint under these circumstances. I continue to think that 40c per call is a bit steep for using my Calling Card on those calls where I enter it myself, with no operator involved.