Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!chinacat!telecom-gateway From: jimmy@icjapan.uucp (Jim Gottlieb) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Anachronistic Rip-off Message-ID: Date: 1 Dec 89 02:52:02 GMT Sender: news@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan Lines: 40 Approved: telecom-request@chinacat.lonestar.org X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 544, message 1 of 8 In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >The catch: Their service is entirely through FGA. When you sign up, >they come out to your premesis and install magic Mitel dialers on each >Problem #3 >Since they program the dialers, they have the ability, unbeknownst to >the customer, to siphon off not only intralata calls, but local calls >as well. Not only would you pay Pac*Bell for the local call to their >switch, but they would charge you for the call as well. Do they ever do >this? You bet. You bet! I can't believe the number of offices I wander into where they are using autodialers or PBXs set up to just send all 1+ calls to the alternate carrier. Here in L.A. (well, over there in L.A.) many 1+ calls are local so these companies are paying local call + OCC charges to call local and message unit (ZUM) numbers which would otherwise be very cheap. A few years back I was working for an interconnect and upon going out to a customer's site, discovered that their NEAX 2400 was programmed to do this. I mentioned the problem to the programmer, and told him that it needs to be programmed by prefix, not just by 1+: Him: "Do you know what an "if statement" is?" Me: "Yeah." Him: "It would require too many if statements." I felt that after the customer had paid over $100,000 for a phone system, they deserved better than this. So I told the customer what was happening and told them to demand that it be fixed. Of course I was promptly fired, but I still have no regrets. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ or or Fax: (011)+81-3-448-0878 Voice Mail: (011)+81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424