TELECOM@Usc-Eclb (06/05/82)
TELECOM AM Digest Saturday, 5 June 1982 Volume 2 : Issue 72 Today's Topics: "Rusty Switch" Scam Problems Repairing Phones - Continuing Telco Saga Foreign Exchange Rate Structure - Will Need Revision ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4 Jun 1982 18:00 EDT From: Axelrod.WBST at PARC-MAXC FCC regs say that an intrastate line is part of an interstate network if it is connected to an interstate line, either directly, or through a "switch". The term "switch" is ordinarily understand to mean a PBX or such-like, but it isn't defined very clearly. SO. . . If you need an intrastate line, and if ATT is cheaper than your local OpCo (it usually is), and if you've got an Interstate line in the near vicinity, then you order a manual TBar switch, or something like that, and you say that "sometimes" you'll switch the data from the local line onto the interstate line, and the rest of the time it will be switched onto your local widget. Therefore, it's part of an interstat network. BUT. . . Somehow, the switch never gets used! As a matter of fact, it gets forgotten and neglected and it "rusts into position". We don't do that around here or anywhere else in Xerox that I know of. (Really.) But it does get done. I've been told that companies in California that need to run lines from LA to San Fransisco can actually save money by getting a dead-end line from LA to Lake Tahoe, just for that purpose. Seems Pacific Tel & Tel is quite expensive, and gives terrible service. Art ------------------------------ Date: 4 June 1982 19:52 edt From: Frankston.SoftArts at MIT-MULTICS Subject: Continuing Telco saga 1. I finally got someone out. So far it seems that Telcos equipment works and it may be mine. Once I reached the engineering people they were very helpful. 2. On the other hand, the guy who did come out seemed to have the same problems I had -- it took him 10 minutes to get through to repair on 1-555-1515. Oh well. (It did take till Wednesday evening to get someone though). I still need to figure out whether it is my Avanti MEDIUM haul modems or what. I`ll have to deal with it after the NCC. I am still concerned that it is so difficult to work with Telco to solve simple problems. ------------------------------ Date: 4 June 1982 1711-PDT (Friday) From: lauren at UCLA-Security (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: FX service Generally, it is not practical to charge different amounts for FX service based on the technology used to implement it in a given case. Regardless of whether the service is provided through call forwarding and billing modifications, or via dedicated interoffice trunks, the end result (as far as the customer is concerned) is the same. They are still deriving the same benefits in terms of rate areas and billing. *If* the mileage charges associated with FX service were only charging you for rental of the physical plant associated with a dedicated trunk, *then* you might be able to argue that a serious differential exists. However, all sorts of factors are involved in those mileage charges relating to physical plant *and* rate areas "crossed", so it is not a simple calculation. How do you explain to customer A that they are paying 30% more for similar FX service than customer B, simply because (strictly by luck) customer B happens to be served by the appropriate ESS equipment to provide the pseudo-FX function? This is similar to the situation in regards to IDDD service (International Direct Distance Dialing). Many parts of the country still cannot make IDDD calls. However, those users get charged the direct-dialed rate even though they must call through an operator. Probably it will be necessary to restructure *all* FX type rates over time to account for new methods of providing the service -- but the task will not be simple, given the complexities involved. --Lauren-- P.S. I believe that the overwhelming majority of existing FX lines are provided via dedicated interoffice facilities at this time. --LW-- ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************** -------