daemon@ucbvax.UUCP (08/08/84)
From @MIT-MC:Telecom-Request@MIT-MC Tue Aug 7 17:43:05 1984
TELECOM Digest Wednesday, 8 Aug 1984 Volume 4 : Issue 65
Today's Topics:
What is the 700 pseudo-area ?
Long distance directory assistance
Western Union Easylink
AT&T problems, inefficiencies, and stupidities
loud tone after dialing
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Date: 3 Aug 1984 17:11 PDT
From: Lars Poulsen <LARS@ACC>
Subject: What is the 700 pseudo-area ?
Reply-to: LARS@ACC
A submission in last TELECOM digest mentioned 700 numbers. I know
about 800 and 900 numbers, but what is the 700 pseudo area code ?
/ Lars Poulsen
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Date: Sun, 5 Aug 84 19:25:38 edt
From: "John Levine, INTERACTIVE, 441 Stuart St, Boston MA
From: 02116(617-247-1155)" <haddock!johnl@cca-unix>
Subject: Long distance directory assistance
Now that Ma is charging 50 cents a pop for long distance directory
assistance, it appears that we have competition in that arena, too.
MCI has been touting their directory assist at 45 cents rather than
50, and an experiment shows that SBS provides it too (I'll have to
wait for the bill and see what it cost.) Do any readers know if other
OCCs are providing it, yet, and how much they charge?
Also, 50 cents regardless of time of day seems awfully high,
considering that I can make a one minute toll call for about half
that. How much are the long distance carriers paying the local telcos
for it?
John Levine, ima!johnl or Levine@YALE.ARPA
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Date: 6 Aug 1984 12:56:20 EDT (Monday)
From: jose rodriguez <jrodrig at mitre-gateway>
Subject: Western Union Easylink
Have anyone signed up with WU Easylink? I just have and is it poor.
First after sending a letter saying I was interested in it, I got a
phone call from this woman which I could hardly understand and would
only repeat this canned speech about "... easy this and easy
that..". It was pretty obvious she was just trained into getting
accounts without little knowledge of what she was actually dealing
with. Fine. Now she insisted on me telling her what kind of equipment
I was using - it seems you are allowed only one. Well I was trying to
tell her that I used several: ibmpcs, terminals and a c64 at home and
that it does not matter what equipment I use but for some reason she
just couldn't deal with this. I bet she had a form with one entry in
it. Finally I told her to put down ibmpc (probably the most generic
answer).
A week later I get this letter with several different codes but no
phone numbers. I mean how do they expect to connect with their
network? Also I got this little note saying that they will send me
their user guide in a week.
Today I got a mailgram letter saying that they were forwarding a msg I
had because I haven't read it in 10 days. I called their phone: 800 WU
CARES (good sarcasm) and after waiting for a long time a lady told me
the phone and several characters I have to type before being ask to
login.
Do this people expect to compete with MCI Mail? It looks like WU
really doesn't know what they are doing.
I yet don't know what types of mail I can send (beyond being able to
access telex terminals and send telegrams).
Any comments?
Jose jrodrig@mitre-gw
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Date: Mon, 6 Aug 84 01:25 EST
From: Andrew D. Sigel <sigel%umass-cs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: AT&T problems, inefficiencies, and stupidities
All is certainly not well with either AT&T Informations Systems or
AT&T Communications. I have recently had my own annoying (albeit
minor) difficulties with them, and these, related below, definitively
illustrate to me the new lower levels of service we all have to look
forward to.
When I moved at the beginning of June, I purchased one of the phones I
was leasing, and returned the other one. This was done on two
separate days, and through my local AT&T Phone Center Store. I
purchased the phone on May 31, and returned the second phone on June
6. My June 16 bill arrived, and neither transaction was on it. Fine,
thought I, a little over two weeks is not unreasonable. When my July
16 bill arrived from New England Telephone with no mention of my
purchasing the phone, and yet another full months rent on both phones,
I got a little miffed, and called ATT IS. The purchase order finally
came through on July 20 (seven weeks), and the termination order on
the second phone had not yet come through. I had to locate my receipt
for the return and call them back, even though it had no more
information than I had already related over the phone; the first cust.
service rep. would not process the return on my say-so, while the
second would. It is the notion of a seven week back-log that I find a
dangerous symptom.
I called ATT Com. the other day to get a rate card for their
long-distance system. I wanted to know just what the advantage was in
having MCI, and there is nothing like comparing a rate chart from MCI
with one from ATT to find out exactly what kind of premium is to be
paid. Quite frankly, I was appalled at the combination of
mis-information and non-information ATT presented me with in the guise
of information. To the best of her knowledge, my representative
thought that an information sheet would be going out to customers, but
she thought it would be the usual chart showing what hours were day,
evening, and night, and what the discounts would be, but with no
actual rates. Her explanation of this probable omission? Why print a
rate schedule if it was (FCC willing) going to be changing soon, and
downward, too. (Never mind that the competitors do just that.) The
schedule would naturally not include any intra-state rates, either.
She did offer to look up individual rates for a given area code and
prefix, but had no way of finding out which mileage category these
rates were in. I was given some blatantly false information (other
long distance companies don't have to tell the FCC when they want to
change their rates while ATT does is the one that sticks to mind), and
was given an extensive sales pitch on the unexciting $10/hour
nighttime rate package (MCI is STILL cheaper, thank you very much).
About intrastate rates, here in Massachusetts, ATT is the only carrier
allowed to handle calls from the 413 to 617 area codes (and vice
versa). Their rates are at least a third over comparable interstate
calls (for the first minute) which is inexcusable, in my opinion.
There is no reason why I should be able to call a friend in Boston
from Amherst and talk for one minute, and pay the same price I would
to call a friend in Los Angeles (evening rate).
Finally, have people caught the ATT commercials with entire
neighborhoods stampeding after the mail truck to get their phone
bills, so they can get their coupons to buy varied merchandise with
ATT credits? This new arm of ATT is so well organized that they were
unaware I had moved as of two months after the move was accomplished.
ATT IS and ATT Com. both knew I had moved, and had, along with NET,
adjusted my bills quite efficiently (I received one bill combining
calls from both numbers, and changing my billing date from the 13th to
the 16th; 15 sheets in all), but they hadn't realized that I wasn't
getting any coupon information. Incidentally, they'll be sending out
your coupon credit balance every quarter starting in September,
according to the gentlemen giving me the informaion (800-992-0992).
In short, ATT doesn't seem to be telling its right hand what its left
is doing, and doesn't much seem to care, either. I'll admit that no
immediate credit for long numbers on MCI can be a pain. But its the
only drawback so far to MCI, and if ATT isn't willing to give me a
simple way to do comparison shopping (lets face it: who has 5 minutes
to wait every time we want to know how much a call will cost), I won't
shop at their 'store'.
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Date: Tue 7 Aug 84 02:08:07-PDT
From: David Roode <ROODE@SRI-NIC.ARPA>
Subject: loud tone after dialing
Location: EJ286 Phone: (415) 859-2774
I recently dialed a number and received a loud gong/chime tone after
dialing. I was then connected to an Operator who told me "You've
reached an operator" and suggested I re-dial. What is the gong/chime
used for?
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End of TELECOM Digest
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