Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: sneaky!gordon@uunet.uu.net (Gordon Burditt)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime
Message-ID: <8821@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 9 Jun 90 12:38:11 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 423, Message 5 of 9


The ad in my mail says "A review of your AT&T Long Distance bill
indicates that you have the potential to save money by changing to the
AT&T SelectSaver Plan".

"A routine review of your AT&T account indicates that you are
currently being charged standard prices for your out-of-state,
direct-dialed AT&T Long Distance calls, and that you make the majority
of these calls to area code (717) in Pennsylvania."

"To benefit from this new plan you would need to increase your AT&T
Long Distance calling to your selected area code by about 10 minutes
per month."

On the basis of my bills, they decided that I would want to get a
special rate to area code 717 (.12/min evening/night/weekend, .20/min
day) plus 5% savings on all other out-of-state direct calls, for only
$1.90 a month.  (There are 3 calling rates based on distance.  From
817 (Fort Worth, Texas), I think everything is "medium" except Alaska,
Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  The $1.90/month seems to
be fixed.)

Hmmm, how did they choose this?  Well, if they know I have two lines
billed on the same bill, since January, 1989 that was one evening-rate
717 25-minute call in December, 1989, and one evening 717 29-minute
call in February, 1990.  If they don't know about the second line,
then they only know about the first call.  If they went back much
further than November, 1989, they would have seen that night-rate 614
calls dominate the out-of-state bill in 1989.

Now, if I had gotten this plan in December, 1989 (on ONE line, and
made all the calls on that line), and made 1 10-minute evening-rate
call each month in addition to actual use, I would have paid $11.40 in
SelectSaver bills to date to save about $4.56 on calls, for a net loss
of $6.84.  And they are strongly implying that they LOOKED at my bills
and decided I could save money.  AAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

If they want me to save money, the same plan applied to area code 214
(Dallas, which is in-state, adjacent, and intra-LATA, because unless
you use 10288, Southwestern Bell handles it and bills at a higher rate
than AT&T) might work, since I call there a lot more. I wonder if AT&T
wants the FCC to know you even CAN dial from 817 to 214 via AT&T.

One interesting feature: they say NOTHING about changing my
long-distance carrier (my default carrier is null) or having to have
it be AT&T.

		Gordon L. Burditt
		sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon