Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Dave Levenson Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Proposal: An Answering Machine I'd Love to Have Message-ID: <5294@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 18 Mar 90 03:05:25 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA Lines: 24 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 181, Message 5 of 12 In article <5201@accuvax.nwu.edu>, tneff%bfmny0@uunet.uu.net (Tom Neff) writes: > (Actually, this is a classic case of monopoly despotism. In a free > market, the issue would be decided by consumer choice. If company A > charges for every off-hook, then company B can try to knock their > socks off in the marketplace by charging only for completed calls. I > suspect that in the US, at least, it'd be a winning strategy.) In the New York City area, there are two cellular telephone service providers. When the first system (known to cellular telephone users as service B) went on the air a few years ago, they charged for every call attempt, whether or not anyone answered. The competition (service A) which became active almost a year later charged only for completed calls. Apparently, Tom Neff is correct. Today, both companies charge only for completed calls. Dave Levenson Voice: 201 647 0900 Fax: 201 647 6857 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave