Telecom-Request%usc-eclc@brl-bmd.UUCP (12/25/83)
TELECOM Digest Sunday, 25 Dec 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 126
Today's Topics:
local service options
GTE & FX's
THE LAW
Kiss your FX lines goodbye...
[Merry Christmas!!!]
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Date: 23 Dec 1983 2223-PST
From: Jon Solomon <JSol@USC-ECLC>
Subject: local service options
There are several options available, depending on where you live.
Here's an example of the places I've ever lived in, and what options
are available (I tend to check these things out):
Connecticut (statewide - Southern New England Telephone): This company
has been independent for some time. Its local calling areas are pretty
good when you are living in a suburb of a city. Generally you can
call most of the communities around the city unless you live way out
on the fringes.
You can get foreign exchange service (a different phone number from a
different city), but the only exchanges you can get the service from
are the toll centers. I.e. if you live in a suburb of Hartford
(Newington (203-666, 667), you can get a downtown Hartford (203-522,
524) line, but you can't get a Newington line brought into Hartford.
If an exchange boundry just happens to be your street, or you live
some certain distance from the border (small, like 1 mile), you can
choose to have either exchange brought into your home BUT NOT BOTH. A
friend of mine lives in Bethany (203-393 - which is New Haven city
exchange), and his neighbor has an exchange from Shelton (203-888).
These exchanges are NOT local to each other, and they strung an
intercom wire between their houses so they could talk without paying
the toll charge (They strung the wire across their properties, so I
don't think it's illegal).
Connecticut also used to have optional toll calling services, which
would basically reduce a daytime call by 35% and a evening call to
60%, but instead they just do it for contiguous nonlocal exchanges
automatically (i.e. Bethany<->Shelton).
New Jersey (NJB): Foreign exchange service is offered, but is
expensive. Optional extended local calling by exchange is offered for
exchanges up to 16 miles away (the first toll rate step), and
discounted toll calling is offered to exchanges up to 22 miles away
(the second toll rate step). I think FIGMO was referring to this
service option. This is not offered in the Hoboken/Jersey-City/Newark
area since they have message unit tiers instead of rate steps.
California (Pacific and General Telephone only, I don't know anything
about Continental (does anyone?) -- Their tarriffs usually say "See
Pacific Telephone").
Pacific and General Telephone have been offering about the same
service (although General Telephone tends to be slower about
implementing changes). I was there from Jan 1982 to Feb 1983, and
during that year, Pacific telephone had: 1) disallowed unmeasured
foreign exchange service for new customers. Existing customers remain
as their service is, EXCEPT if you move, you lose your unlimited
priviledges. Both companies maintain foreign exchange dedicated
prefixes in certain areas (Pasadena has LA city numbers, West LA has
Beverly Hills numbers, Beverly Hills has LA city numbers, etc. etc.)
and new orders to these exchanges were drastically reduced by this
order (I wonder why...) 2) disallowed unmeasured ORTS for all
customers. Replaced it with measured ORTS (ORTS - optional residence
telephone service - add an exchange to your local calling area).
General Telephone followed through shortly thereafter, but there was a
change in the way FEX lines were billed/authorized for lines across
the phone company boundary. EG: If you were a GTE customer and wanted
a PACTEL line, you paid PACTEL rates (which at the time were measured,
and GTE lines were flat rate.). All of this has probably changed
again. FEX rates have tripled or so I think since I was last there.
Massachusetts (New England Telephone):
This company tends to be rather conservative in its approach to
service. Local calling areas statewide are typically REALLY BAD,
except in this one large metropolitan area near Boston. NET had
offered a phone service called Bay State service, which allowed
discounted (really, like 5 cents/min + 2 hours free) long distance
calling to: "Exchanges in Mass. Served by NET". They have recently
changed that to only allow long distance calls within the LATA (Mass
has two, corresponding to the area codes), but that's still good
(unless you live on the border between the LATAs and want to call
across). NET also offers "Expanded community calling" - 2 hours free
plus 0.039/min thereafter, exchanges bordering your local calling
area; "Measured Circle Calling service" - again 2 hours free plus
$0.049/min to exchanges within a 20 mile radius of your exchange.
Unmeasured circle calling, (think of it, a 20 mile radius local
calling area!).
Within the Boston Metropolitan area there is Metropolitan service,
Suburban service (all exchanges in the metro area EXCEPT the Boston
Central exchange (sigh - I live in the Boston Central Exchange!),
which replace the circle calling options. Calls to nonlocal exchanges
within the metropolitan area are changed at message unit rates. An
interesting point is certain exchanges outside of the Boston Metro
area have Metropolitan service additions as well, but only one way
(they can call us, we can't call them).
Anyway, the whole gist of this, Will, is that it varies from company
to company. Pacific Tel is phasing out FEX service wherever possible,
NET has priced it out of range as well, but offers reasonable
alternatives. Of course, if your FEX line happens to cross a LATA
boundary, you will probably find your line being phased out. If there
is sufficient demand, however, a common carrier (MCI, ATT, etc) may
sell you a line. Some cooperation could be reached if there was a
public outcry.
Cheers,
--Jon
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Date: Sat, 24 Dec 1983 03:20 EST
From: "Eliot R. Moore" <Elmo%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: GTE & FX's
Reply-to: Elmo%Mit-Oz@Mit-ML
I'm not certain Mr. Vail is aware, but he is rather fortunate to still
have his flat-rate FX service for $48.00 per month.
Both Pacific Telephone (Bell) and General Telephone, through various
tactics have frozen flat-rate foreign exchange service to existing
service. New service (except in strange places where tariffs never
existed [Lauren-this is a neat one]) is available measured (timed) on
a "non-optional" basis.
Pacific has yet to increase their basic mileage rate of $6.40, but I'm
certain its been in their rate applications for some time.
Installation charges for FX lines have increased significantly,
unfortunately they applied the same rules to FX's and psuedo-FX's.
Pacific has now proposed to eliminate residential FX service entirely
(except for existing service) as it has incurred 'lessening demand'
for the service. Yes, it would appear they are trying to price the
service out of the market.
Rightfully so, I suppose; we FX users are depriving them of a good
deal of cross-town toll revenues. Can't wait for my "service area"
rate increases.
Regards, Elmo
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Date: Sat, 24 Dec 83 01:44:49 PST
From: Theodore N. Vail <vail@UCLA-CS>
Subject: THE LAW
A telecom contributor states, in reference to blue boxes, "The
scenario you have just described is not only possible, but it is also
a felony to describe it."
Other contributors have referred to violations of telephone tariffs as
"illegal".
Perhaps these readers should send their contributions to the info-law
mailing lists.
For the United States Constitution (The First Amendment in the "Bill
of Rights") states:
Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom
of speech or of the press, ...
The Unites States Supreme Court has extended this rule to the various
States and most States have a similar statement in their Constitution.
Of course, "Telecom" is an interstate "publication" and the Federal
Law applies.
There are certain exceptions to this rule in the Law, but they are
based upon other Constitutional guarantees. These include laws
concerning libel (mostly a civil matter carrying no criminal penalty)
and laws restricting "classified information", specifically the
"Espionage Act". The Government has found it extremely difficult to
prevent the dissemination of classified information and, in many cases
when such information has been published in the "open literature" has
simply "overlooked" the matter. In other cases it has plain lost.
Simply publishing the "blue-box" frequencies can't possibly be a
crime; indeed our noble benefactor AT&T published them in the Bell
System Technical Journal many years ago, and they appear in various
international standards books published under the auspices of the
International Telecommunications Union available from the UN, as well
as in published standards of the various Operating Companies here in
the USA. Descriptions of multi-frequency oscillator circuits have
appeared for over 50 years in numerous technical and scientific
publications, Suggestions on how to commit perfect crimes using
various scientific methods have appeared in numerous "detective
novels" and Agatha Christie isn't in jail.
Due to the influence of the Telephone Company lobbies, there are
various State Laws purporting to make some of these acts felonies;
they are about as likely to stand up in Court as laws setting pi equal
to 3.
I don't think Jonathon Sol needs to worry about going to jail just
yet.
Similar comments apply to violating the Telephone Tariffs -- such
violations are no more "illegal" than failing to pay rent -- failing
to fulfill a contract (such as installing a telephone) on a promised
date, etc.
vail
[I'm sorry to disagree with you, but toll fraud is indeed a federal
crime, like failing to pay taxes. --JSol]
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From: vortex!lauren at RAND-UNIX
Date: Friday, 23-Dec-83 22:18:28-PST
Subject: Kiss your FX lines goodbye...
The various telcos are pretty uniformly attempting (quite
successfully) to make Foreign Exchange services MUCH more expensive,
and to eliminate residential FX completely.
Here in California, both PacTel (oops, excuse me, as of Jan. 1 it's
PACIFIC*BELL) and GenTel have filed very similar FX tariffs. The
PacTel tariff, for example, would approximately quadruple the basic
rate for FX, and change the method of calculating the additional
mileage charges from the use of rate boundaries to the use of rate
centers. While Pacific apparently plans to charge a smaller per mile
rate under the new scheme, the difference will not be enough to avoid
larger total charges than would typically have occurred under the
older charging method. The tariffs would also abolish all new
residential FX service (both flat-rate and measured) though in-place
service could continue for now. One particularly "amusing" aspect to
the FX tariff was that existing residential FX service (once again,
both flat-rate and measured) would end up costing MORE than the
proposed rates for business FX (measured only). I had considerable
difficulty getting anyone at Pacific or the PUC to explain the
rationale for charging more for residential measured service than for
business measured.
I was fully expecting the rate changes for Pacific to take place on
Jan. 1, but it appears that there will be a delay of several months
while the PUC continues to work out the final charges. For now, a
fairly small surcharge on basic service has been put in place -- it
will vanish when the REAL charges show up fairly early in '84. I'm
not looking forward to that.
--Lauren--
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End of TELECOM Digest
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