Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!lll-winken!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: zygot!john@apple.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Why DA Costs Should Be Spread Among All Subscribers Message-ID: Date: 24 Aug 89 04:48:42 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 50 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 322, message 5 of 8 In article , stiatl!john@gatech.edu (John DeArmond) writes: > No, the concept of universal service is that the costs, sometimes > individually > extraordinary, are spread across the rate-base so that everybody pays just > a little bit. Sure, you may not use DA often but for some others it may > be vital. I'll bet you use other free value-added services of the I'm afraid I have to disagree. While I concur with your comments about inside plant and the other incidentals to provide dial tone to different subscribers and equalizing those costs in the spirit of "universal service", DA just isn't one of those things. I have ten residential lines. I get no volume discount; it's $oneline X ten. I have CommstarII (home centrex) at $8.00/line. (Do you suppose it costs them $8.00/month/line to have typed the features in once a long time ago?) Granted, these are "value added services" and I am happily (?) paying for them. My long distance bill is approx. $400/month. By your reasoning, that cost should just be spread over the rate base and let everyone share in the cost. No matter how you look at it DA is an *optional* service. You CAN avoid using it. And let's face it: DA abuse was rampant before charging began. I know people who literally prefaced *every* call with 411 because they couldn't remember numbers and felt that looking them up or writing them down was too much trouble. And remember, those who are disabled can get a waiver on charges. > I know that I'm on them frequently > to fix problems with my lines that only affect data transmission. Sure I > could buy a data-grade line and in fact, they try to push that from time to > time. My residential service is surely more expensive than the subscriber > who only calls his/her mother once a week. But I don't think any of use > REALLY want pay-as-you-go. That some PUCs have allowed the phone company to > deviate from the concept of universal service is sad indeed. Ah, but the concept of universal service only applies to the most "basic" (whatever that means) telephone service. It is quite right and proper for telephone companies to charge for anything more. Quite honestly, if your non-data-grade lines are unsatisfactory for your use and data-grade lines are, then, my friend you are looking for more than basic telephone service and you will have to pay more to get more. I'm not insensitive about this. Five of my lines carry data. But I fortuately live virtually next door to the CO and have never had any problems. If this wasn't the case, I would pay for data-grade if necessary. BTW, I've never thought that Pac*Bell should give me a discount because they don't use much cable to provide my service.:-) -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !