Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Ken Harrenstien Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Alert: AT&T May Consider Removing TDD Long Distance Discount Message-ID: <8290@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 26 May 90 00:34:43 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 46 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 386, Message 7 of 7 >Please don't take this the wrong way, but what is the justification >for discounts for TDD customers? I can see doing it if the bandwidth >of TDD devices is so much smaller than voice that deaf people are >effectively paying more for less effective use of the same circuit for >the same amount of time as hearing people, but I have not heard that >argument brought up. (And in which case I think there is a good >argument for the discount, or at least a special TDD rate structure.) Indeed, this is the rationale. The standard figure in the literature I've seen has been a 5:1 ratio; that is, a conversation via TDD takes five times as long as a voice call to convey the same information. The discount, however, does NOT follow this ratio. I'm not sure exactly what it amounts to -- the one time I tried to get an explanation out of a telco billing person, I was told it just meant the lowest possible rate was applied (ie night rate) instead of the normal rate. The bill always simply says "DN". So it doesn't do me any good to schedule my calls for the evening instead of the daytime. One other aspect of this discount, at least here in California, is that it ONLY applies to calls made from a single line identified as belonging to a TDD subscriber. I cannot have two lines and have the discount on both. It also does NOT apply to calls I make with a calling card, or calls I charge to that number, or even calls made to that number. So in my opinion it's a pretty feeble gesture. You'd think the simple thing to do would be to just charge everything normally and factor the total by .50 or whatever, but no. Oh yeah, while I'm ranting about bills, any long-distance (but intrastate) charges I incur when using the California Relay Service are printed as calls to "Cal Relay" (instead of, say "San Jose" or "Sacramento"), even though they show the correct destination number. So it is a little harder for me to figure out where I was really calling. As for interstate calls, the Relay service can't call out of state -- no calls, no billing problem. Gee, maybe we should carry this idea to its logical extreme ... no telco, no telco hassles! I haven't heard anything about removing the discount, but I imagine it would be done quietly in any case. Someone did tell me a couple days ago about a radio report that AT&T would be introducing a nationwide TDD relay service, but I haven't seen anything in print, so this may only be a rumor or a misinterpretation. Ken