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From: PCI@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Questions About Local Service and Long Distance Rates
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Date: 14 Jul 90 19:53:39 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 484, Message 3 of 8


Brendan B. Boerner (boerner@emx.utexas.edu) asks the following often 
asked questions:

>First, does anyone have a clue why Southwestern Bell here in Austin,
>TX wants $60.00 to hookup a phone?  I don't mean hookup as in sending
>someone to pull some wire (I think that's $60.00/hour), I mean,
>$60.00 so that I can call, request service, am told it'll be available
>after such-and-such hour on such-and-such day, and that's that.  I
>asked a cust. service rep. about it once and she wasn't able to give
>me a very good explanation.  I seem to recall that it involved a
>couple of data key operators and maybe one or two quality assurance
>folks.

The cost of a phone installation is based on the AVERAGE cost to
install a phone in your rate region.  This is approved by your state
PUC.  Sometimes state PUC's allow a discount if a line is already in.
Sometimes if you accept a working line of a previous resident it is
much lower then a new connection.  Some PUC's allow extra charges for
remote installs.  There are great inconsistencies in rates between
different service areas ... even more variance between states.  It
depends on what each company can get approved by the respective PUC.
Some state PUC's are VERY consumer sensitive ... some PUC's act like a
department of the telephone companies they are supposed to regulate!

Back to the $60 installation.  IF they would charge the same $60 for
an all day install to another resident in your service area (as I
believe they would) it is not really out of line.

>Also, when I moved out of a co-op two years ago, I asked if I could
>keep the same number which I had been using.  I was told, yes, if I
>wanted to pay to have them pull a wire from the 478 exchange to the
>458 exchange (my old number was 478-3813, my current is 458-1770)
>*and* I would have to pay extra monthly.  What I am wondering is, how
>does the local service work?  Is a city really broken into sections,
>where moving a number between them requires a hardware change?

You are asking for a Foreign Exchange (FX) service.  Each CO has it's
assigned prefixes.  Your new phone will really be, for rate purposes
and calling purposes, in you old calling area.  A new wire will not be
installed but you will utilize a trunk on a full period basis.  This
trunk will go between the CO's in your city (yes, cities are broken
into sections or areas based upon servicing CO.)  In Hawaii, the cost
for an Inter Office Trunk is over $8/mile within the same island and
slightly over $2/mile if between CO's on separate islands (don't try
to see a consistency, remember I said it is what the phone company can
get approved).  In addition you must pay for the phone service at the
originating CO and a charge for FX service.  All of these charges are
monthly.

If having your old telephone number is important (businesses may find
it very important), I usually recommend that FX service be compared to
Remote Call Forwarding (RCF).  This would mean your old telephone
number would be set to forward calls to your new telephone number.  It
is a switch function without a local line or instrument (obviously an
inbound calling only service).  This service costs about 1/2 of the
cost of a business line.  You would have to pay toll charges if
applicable between the old number and new number.  Your callers will
be charged for only cost to the old number.

>About the long distance pricing: I called MCI and inquired about their
>PrimeTime Texas and PrimeTime plans.  These are plans where you agree
>to purchase a minimum of 1hr/month of intrastate and interstate long
>distance service respectively.  Maybe someone can explain the odd
>rates summarized below (what is odd (to me) is that intrastate is
>*more* expensive than interstate).

Back to the regulatory bodies!  PUC's regulate Intrastate service and
FCC regulates Interstate service.  The regulations may not always
apply to the Inter Exchange Carrier.  Sometimes IEC's are unregulated
because they are nondominant carriers.  The Local Exchange Carrier is
almost (if not) always regulated on rates in can charge IEC's by the
FCC and PUC (depending whether it is Intrastate or Interstate
service).

In my work (as a carrier) I have seen as much as a 200% to 300%
difference in switch access charges for Feature Group D access between
Interstate and Intrastate service on the same switch!  Then to make it
more interesting, some states are blessed with a monopoly of the LEC
for Intralata service (to all those who complain about GTE as an LEC,
how would you like to deal with them on ANY service within a state!)

I hope this has helped answer your questions.  I am at home and do not
have my Tariffs with me.  Just for Hawaii, between PUC tariffs, GTE
FCC tariffs, FCC Regulations, etc I use up 2 bookshelves.

I might add that it is NOT uncommon for customer service
representatives not to understand the tariffs applicable to the
services they support.  I often get an off-the-wall answer that is
defended by "that is our tariff".  I then get great joy in asking "I
must have missed that rule, could you please FAX me the page it is
on".  The silence on the other end followed by the stammering shows
the great discomfort of being caught. I have yet to get the 1st FAX, I
have 100% success in eventually getting what I asked for and I have
never had the same line pulled twice by the same representative.  (I
accept the reasonable answer of "I am not sure how to do this" or
"price this" ... "let me check it out and get in touch with you".  But
they had better get back to me or I will call them and the supervisor.


Robert Kelley           Internet:   PCI@CUP.PORTAL.COM 
PCI Communications Inc. EasyLink:   62958477           
(808) 599-4724          OnTyme:     INTL.PCI/KELLEY    
FAX (808) 733-2011      SprintMail: RFKELLEY           
SnailMail: 1103 9th Ave, Suite 245, Honolulu HI, 96816