TELECOM Digest     Sun, 7 Aug 94 11:24:00 CDT    Volume 14 : Issue 345

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Northern Telecom Second Quarter Results (Dave Leibold)
    Software Product Review: NPA (Greg Monti)
    Mobile Phones in Malaysia and Australia (Richard Dale)
    Re: Use of Call Forwarding to Avoid Toll Charges (Gordon Burditt)
    Re: Use of Call Forwarding to Avoid Toll Charges (Paul Robinson)
    Re: Measured and Unlimited Service at Same Residence (Paul Robinson)

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 06 Aug 94 23:09:00 -0500
From: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold)
Subject: Northern Telecom 2nd quarter results
Reply-To: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org


[from Northern Telecom via CNW]

NORTHERN TELECOM REPORTS SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

TORONTO, July 26 /CNW/ - Northern Telecom today reported results for
the second quarter 1994.

Revenues were $US 2.12 billion in the second quarter of 1994, up 14
percent compared with $US 1.87 billion reported for the same period in
1993. Net earnings applicable to common shares were $US 37 million, or
$US .15 per share, compared with a loss of $US 1.03 billion or $US
4.13 per share. In 1993, excluding one time restructuring and other
charges of $US 940 million after tax or $US 3.77 per share, net loss
from operations was $US 88 million or $US .36 per share.

Order input was $US 1.93 billion for the quarter compared with $US
2.18 billion last year reflecting lower orders in Canada and the
impact of the business disposals somewhat offset by year over year
gains in the United States and international markets. Orders on hand
at June 30, 1994 remain strong at $US 3.76 billion.

For the first half of 1994 Northern Telecom recorded revenues of $US
4.12 billion, an increase of eight percent over the $US 3.81 billion for
the first half of 1993. Order input for the first half was $US 3.67 billion
compared with $US 4.01 billion in 1993. Net earnings applicable to common
shares for the first six months were $US 124 million, or $US .50 per share,
compared with a net loss of $US 954 million or $US 3.83 per share in 1993.
Excluding the one time restructuring and other charges of $US 940 million
after tax, or $US 3.77 per share the net loss was $US 14 million after tax
or $US .06 per share.

Commenting on the results, Jean C. Monty, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Northern Telecom said: "We are pleased with the second quarter
and first half performance as we progress through this year of transition.
The gain in revenue is indicative of our strengthening product portfolio and
expanding global position. In addition, our cost reduction initiatives remain
on track and with proceeds from the sale of non core assets, the business has
an improved financial position."

Geographic revenue for the quarter showed strong gains in the United States
and international markets. United States revenues improved sharply
principally on the strength of central office switching and transmission.
Asia Pacific and the Caribbean and Latin America markets recorded significant
revenue growth across most product lines. Revenues from Canada continued
significantly below last year reflecting the ongoing impact of lower capital
spending by the telephone operating companies.

Product line revenues for the quarter showed advances over the prior
year in all core business segments, except cable and outside plant
which was much lower due to the impact of the sale of STC Submarine
Systems in the first quarter. Substantial gains in central office
switching, were led by the United States, Asia Pacific and the
Caribbean and Latin American markets. Transmission revenues continue
to post significant gains over last year reflecting strength in the
synchronous product portfolio and wireless radio products. Multimedia
Communications Systems also enjoyed double digit revenue growth.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $US 376 million, or
17.7 percent of revenue in the quarter as compared with $US 373
million, or 20.0 percent of revenue in 1993. For the first half of
1994, such expenses increased to $US 765 million from $US 737 million
and decreased as a percentage of revenue to 18.6 percent from 19.3
percent. As a result of the restructuring plan Northern Telecom has
invested in international sales and marketing activities while
containing expense levels year over year.

Research and development expenses totaled $US 274 million, or 12.9 percent
of revenues, for the second quarter compared with $US 283 million, or 15.1
percent, for the second quarter last year. For the first half of 1994,
research and development expenses decreased to $US 521 million from $US 539
million for 1993 or 12.6 percent of revenue compared with 14.1 percent.
Additional spending relating to the modularization of central office
switching architecture was incurred as planned and charged against the
software provision taken in 1993.

Mr. Monty added: "The second quarter improvements are indicative of the
value of our investments in the development of international markets and
new products. The introduction of our comprehensive portfolio of world
class wireless systems is just one example. Entering the second half, we
continue to anticipate improvement as compared with the same period last
year due to the on-going benefits of our cost reduction activities and the
expected cyclical spending patterns of our major customers. To complete our
transition to traditional levels of profitability in the 1995 timeframe, we
will continue to maintain our focus on cost improvement, product evolution
and market development."

