telecom@ucbvax.ARPA (12/15/84)
From: Jon Solomon (the Moderator) <Telecom-Request@BBNCCA>
TELECOM Digest Fri, 14 Dec 84 16:53:06 EST Volume 4 : Issue 136
Today's Topics:
"The Hot Line" is good business in Sweden
MCI Mailbox Charges
PHONE CO's UNION BUSTING
MCI mailbox charges
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 13 Dec 1984 17:22:49-PST
From: minow%rex.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
To: telecom@bbncca.ARPA
Subject: "The Hot Line" is good business in Sweden
With the recent discussion on the California "party line" phone
proposal, I thought it was about time to translate this article from
the Stockholm Newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, dated July 25, 1983.
The article was written by Marianne Roennberg.
Note: the Swedish crown is now worth about 11 cents. It was slightly
higher when this was written. "Televerket" is the Swedish Telephone
Authority.
Televerket Earns Millions:
"The Hot Line" is a brilliant affair
"The Hot Line" is more popular than ever. The Stockholm numbers
were called 2.5 million times both in May and June [1983]. Teen's
need for contact gives Televerket a million kroner per week.
"Hello" sounds in the phone now and then. Many call one of the 400
lines just to listen.
There's no doubt that "Hot Line" calls are are a popular pasttime for
summer-vacationing youths. The number of calls to the three Stockholm
numbers has quadrupled since school vacation started. In March,
Stockholmers called 700,000 times; in May 2.8 million, and in June
2.5 million.
"The Hot Line" had been open between 1700 and 0800: i.e., after
office hours, so as not to overload business exchanges. After July
first, it will be open 24 hours every day.
"If we notice that the traffic interferes with business users,
we'll cut back on the hours", says Sven-Ingvar Larsson, Televerket
superintendent for Stockholm.
_Not Free_
The calling-game isn't free. Each call lasts five minutes and costs
0.23 kroner [about 3 cents].
"We earn a million per month from 'The Hot Line.'" Slightly more
than half of that is paid by Stockholm residents.
"The Hot Line" came to be by chance. Youths discovered that
many could speak at the same time if they called a number with
a refrence-tone [an non-existant number]. The pressure on
the technology became so great that the reference-tone had to
give way.
Televerket cut wires as fast as they could to stop the operation.
Then the youths got angry, demonstrated, and demanded a completely
legal "hot line" from Televerket.
_Legal Line_
The profit-making company realized that they could make a profit
from loneliness even among the young and Stockholm got three
numbers and 400 lines to play with.
Since then, even Helsingborg, Gothenburg, Umeaa, Skelleftiaa,
Koeping, Enkoeping, and Uppsala have started their own lines.
Shocked parents have accused Televerket of lacking morals:
it encourages youths to call and astonished parents discover
"The Hot Line" only when an unexplicably high telephone bill
lands in the mailbox.
"We have discussed the viewpoints and came to the conclusion that
each subscriber must be responsible for the way their telephone
is used," says Sven-Ingvar Larsson.
-- Sidebar --
Sunday afternoon was beautiful. Despite that, a few preferred
talking a while on "The Hot Line" instead of going to the beach.
The line's hanger's on sit quietly listening to others who call.
Whenever a new caller is added, you hear a click in the receiver.
Then you hear a careful "Hello." All listen closely, but
not everyone answers.
When a -- judging from the voice -- young girl enters, a waiting
man answers immediately. Hopefully, they throw out "The Hot Line's"
standard questions to each other:
"Who are you?"
"Someone. And you?"
"Maria. Where do you live?"
"On Soeder [Southern neighborhood in Stockholm]. And you?"
"Vallentuna [suburb]. How old are you?"
"Nineteen. And you?"
"Seventeen."
"Oh damn!"
That's how most calls sound. After that, many have a problem
finding something to say.
Those who follow the traffic for a few days recognize some
frequently reappearing voices. "The Hot Line" doubtlessly
pulls in people with many different contact-problems.
Thousands of people enjoy "letting go" a bit but the limit
of what one may say on "The Hot Line" is, for the most part,
one's private phone number.
------
Sloppily translated by
Martin Minow
minow%rex@decwrl.arpa
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 84 21:20:14 EST
From: The Home Office of <abc@BRL-TGR.ARPA>
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
Subject: MCI Mailbox Charges
Ralph was told by MCI that their new mailbox charge would not
be billed until December 1985? MCI has just informed me
via a piece of MCI Mail that my first $18.00 would be billed in January, 1985!
Brint
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From: rhc%ucbjade.CC@Berkeley ( San Franciscan for Responsible Anarchy )
Date: 14 Dec 1984 0025-PST (Friday)
To: telecom@bbncca.ARPA
Subject: PHONE CO's UNION BUSTING
From the Dec 5-18, 1984, issue of
Grassroots, Berkeley's Community Newspaper
-------
PHONE CO's
UNION
BUSTING
``We change janitors every 2-3
years ... just as we change
our cars.''
-- Robert Roche,
Pacific Bell Vice-President
Comments at recent PUC meeting
Local 87 members of the Service
Employees International Union, AFL-
CIO, joined by the San Francisco
Organizing Project (a coalition of 21
church congregations, 16 unions, and
the Citizens Action League) have asked
for a moratorium until February on
contracting changes which have already
laid off 50 union janitors. In December
50 more janitors are expected to lose
their jobs.
This follows nearly a year of legal
actions by Local 87 against ``union-bust-
ing'' policies by Pacific Bell:
* Union janitors have been systemati-
cally eliminated from phone company
facilities throughout the state.
* New contractors have refused to hire
former union workers.
* Several non-union contractors have
been proven to be violating state
prevailing wage laws. This August
Pacific Bell and its subcontractor,
Stay-King, was fined over $18,000 by
the State Labor Commission for paying
substandard wages. Stay-King then
disappeared, owing its employees over
a month's pay.
``This is an important fight because
we are the last union janitors working
in Pacific Bell buildings in this state,''
according to Local 87 President Wray
Jacobs. ``We think it's obscene that Ma
Bell is asking for over $900 million in
rate increases this year and $1.4 billion
next year (approximately $10 per
residential customer per month) ...
while at the same time it is trying to
skim a few dollars off the backs of this
city's janitors.
The California Public Utilities Com-
mission law requires that Pacific Bell
subcontractors pay ``prevailing wages''
and that such contracts be given to the
lowest ``reasonable'' bidder. ``Pacific
Bell claims it has no responsibility for
its subcontractor's violations ... But
it's Pacific Bell that pockets the
difference when non-union janitors are
paid less than the prevailing wage,'' said
Jacobs.
-- Fred Kotler &
Jean Quan,
Local 87
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13-Dec-84 17:00:38 PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@RAND-UNIX.ARPA>
Subject: MCI mailbox charges
To: TELECOM@MC
While I was expecting them to pull the rug out from under the
freebie mailboxes for quite some time, their decision may have
been hastened by a procedure that some users were apparently
following. Apparently some people were transferring messages
across the country by setting up a "free" mailbox, having
the access known by people in scattered geographic areas, then
transferring messages as mail creation "temporary" files within
the account. That way, they didn't have to even "post" the
messages--they just waited for the next person to login and
read the temp file.
--Lauren--
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End of TELECOM Digest
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