TELECOM%usc-eclb@brl-bmd.UUCP (08/05/83)
TELECOM AM Digest Saturday, 30 July 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 44
Today's Topics:
House & Senate Introduce Legislation To Block Local Increases
Directory Assistance Robot
NPA 409 Separated From 713 In Texas Last Night
Restricted Calling Card
More On 409
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Date: 25 Jul 1983 21:56-PDT
Sender: GEOFF@SRI-CSL
Subject: House & Senate introduce legislation to block locl increases.
From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow
n008 0631 22 Jul 83
PM-PHONES
(BizDay)
By KENNETH B. NOBLE
c. 1983 N.Y. Times News Service
WASHINGTON - The chairmen of the House and Senate commerce
committees Thursday introduced legislation intended to block increases
in local telephone rates that would occur as a result of the breakup
of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
Their proposal would reverse a decision last December by the
Federal Communications Commission intended to raise local phone rates
by about $2 a month per household, starting Jan. 1, 1984. The charge
would cover some of the costs for access to the long-distance networks
that the local phone companies will need.
Most of the nation's local service is provided by AT&T's 22
operating subsidiaries, which will become independent companies after
they are divested next year as part of the settlement of the antitrust
suit brought against the phone company by the Justice Department.
The committee chairmen, Sen. Bob Packwood and Rep. John D.
Dingell, said at a joint news conference they were proposing the
creation of a ''universal service fund'' that would be a mechanism by
which long-distance phone carriers, such as AT&T after the breakup and
MCI Communications, its largest competitor, would subsidize local
service in rural and remote communities.
The bill was attacked by AT&T and MCI, and by eight members - four
Democrats and four Republicans - of Dingell's House Committee on
Energy and Commerce. They contended that the bill would protect
residential customers at the expense of long-distance customers.
Packwood, R-Ore., and chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee,
and Dingell, D-Mich., said that under the FCC's December order, the
additional charge to most local telephone subscribers was likely to
rise to $10 or more by 1990. They said that would double today's
average basic-service phone rate and make telephone service, as
Dingell put it, ''a luxury beyond the reach of many Americans.''
Also present at the news conference on Capitol Hill was an
important Dingell ally, Rep. Timothy E. Wirth, D-Colo., chairman of
the House Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications. The two
Democratic representatives and the Republican senator held the joint
news conference to demonstrate their resolve in the face of opposition
from the long-distance carriers and to show that the bill had
bipartisan support. A joint hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.
The bill, which supersedes similar bills introduced earlier, would
create a new subsidy mechanism requiring that all long-distance
companies pay a fee to local phone companies for access to local
customers. This would reverse the FCC's December decision that sought
to shift the entire cost of the so-called interconnections to
individual customers by adding a seperate charge to their monthly
bills.
In addition to the ''universal service fund'' to provide subsidies
to local telephone companies in rural and remote areas, the bill would
require state public utility commissions to establish
''lifeline'' minimum basic telephone rates for low-income residential
customers.
Reacting to the two bills, Kenneth J. Whalen, an AT&T executive vice
president, said in a statement, ''Some of these proposals would
destroy AT&T's plan to reduce long-distance rates in 1984.'' He did
not explain which proposals would have that effect.
Gene Eidenberg, a senior vice president for MCI Communications, said
in a statement that the legislation ''would guarantee higher local
telephone rates by stifling innovation by telephone companies.''
Also attacking the proposals were eight members of the Energy and
Commerce Committee, who wrote: ''At the present time, statistical
evidence is limited which suggests that the path of the industry will
lead to a loss of universal service.''
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Date: Tue, 26 Jul 83 13:14:34 PDT
From: jmrubin%Coral.CC@Berkeley
Subject: Directory assistance robot
When I just called 316 (Wichita) information, after I gave the
operator the name and adress, the number was given by stepped
recording, and I was told to hold on if I wanted another operator.
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Date: Wed, 27 Jul 83 8:37:53 EDT
From: cmoore@brl-vld
I heard last night that new (as of March) area 409 was broken off from
713 in Texas.
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Date: Wed, 27 Jul 83 8:39:10 EDT
From: cmoore@brl-vld
I was wondering why 409 & 909 were not used as area codes.
Maybe due to things like the Beach Boys' song "409"? (Not
so well known, due to its being only an album cut, is the
Beatles' "One After 909".)
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Date: 28 Jul 1983 0933-EDT
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: Restricted Calling Card
With the new, nationwide Calling Card database, it is possible to get
Calling Cards which are restricted in a fashion which permits calls
only TO the telephone for which it is issued.
This restricted calling card is useful, for example, for children to
call home at the calling card rate instead of the collect rate.
The calling card can be entered with either the full number, or with
just the four-digit-PIN. The "#" feature for "you may dial another
number now" is disabled.
I was amazed when I called the Business Office and had NO difficulty
ordering one.
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Date: Thu, 28 Jul 83 9:54:38 EDT
From: cmoore@brl-vld
Subject: looking up 409 area
I couldn't find reference to new 409 area in latest Houston & Beauomnt
phone books (Texas). However, I did see 409 in area code map in
1983-84 Queens (NYC) directory (which, by the way, doesn't refer to
212/718 split). On such map, 409 takes in what was 713 EXCEPT for
Houston & some surrounding area. (I've never before seen an area code
completely surrounded by another one.) Beaumont & Galveston are in 409
now. My guess: Houston & suburbs stayed in 713 for convenience of
business there and of callers from other areas. (I figure Houston &
suburbs would get most of traffic into old 713 area.)
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End of TELECOM Digest
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