Northern Telecom's common shares are listed on the New York, Toronto,
Montreal, Vancouver, London, and Tokyo stock exchanges.

NORTHERN TELECOM LIMITED
Second Quarter Consolidated Results (unaudited)

[detailed results omitted for brevity; available on original news release]

For further information: Doug Patterson/Gary Brandt, Northern Telecom
Limited (905) 566-3178/(905) 566-3098.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 6 Aug 1994 15:59:44 EDT
From: Greg Monti <GMONTI@npr.org>
Subject: Software Product Review: NPA


Software Product Review:  NPA
from The PC Consultant, PO Box 42086, Houston, TX 77242-2086  
+1 713 826-2629
single license fee:  $25.00

by Greg Monti

"NPA" is a shareware database with lookup tools.  It's a 
character-based, DOS application that allows you to find:

 -- city and state or province given the area code (NPA) and 
prefix (NXX);
 -- the area code(s) and prefix(es) which serve a given city 
and state or province;
 -- all cities and state(s) or province(s) which use an NPA;
 -- the US ZIP (but not Canadian postal) codes which 
predominate the land area served by a prefix;
 -- the county in which the city is located, with its 
population;
 -- the latitude and logitude (in terrestrial coordinates, 
not V&H coordinates) of the central office serving that 
prefix;
 -- a great circle mileage feature that lets you input a 
second area and prefix (or a second city and state) which 
calculates and displays the air mileage between there and 
the first city.

This program is best run from a hard disk drive.  2.5 MegaBytes of
free disk space are required for file decompression and setup.  About
1.8 Megs are used for executables and databases thereafter.

INPUT SCREEN:

 NPA - <04Feb94>       (Numbering Plan Area)       (C) 1991-94 PC Consultant
                            Licensed to:  Greg Monti
                        1st                      2nd (great circle mileage)
    State/Province/NPA: 619                                           
  City/County/NXX/Zip:                                                
         Min/Max # NXX: 1   /    

  ^Scan City/  +---Show---+      +-------Show-------+   Screen    ^Output
  County Name ^County  ^Pop     ^NXX  ^Zip  ^Lat/Long  ^Display      to
      Yes       Yes     Yes      Yes   No      No       Scroll     Screen

F1        F2        F3        F4        F5        F6                  Esc
Help      PrvSpec   NxtSpec   ClrSpec   ClrFld    SavOpts             Cancel


OUTPUT SCREEN:

 NPA - <04Feb94>       (Numbering Plan Area)        (C) 1991-94 PC Consultant
                            Licensed to:  Greg Monti
                                          (Hits: 105)   TopLine:  1 of   129
    NPA City/County/Pop x1k NXX                     (Esc) Quits        ,PgDn
    --- ------------------- --------------------------------------------------
CA:California
    619 Adelanto/San Bernardino/1418    246 388
        Alpine/San Diego/2498   445 659
        Apple Valley/San Bernardino/1418    240 242 247 946
        Baker/San Bernardino/1418   733 852
        Barstow/San Bernardino/1418 252 253 255 256 577
        Benton/Mono/9       933
        Big Pine/Inyo/18    938
        Bishop/Inyo/18      387 872 873 937
        Blythe/Riverside/1170   921 922
        Bonita/San Diego/2498   472 479
        Boron/Kern/543      762 769
        Borrego Springs/San Diego/2498  394 767
        Brawley/Imperial/109    344 351
        Bridgeport/Mono/9   932
        Calexico/Imperial/109   357 768
        California City/Kern/543    373
        Calipatria/Imperial/109 348 354
        Camp Pendleton/San Diego/2498   430
        Campo/San Diego/2498    478

For this report, I had the county name and population switches on, but
the Zip code switch off.  I also instructed "NPA" to display the
small, one-prefix towns.

Advantages:  

A1.  States and provinces may be looked up by 2-letter code or by a
fraction of (or the whole) the name.

A2.  If you input only a state or province, all cities, NPAs and
prefixes will be displayed consistent with default filter criteria.
When you call up a whole NPA, the default report will show only those
cities with at least 5 prefixes.  If you call up a whole state, the
output displayed will be limited to cities with 10 or more NXXs.
However, you can set the output to display cities with as few as one
prefix.  The reason for this is obvious: If you input California and
nothing else, the default (ten-prefix) display will be 343 lines long,
showing 114 cities.  If you set the minimum number of prefixes per
city to 1, the CA display will be 1009 lines long, showing 825 cities.

