Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bionet!ames!attctc!vector!telecom-gateway From: lim@csvax.caltech.edu (Kian-Tat Lim) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin [from LA Times] Message-ID: Date: 9 Jul 89 07:43:45 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 51 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 227, message 1 of 8 [From the LA Times "Consumer Views" column, by Don G. Campbell, 7/7/89. Paraphrased except for items in quotes.] QUESTION: J. T. observes several one-minute call charges on his/her MCI phone bill. These were made to answering machines that answer on the fifth ring; he/she always hung up after the third or fourth ring. MCI first claims that J. T. would not have been charged if the machine hadn't answered. An MCI manager later informs the customer that "when [you] call a number with an answering machine -- no matter how soon [you] hang up -- [you] will be charged because the two machines have made a connection," and therefore no reimbursement can be made. The MCI manager also claimed that "all long- distance companies have the same problem because of this 'connection' over which they have no control." AT&T told J. T. that "they charge only when a person, or a machine, actually answered." But J. T.'s mother has AT&T and has the same problem. ANSWER: "Both answers [from MCI and AT&T] are perfectly valid. [...] Here's how it works: You call a number serviced by an answering machine. [...] About '2 to 3 seconds' *before* the ringing stops and the pause indicating that the machine is about to respond, there is a distinct *click* on the line. This is described by [a Panasonic technical person] as 'a plunger in the relay making contact with the cassette player.' And this is when the telephone company's meter starts running." [emphasis theirs] Campbell tested his own machine; it exhibited the click 12 seconds after the first ring had begun and continued ringing for 2 seconds after the click. He was charged for the call if he hung up after the click. " 'I think that a lot of people have this misunderstanding,' said [an AT&T spokesperson], 'that if they hang up while the phone is still ringing, the call hasn't gone through. Actually, the recording machine has been triggered at the instant that click takes place, but in many cases the caller is in the process of hanging up and doesn't have the phone at his ear, and so he doesn't hear the click.' " MCI confirms that it operates similarly. The MCI spokesperson points out that this is *not* the same as lack of call supervision, which caused "ring-no-answer" billing. "Just when the telephone answering machine kicks on isn't standardized [...] among the manufacturers." "There's one possible moral in all this: If your timing is off and you hear the click, you might just as well stay on the line long enough to announce yourself." "Because you've paid for it anyway." -- Kian-Tat Lim (ktl@wagvax.caltech.edu, KTL @ CITCHEM.BITNET, GEnie: K.LIM1)