Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: John Higdon Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: GTE/Contel Merger Questions Message-ID: <9695@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 13 Jul 90 23:10:12 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 88 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 481, Message 1 of 6 Robert Virzi writes: > ** QUESTIONS ** You bet -- questions. This is all probably the worst news for telephone users to come along since the MFJ. > Where are Contel franchises? (Both telephone and CATV) Among other places, Contel service California's high desert areas and also serves the nearby town of Gilroy here in my area. > Why did GTE stock drop (albeit a small amount) while Contel and Contel > Cellular stocks went up? Among other things, they want to make this an attractive deal to Contel share holders, so that they can get approval at that level. > What is Contel's reputation? I have heard that they are one of the > more innovative telcos, pushing into CATV, videotex, and other > interesting services at a fast pace. Unlike GTE, Contel seems to have a committment to the customer to provide solutions to requirements. Contel has done extensive upgrading of its facilities in the past few years. In the old days, they used crossbar while GTE was mired in SXS. > What sort of network does Contel have? I know they don't use the > GTD-5 because (rumor has it) we (GTE) have only sold one outside the > corporation to Ameritech. Are they largely digital or X-bar or worse? They are now largely digital, although in some of the real backwater places there is still some XY and SXS. In Gilroy, they did unfortunately install some 1EAX, but in most areas they have either 5ESS (example: Barstow) or DMS (example: Victorville). > Finally, are there likely to be objections raised to the merger by the > FCC or SEC? If so, on what grounds? I don't know what the regulatory agencies will object to, but I can give you a few of my own. First, GTE operates their utility as if it was the water or gas company. Interest in telephony takes a distant back seat to the business of business. (Those of you that work for GTE in laboratories or R&D, save your breath -- I'm speaking from a customer's point of view, which is what the regulatory bodies should be considering.) GTE loves to consolidate. When you try to call the business office at some 800 number, you get perpetual busy. When you finally break through, you are put on permanent hold. When I call the "local" GTE business office, the call goes to Thousand Jokes -- about 300 miles away. Contel, on the other hand has a business office right there in Gilroy -- serving all two of Gilroy's prefixes. When I tried to pay a Victorville Contel phone bill there, they were very nice and handled it for me, but they had to call Victorville to make the arrangements. They are not centralized and it's a plus for the customer. The same thing applies to repair service. When you dial 611 from here in Los Gatos (GTE) do you get anyone local who can help? No, indeed. What you get is some EEOC-requirment-fulfilling person (hired not because they are adept at taking trouble calls, but because they keep some other government agency at bay) who tries to take your report. Sometimes you have to spell "reorder" and "distortion". Contel routes your call to the nearest *local* center, and within short order you can deal with the very person who will repair your trouble (much like Pac*Bell). I would advise Contel customers to run, not walk, to the nearest typewriter and protest in the strongest terms to any and all requlatory agencies that must approve this merger. I have always had the highest respect for Contel and it would be the century's biggest disaster to see it merge with the sorriest excuse for a telephone company this country has ever known. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: So John, just about the time you thought you had seen it all; about the time you thought nothing could be worse than the disaster Harold Greene has made of the public telephone network with his MF Judgment -- some folks, you know, say that 'MF' means something other than 'Modified Final' :) -- about when you had learned to live and cope with the travesty; along comes this newest affront. I quite agree with you. Wave bye-bye to Contel, everyone! PT]