A3.  Cities are listed by area code, then alphabetically, then
prefixes are listed numerically.

A4.  The prefix you enter, if any, shows in a contrasting color in the
output screen.

A5.  You can search with just a state and a prefix.  "NPA" will find
all the area codes and city names.  For example, if you enter Illinois
and prefix 939, it reports all 939 prefixes in that state.  There are
four: 312-939 in Chicago, 618-939 in Waterloo, 708-939 in Northbrook,
and 815-939 in Kankakee.

A6.  You can set the application for "left" or "any substring" matches
of city and county names.

A7.  Screen may be set to scroll forward and back, or pause after each
page, or nonstop.

A8.  Output may be sent to screen, printer or file.  You can set the
width of the report (from 79 to 255 columns for printer; from 79 to
999 columns for file).

A9.  You can move forward and backward through a history of the 20
most recent search criteria.

A10.  The escape key works any time, even quitting out of a long
search.

A11.  "NPA" can be executed from a DOS prompt by specifying the search
criteria in the command syntax or from an input screen.

Disadvantages:

D1.  As with any work of this magnitude (and this fluid source
material) information is sometimes incomplete.  Sometimes, a new
prefix not yet in use will show.  Sometimes, a prefix known to be in
use will be absent, or in the wrong city.  There were few such errors
with local numbers I know.

D2.  Multiple prefixes, serving different rate areas, are treated
inconsistently.  In Virginia, prefixes from the Dale City and Occoquan
central offices, which serve four rate areas (Dale City, Occoquan,
Lorton and Lorton Metro) are listed as being in a single city:
Woodbridge, which is the postal name for the unincorporated area.  In
New York state, Bayville and Oyster Bay, different rate areas, are
served out of a single CO in Oyster Bay, but are listed separately.

D3.  CO names themselves are not displayed and prefixes are not
grouped by CO.  However, by turning on the Latitude and Longitude
coordinates and looking for prefixes with same Lat & Long, you can
tell which are in the same office.

D4.  Zip codes shown are "best guesses", as the documentation puts it,
probably the zip of the CO or of a nearby business district.  A CO can
cover many zips.

D5.  You cannot search for partial NXXs.  You can't enter 39x or 39*
and expect to find 391, 396 and 399.  The same input field is used for
Zip codes (where partials are allowed) and NXXs.  39* will give you
all the known Zips from 39000 through 39999 inclusive.

Curiosities:

C1.  In California's 213 and 310 NPAs, there is a city called "Belle
Cellu" in each code, with a few NXXs between them.  What are these?
Cellular NXXs that are not assigned to a city name?  Ironically, there
is no company called "Bell Cellular" or "Pac Bell Cellular" any more.
It was spun off and is called "AirTouch".

C2.  The much celebrated Hyder, AK, is not listed in either 604 or 907
areas.

C3.  The February, 1994, data show the 416/905 split in Ontario still
in progress.  Brampton, for example, is listed twice, with the same
prefixes, once in each area code.  Presumably, in a later version, the
416 listing will disappear.

C4. "NPA" even lists the tiny towns in Northwest Territories and
Yukon, such as (with the Latitude & Longitude switch on):

        Snowdrift            370/62.40x110.73
        Spence Bay           561/69.53x093.54
        Tuktoyaktuk          977/69.43x133.02
        Tungsten             777/61.97x128.22
        Wrigley              581/63.27x123.62
        Yellowknife          669/62.45x114.37 

873/62.45x114.37 920/62.45x114.37

    604 Cassiar              778/59.28x129.79
        Dease Lake           771/58.43x130.02
        Fort Nelson          774/58.80x122.69
        Iskut                234/57.83x129.97
        Lower Post           779/60.06x128.69
        Muncho Lake          776/58.91x125.74
        Telegraph Creek      235/57.89x131.15
        Toad River           232/58.84x125.21
        Wonowon              772/56.73x121.79

    819 Arctic Bay           439/73.03x085.19
        Arviat               857/61.11x094.07
        Baker Lake           793/64.31x096.03
        Broughton Island     927/67.12x065.17
        Capdorst             897/64.23x076.55

C5.  Area 809 is listed, but only for Puerto Rico and the USVI.  For
some reason, asking for everything in 809 just gives you Puerto Rico.
If you ask for VI specifically, it will list it.  Asking for
everything in 403 does show both Alberta and Yukon.  Asking for 604
does show both BC and NW in one pass.

