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From: hrs1@cbnewsi.ATT.COM (herman.r.silbiger)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Proposal: An Answering Machine I'd Love to Have
Message-ID: <5126@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 13 Mar 90 15:45:20 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 169, Message 7 of 10


> Do you feel that if someone you call isn't home that you should be
> charged anyway for the call? You got something for nothing in the
> knowledge that your party wasn't home, or at least wouldn't answer the
> phone for one reason or another. What about if it's busy. Again, free
> information.
 
> You decide to call a friend, but you aren't sure he's home from work
> yet. He lives alone and has no answering machine. You dial the number.
> As it begins to ring, you hear the unmistakable clunk of supervision.
> After ten rings or so, you hang up. When the bill comes you find a
> charge for the call. When you protest, saying the call wasn't
> answered, the kind telco rep tells you that you dialed a valid number
> and found out the party wasn't home. Pay the $0.22!
 
> Apply that as well to a busy signal. In fact, just think of all the
> facility usage telcos and IECs would save if they billed for all call
> attempts, not to mention the extra money they would make! It would
> sure put war dialers out of business!
 
> No, I think you're both wrong. I will gladly pay to pick up my
> messages, but I resent having to pay for *no* messages.
 
How about the following scenario.  You decide to go see a friend who
lives some distance away.  You get in your car, drive to a toll road,
get on, and pay when you get off.  You get to your friend's house,
ring the bell, and there is no answer.  You get back in your car,
drive back over the toll road, and ask for the tolls back, since your
friend wasn't home, and you did not get to talk to him.  The toll
collector looks at you, and says: "Are you kidding?  You used my
road!."  Then you go to the gas station, and ask for a fillup, with
the same rationale.  The answer is probably not fit for usenet. Etc.
etc.

While I am certainly not advocating being charged for call attempts,
there definitely is a good rationale for them.  Actually, I believe
that in Denmark there is such a charge.  Some things are free, which
could reasonably have charges.  When buying something in a store, they
will usually let you return it for any reason.  Some businesses will
charge a restocking fee.

Also remember that one COCOT operator recently got caught placing
calls first over AT&T to see if the card number was good, hanging up,
and then placing the call over their own lines.  The court deemed this
illegal.

There was also some serious discussion in CCITT whether there should
be charges for call attempts in ISDN, which the US strongly opposed.


Herman Silbiger