Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: stiatl!john@gatech.edu (John DeArmond) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Wardialers Message-ID: Date: 19 Jul 89 23:09:13 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: John DeArmond Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product" Lines: 49 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 248, message 6 of 7 In article zygot!john@apple.com (John Higdon) writes: > >But more important, it's this cavalier attitude that puts AT&T in a >class by itself. Phone service in this country has been reliable enough >that we have all taken it for granted. We *rely* on it. Over recent >years, Sprint, MCI, Telesphere, etc., ad nauseum, have demonstrated >that they consider telephone service in the same category as cable >television: nice when it works, but not really essential. After all, as >one Sprint rep told me once, "If it doesn't work, you can always use >AT&T." > >While it >may sound like commercial copy, AT&T acts as though every single call >is essential to their business. John, I have to agree with you 100%. I've always had a love-hate with AT&T (Damn, they sure got mad when they caught me reselling residential service via a homemade switch and wires strung thru ditches :-) Before hissoner got involved, they could be the most rude, most incosiderate, most hateful people imaginable. I remember being stunned the first time I had an AT&T operator THANK me for using the service. Or actually having time for directory assistance. And none of mere civilians will ever be able to imagine what we've lost by having Bell Labs become commercial. On the other hand, I could call "the phone company" when I had a problem. I didn't have to worry about whether it was in-house wiring or network wiring. It all got taken care of. And I could rely absolutely on getting a dial tone AND getting reliable long distance service merely by dialing 1+ or 0+. No AOS, no COCOTS or any of these other cuss words. Yeah, yeah, rates have come down but subscriber rates, especially business have more than risen to compensate for the small users. Of course, big business got the deals they always wanted. Perhaps the solution is simply to speak with our pocketbooks. Enough of us should probably use sprint or mci (flush the others) so that they can stick around and provide competition. Other than that, let's make AT&T "the phone company" again. A little lobbying in congress to keep them and the FCC out of AT&T's hair and things will be complete. John -- John De Armond, WD4OQC | Manual? ... What manual ?!? Sales Technologies, Inc. Atlanta, GA | This is Unix, My son, You ...!gatech!stiatl!john **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!!