C6.  Fishers Island, NY (516-788) is listed in Connecticut as 203-788
and is missing from 516 and from NY State.

Summary: On the whole, the algorithm and database sources in "NPA"
appear useful and accurate.  Those Telecom Digesters who have always
wanted to associate Zip codes with NXXs will have a field day.  For
marketing types, county populations and Zips can give you an idea
where to look when loading prefixes into war dialers.

I have no association with The PC Consultant, other than as a
satisfied customer.


Greg Monti, Tech Mgr, FISPO, Distribution Division
National Public Radio          Phone:    +1 202 414-3343
635 Massachusetts Av NW        Fax:      +1 202 414-3036
Washington, DC  20001-3753     Internet: gmonti@npr.org

------------------------------

From: rad@170.38.8.1 (Richard Dale)
Subject: Mobile Phones in Malaysia and Australia
Date: 7 Aug 1994 10:42:23 +0800
Organization: Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS)


Hello all,

I'm an Australian resident looking to take a mobile phone to Malaysia
to use in both locations.  I would like to know if the mobile phones
are compatible between both countries.

Here's some background data:

Australia

Has both GSM & Analogue services (analogue is the most popular by
about 10:1) Does NOT allow the importation of mobile phones - ie you
must buy them in Australia.

Malaysia

Has several mobile phone services:
450Mhz - long distance coverage
800Mhz - Klang valley coverage (i.e. Kuala Lumpur area)
900Mhz - More coverage than 800 but not as much as 450Mhz.

Handsets

I have seen the Motorola Microtac II available in both Australia and
Malaysia (and am interested in this model).  Can I take one from
Australia and, after registering with the appropriate carrier, use it
in Malaysia?


Thanks in advance,

Richard A. Dale, Integrated Systems Australia (for Petronet Phase II)
 Petronas, Telecommunications & Networking, IRM Division, 27th Floor,
 Menara Dayabumi, Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, 50500 KUALA LUMPUR     
Voice@Malaysia: +60-3-275-4277  |  Voice@Australia: +61-9-333-4444 
Fax@Malaysia:   +60-3-293-3828  |  Fax@Australia:   +61-9-333-4499 
EMail@MY:  rad@tcn.petronas.my  |  EMail@AU: rad@osi.curtin.edu.au 

------------------------------

From: gordon@sneaky.lonestar.org (Gordon Burditt)
Subject: Re: Use of Call Forwarding to Avoid Toll Charges
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organi[sz]ation
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 03:59:36 GMT


TELECOM Digest Editor noted:

> Bear in mind also that the costs involved in establishing a permanently
> forwarded number at some location in an effort to divert the call from 
> toll will to a large extent negate any 'savings' you might expect otherwise.
> Forget for a moment the grey area of 'call-forwarding versus toll' and
> its questionable legality as an elective 'billing option' for subscribers.
> Let's assume it is legal. Unless all the interim connections are untimed,
> unmeasured local calls, there will be no savings, transparent or otherwise.

Are you sure about this?  Some intrastate rates, last time I checked,
which was a few years back, seem bad enough that you'd be better off
chaining three interstate calls going through, say, California and New
York.  Since you'd only need to chain two calls, you could make
headway against the fixed overhead, but you'd still have to do a LOT
of calling to get any savings overall.  And an 800 number would
probably beat both alternatives unless the 800 intrastate rate is much
higher than the 800 interstate rate.


Gordon L. Burditt   sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 6 Aug 1994 23:13:29 EDT
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@tdr.com>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@tdr.com>
Subject: Re: Use of Call Forwarding to Avoid Toll Charges
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA


Javad Boroumand <javad@jacks.gsfc.nasa.gov>, writes the following:

> Is the use of Call Forwarding to avoid long distance charges illegal?

> Let's say from point X to point Y is long distance.  This could either
> be long distance within a Bell company "Regional Calling Area" or it
> goes across LATA boundaries and involves a long distance carrier
> charges.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is technically illegal since 
> any device or scheme which is used to avoid tolls is illegal.

Pat, I think you need to look again at the situation here.

> If it so happens, by the merest coincidence, that it is convenient 
> for you to receive calls intended for yourself at some alternative 
> location and that location happens to be, when evaluated to the 
> original caller a toll charge had the original caller dialed it 
> direct, then my belief is you are within your rights to receive calls 
> routed in that way. I believe however that to deliberatly structure 
> your calling patterns in such a way as to *always* avoid tolls using 
> call forwarding via local hops is in violation of the intent of the 
> tariff, and thus the tariff itself. 

The writer was not referring to avoiding local call charges; he was
referring to how to avoid paying an inter-lata carrier for the call.
I cannot see how this can be a violation of tariff when local telephone 
companies, due to Judge Greene aren't even allowed to tariff inter-lata 
calls (except very limited circumstances).

> The apparent contradition here lies in the *intent* behind call forwarding
> as it was developed by telco. The *intent* is to make it convenient for a
> person to receive their calls wherever they may happen to be. The *intent*
> is not to provide alternatives to the existing toll rates. 

I think intent is irrelevant.  If it is a violation of the phone
company's rules to use local service to avoid going through a carrier
 -- and it only is if a tariff from the local phone company specifically
has one stating such a condition -- then it matters little whether one
does this on a regular, continuous basis or occasionally.  Either
using multiple forwarding to bypass a lata restriction is a tariff
violation or it isn't, if it isn't, then it doesn't matter; if it is,
then the reasons don't matter.

Again, it must be a local wire company tariff explicitly stating that
using call forwarding expressly to avoid using a LATA is prohibited.
A tariff from AT&T or MCI carrying this is irrelevant.

If it's legal in some cases and not in others, where do you draw the
line?  Once in a while?  Once a week?  Once a day?  How do you set
such a standard?  It's technically illegal to drive over 65 miles per
hour on any U.S. public road or faster than 55 in metropolitan areas,
whether you do it once or ten times a day; (getting caught is the
'technical' part).

> Let's assume it is legal. Unless all the interim connections are 
> untimed, unmeasured local calls, there will be no savings, transparent 
> or otherwise.

Unlike Illinois and the huge phone bill increases after Ameritech got
your call paks cancelled on the claim you would see lower bills, but
never did, some places -- perhaps many -- still have untimed local
calls.

> It is very, very rare when any two or more local calls (or for that matter
> any two or more long distance calls) when their costs are added together 
> are cheaper than a single call from one destination to another.

I am in Silver Spring, Maryland.  From this area to Baltimore is an
inter-lata call which costs between 15 and 19c per minute, for example, 
depending on which carrier and what time called.  15c per minute is $9.00 
per hour.

It is a local call from here to Columbia, MD.  It is a local call from
Columbia to Baltimore.  Local calls from both residential and business
customers are untimed and cost about 10c each.  Based on these rates,
the break-even point on a call is 3 minutes.

If we assumed that you had to pay someone $20 a month to let them keep
an unused passthru line in their place, plus, say, $30 a month for
that passthru line, plus 10c per call, the break-even point is at 6
hours of usage a month, or about 1/2 hour each weekday.  If the line
took two 15 minute call transfers each weekday, this would cost $5.00
in call charges.  That means the line costs $55 a month.

The toll cost of 15 minutes 50 times a month is $120.  This represents
a 50% savings over the cost of making the calls direct.  Want to bet a
direct tie line stretching 40 miles from Baltimore to Silver Spring is
considerably more than either $55 or $120 a month.

Beyond that, we have remote call forwarding capability, which means the 
destination number can be changed without visiting the site.

There are places where this sort of thing is cheaper.

> See my point?  Nothing comes 'free', not even unmeasured local service
> as a way to avoid tolls. At bare minimum, skin and bones cost for the
> permanently forwarded interim line, you need to make a certain amount of
> calls each month before it rolls in your favor. Add any interim expenses
> and the rollover point gets even higher. Unless you can get the cost per
> minute down to under 10-12 cents then forget it, because you can get an
> 800 number with prices in that range, and the legality of 800 as a way
> of receiving calls is unquestioned.  

At 10c a minute, we are still talking $6 an hour.  That is quite a bit
of money in some cases.  The only reason using 800 is legal is because
of the 2c per minute each side is getting in feature group access charges.

And that's what it all comes down to is money.  If people wanted to
pay 2c per minute on forwarded calls, the local phone company wouldn't
care how you forwarded them.


Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 00:10:04 EDT
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@tdr.com>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@tdr.com>
Subject: Re: Measured and Unlimited Service at Same Residence
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA


John Higdon <john@bovine.ati.com> wrote: 

> mmathews@hadron.wellfleet.com (Mat Mathews) writes:

> NYNEX tells me, however, that it IS NOT POSSIBLE to have measured and 
> unlimited service at the same residence.  Why is this?

> Probably because Nynex feels that this is a necessary way to extract
> the last farthing from you. While I snort aplenty about Pac*Bell, at
> least that company has absolutely no restrictions concerning mix and
> match on classes of service.

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:

>> To get back to your original question, no they won't install metered
>> service at your premises then turn around and give you a way to bypass
>> the meter. Makes sense to me.  PAT]

> But not to me. If the telco is selling unmeasured service, is it not
> done so expecting that the customer will make calls?... If a customer 
> has [both]...he is getting exactly what he is paying for: a more 
> expensive ... unlimited ... and a less expensive ...local calls are 
> charged for ... never been able to comprehend the reasoning (other 
> than greed or the desire to discourage having to provide extra
> service in a neighborhood) behind the rules against mixing classes of
> service...

I hadn't thought about it that way, and it makes sense.  A person who
buys a limited and unlimited lines is doing essentially the same thing
as adding call waiting on their line, and the extra line is usually
more expensive than call waiting anyway.

I am in the unique situation of having had both unlimited and limited 
lines at the same location.

We have three classes of residential service in this part of Maryland.
There is "economy" service which charges 9c for every call; there is
"measured" service which gives 65 free calls on the line; and there is
unlimited service.  After having two unlimited service lines, then
adding a third line, I figured if I could convert them to 65 call
lines, that I would save money.  I make calls to BBSs and would use
more than 65 calls per month, but if I understood it correctly I would
get 65*3 free calls per month, or 195 free call units, which is more
than enough.

Well, I find out from the clerk that I can do this, so I change over.
I talk to another clerk about something, and she informs me that each
line is separate and the call counts don't carry across from line to
line even though they are all billed on the same bill.

So I ask if I can have economy service on the two other lines and
unmeasured service on the line my computer is on, since I can't get
what I want, and the clerk says this is okay, except that I have to
have someone else in the place get the second economy line since a
person can't have two economy lines.  My mother is living here so I
give them her name and identification.

This is back in November.  I leave a message on TELECOM Digest about
my situation, and a local reader I've had messages with before informs
me that I *can* get all of the call counts combined.  I check with a
clerk, she says no and even mails me the tariff pages that seem to
confirm that the call counts can not combined.

By February I mention something to a clerk and she says that's wrong,
the counts *can* be combined.  So now I'm thoroughly confused.  I ask
for a supervisor, explain the whole thing and she says this is what is
correct, and in fact having economy service with *any* other service
at the same address is a tariff violation.

You can have either one (1) phone line with economy.  Or you can have
all lines as measured service or all lines as unlimited, but not both
types.

In fact, because of this the telephone company's computers are
bouncing my account's orders because they know what is on my account
is a tariff violation and won't accept them.

So the supervisor determines what I am trying to get -- three lines
billed as one account with combined call allocation of 195 calls per
month irregardless of which of the three lines places the calls -- and
she says that's exactly what the measured service is supposed to
provide.

So the supervisor orders me back-billed to correct the problem since
they have been billing me for the old account as well as the new one,
which I paid.  By the time they cleared the account, plus the
erroneous account changes that were reversed because I wouldn't have
been charged them if the account was correctly set up in the first
place, it ended up that I had a credit of $85.00.

So I think that the statement as made is correct; the reason for not
allowing limited and unlimited is because the phone company wants to
squeeze the last nickel.  The difference between a 65-call per month
line and an unlimited call line is about $12.


Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A comedy of errors here:  John Higdon has
further replied to Paul Robinson and sent a copy of that reply to the
Digest (without realizing it.) Getting my autoreply, he writes and says
'did not mean to send that since it was personal to Paul; unless you use
his don't use mine ...'. Not having Paul's message (above) on hand at the
moment I wrote John saying okay I would kill his message. Then bingo, that
being done, all of a sudden Paul's shows up here!  Now I don't have John
Higdon's further reply which was a good one.  So John, if you will write
again restating your comments responding to Paul, I will get yours out
to the list ASAP probably Monday.  There! Is all that clear as mud?  

As the Digest nears its 13th anniversary later this week I am hoping I
can hold the thing together and get a few issues out later this week. I
think regular readers know what I mean.  PAT]

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End of TELECOM Digest V14 #345
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