Telecom-Request%usc-eclc@brl-bmd.UUCP (Telecom-Request@usc-eclc) (12/08/83)
TELECOM Digest Thursday, 8 Dec 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 114
Today's Topics:
Hawaii & long-distance charges.
Dial-It Article.
rotary vs. pushbutton
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Date: Mon, 5 Dec 83 23:49:21 pst
From: cunningh@Nosc (Robert P. Cunningham)
Subject: Hawaii & long-distance charges.
Recently, in John Covert's note on MCI service to Europe he remarked
that there's no reason why phone charges to Europe should cost 4 times
or so the cost of a call to Hawaii.
Actually, long distance charges to Hawaii may be overpriced, due to
historical reasons. Until several years ago, under then-prevailing
FCC tariffs, AT&T could still charge 'international' rates between
Hawaii and the mainland US, despite the fact that Hawaii's been a
state since 1959 (almost 25 years now). Those of you familiar with
the now-historical way in which long-distance charges were shared with
local operating companies probably realize that this also benefitted
the local Hawaiian Telephone Company (incidently, a GTE subsidiary).
It finally took Congressional action to 'rationalize' the long
distance charges, which, up to deregulation, took the form of freezing
long-distance rates to and from Hawaii until eventual domestic
long-distance rates on the mainland rose to the point where the
charges roughly 'equalized'. This scheme has, of course, gone out the
window with deregulation, and it's anybody's guess as to what
Hawaii-mainland charges will be in a year or so.
For those curious, here's a sampling of what we here in Hawaii pay to
call various places, including only the lowest night per-minute
charges (daytime rates are 2x to 3x higher):
$.22 US west coast via AT&T
.16 ditto via Sprint (MCI not available yet in Hawaii)
.24 central US via AT&T
.25 east coast via AT&T
.12 to an outer island from Honolulu
.90 to Alaska
.70 to western Canada
1.09 to Europe
.92 to Japan, Korea, etc.
.92 to Samoa, Australia, New Zealand & Guam
2.92 to China
2.92 to Micronesia
1.00 to South America
3.60 to India
I don't have the WATS rates handy, but they're high. Few '800'
numbers extend to Hawaii. A leased line (via satellite) to the
mainland runs about $1000 per month.
Bob Cunningham Oceanography Dept., University of Hawaii
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Date: 6 Dec 1983 21:44-PST
Subject: Dial-It Article.
From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow <Geoff @ SRI-CSL>
n044 1136 25 Nov 83 BC-TELCO (BizDay) c.1983 N.Y. Times News Service
NEW YORK - When ABC's nightly news show Nightline polled viewers
for their opinions on last month's American invasion of Grenada,
President Reagan wasn't the only one pleased with the response.The
results of the unscientific, phone-in survey backed American
involvement by a margin of 502,358 to 63,812, providing a boost to the
White House.
But the poll also gave a nice lift to the American Telephone and
Telegraph Co. - the phone company took in 50 cents per vote on the
poll, or more than $250,000 for the night.
This poll is just one of many that are being conducted over the
three-year-old Dial-It 900 Service, a rapidly expanding part of AT&T's
Long Lines Division. After overcoming some public confusion between
toll-free 800 numbers and the 50-cent 900 numbers, the service has
finally come into its own.
AT&T reports that the number of calls placed to 900 numbers is up
40 percent over this time last year. Company officials, however, say
the do not disclose figures such as total volume and revenue that the
service generates.
Nevertheless, it is clearly a nice piece of business for the phone
company, especially since it apparently covers its own costs by
charging an ''establishment'' fee to clients using the service.
''The cost of actually setting up the poll or information lines is
covered with the sponsor's establishment charge,'' explains an AT&T
spokesman. '' For the 50 cent per call charge, I think that what you
have to consider is the capital investment. We are also doing much
more than tallying calls. There is a long distance call in addition to
the technology and capital investment involved.''
According to documents filed with the FCC, a total of 10.9 million
calls were logged to 900 numbers in 1981, their first full year of
operation. Last year there were 15.8 million calls. The breakdown was
9.5 million calls to the taped information lines and 6.3 million to
the poll lines.
If AT&T is accurate in saying that service is up 40 percent this
year, then over 20 million calls should be placed to 900 numbers.
The potential profit is sufficient to convince AT&T's main long
distance phone service competitor, MCI, to try to set up its own 900
service. ''The 900 service, like the toll-free 800 service, is an
extremely profitable one for AT&T,'' said an MCI spokesman.
''We would like to enter both of these areas as soon as
possible,'' he said. ''We should have a toll-free service operating by
September 1984. It is technically more difficult to offer a 900-type
service, but we are studying ways to do it. The profitability and
marketability of the service have made it very attractive.''
There are two separate uses of 900 service; it can be utilized to
set up a poll or to provide a taped information message. The cost to
the caller is 50 cents per vote on the polling service, and 50 cents
for the first minute of an information message, with 35 cents for each
additional minute.
The polling service, first used to record public opinion after the
Carter-Reagan debate in October 1980, has been used by nearly 150
companies this year. The music video television audience, dominated by
young viewers, has become an especially lucrative market. The
video-of-the-week vote on NBC's Friday Night Videos, for example,
regularly records around 150,000 calls.
More than one million calls were logged on the 900 phone lines
that NASA set up for two space shuttle missions last year so that the
public could listen to conversations between the astronauts and ground
control.
Although the 50-cent charge for a minute-long call is greater than
the comparable cost for all long distance toll calls under evening and
night rates, AT&T has found that the cost does not deter people from
calling 900 numbers. In fact, company officials see the service's
success resulting in part from customers being charged a standard flat
rate for the calls.
''People view making a 900 call favorably,'' noted AT&T marketing
supervisor Robert Futcher. ''At least they know how much they're
paying for the call. They don't see an area code and wonder how much
it will cost them.''
Sponsors say the are attracted to the service by its low cost. The
information service costs $250 per day, provided a minimum of 2000
calls come in. It costs just $25 a day for a poll line, with a minimum
of 500 calls a day. The shortfall in either case costs the sponsor 25
cents per call.
One such group, the U.S. League of Savings Association - whose
membership includes 4,000 savings institutions across the country -
has used a 900 number since January to provide daily updates on
legislative and regulatory news from Washington. The recording also
gives banks quick access to the interest rates established at treasury
auctions.
''The banks are pleased and we are very pleased with the
service,'' says league spokesman Katherine B. Ulman. ''In addition to
saving us a lot of money over the toll-free service that we had, the
line is able to take in more calls at once. I am told that we can now
receive several thousand calls at the same time. On 800, there were
not enough lines. We got several complaints.''
''We are very pleased with the market's growth,'' says the AT&T
spokesman. '' Part of the successful growth of 900 numbers is their
wide visibility. When it is used on ABC's Nightline, it doesn't take
more than 10 minutes for every broadcaster in the country to see what
they're doing.
nyt-11-25-83 1430est ***************
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Date: Wed, 7 Dec 83 8:44:06 EST
From: cmoore@brl-bmd
Subject: rotary vs. pushbutton
Can the difference between rotary & pushbutton phones be detected on
the phone lines? (I.e., if you unplugged one & plugged in the other.)
In any event, why does pushbutton cost more?
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End of TELECOM Digest
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