Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!texbell!chinacat!telecom-gateway From: eravin@dasys1.UUCP (Ed Ravin) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Why Aren't College Telcos Regulated? Message-ID: Date: 26 Nov 89 23:29:52 GMT Sender: news@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG Organization: The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game In New York Lines: 32 Approved: telecom-request@chinacat.lonestar.org X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 534, message 1 of 10 From recent postings in comp.dcom.telecom, it appears that many colleges and universities have become the telephone company for their students living in on-campus housing. The recent nasty example was Columbia, who charges $5 for each collect call to a student, turns off an account if the long distance bill exceeds $100, provides service to the students via a Rolm switch that forces them to pay extra for data connections (sorry, no modems), charging for incomplete calls, and more. Similiar insensitive behavior has been reported at the University of Stony Brook, including insufficient trunk allocation (the cheapskates don't buy enough incoming trunks so every phone on campus appears busy during peak periods). Why aren't these local telephone service providers (for, in essence, that's what they are) regulated by their respective state public service commissions? If Columbia is adding $5 to the cost of a collect call, they should have to file a tariff with the state first. I strongly urge students at any school with an attitude like Columbia's to write to their state's public utilities commission documenting abuses that no ordinary telephone company could get away with and asking for relief. The address to complain to should be near the front of your local telephone directory (the real one, not the one provided by your school). Send copies of your letters and responses to comp.dcom.telecom. Colleges and universities can only get away with this crap if their students and staff let them! Ed Ravin | hombre!dasys1!eravin | "A mind is a terrible thing (BigElectricCatPublicUNIX)| eravin@dasys1.UUCP | to waste-- boycott TV!" Reader bears responsibility for all opinions expressed in this article.