Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Steve Forrette Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cable & Wireless 800 Service Message-ID: <10577@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 7 Aug 90 10:58:47 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 89 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 550, Message 2 of 7 Per the Moderator's request, here's the information about my 800 carrier: Cable & Wireless - 800/486-8686 (24 hour customer service - they can refer you to the sales office for your area) Signup fee: $0 Monthly fee: $10-15/month (accessible from the 48 contiguous states) (Everyone at the carrier tells me it's $15, but I have yet to receive a bill where it wasn't $10) Canada: $20/month extra (allows your number to be dialable from Canada) Hawaii: $20/month extra (allows your number to be dialable from Hawaii) Alaska: $20/month extra (allows your number to be dialable from Alaska) DirAsst: $12/month extra, I think (causes you to be listed at 800/555-1212) Programmable 800: $10/month extra For the basic fee, you tell them what POTS number you want your calls forwarded to. If you pay for the "programmable 800", you can call an 800 programming number, enter your 800 number, password, and a new POTS number, and the routing will be changed. There's no charge for a "change POTS number" transaction. Usage is around $.19/minute daytime, $.13/minute evening, $.11/minute night/ weekend, or somewhere around there. The cost is the same no matter how close or far the caller is (however, there is an extra charge for Canada, Hawaii, and Alaska originations). Even intra-state and/or intra-LATA works just fine. (In fact, I can call my 800 number from my main line, and get the call-waiting tone!) I have had the service since the first of the year, and am very pleased with it. The reason I ended up with C&W is that they had the prefix that the number "I just had to have" maps to. They had no problem with assigning me the number of my choice, since it was unassigned. Their customer service is *excellent*. I've called in the middle of the night, and the person that answers the phone can handle my problem. I've even gotten responses such as "just a minute - let me pop into the other room and check the network programming." The front-line customer service reps have both customer service and network computers at their disposal. They just started the programmable 800 service last month. I had a problem the first time, and the first person who answered the phone was able to tell me what POTS number my 800 was currently set for, through a real-time lookup right from their desk. Impressive. (A little different from Sprint, eh John?) I guess when you call in the middle of the night (as I always seem to need to), you talk directly with the technical department. Calls during the day get more traditional "customer service" types, but I've had no problems getting transferred when I needed to. The only weirdness with the 800 service is that they return answer supervision to the originating CO as soon as they finish outdialing your POTS number. Apparently, they handle regular long distance calls (if you had them as your primary carrier) correctly, but 800 calls are a bit strange. I asked for and spoke with someone in the "800 network center", who confirmed this. Apparently, they thought that this would not cause problems, as the caller is never paying for the call to the 800 number anyway. Of course, this is not true if you are calling from cellular, as you have airtime to pay. Cellular One of Sacramento apparently pays attention to actual supervision when determining airtime charges, and not a timeout. I had called home several times when I was out of town to check my answering machine (which has "toll-saver"), and found this out the hard way. But, not a big deal, considering everthing else. It certainly is handy as an anti-COCOT weapon, to be able to get my messages with an 800 call. I do not have them as my regular long distance carrier, and they don't accept "casual calling" through 10XXX unless you have an account set up in advance. (Apparently, their switch determines which calls to let though based on the ANI) The main reason I don't is I didn't know much about them when I signed up for the 800 service, but may switch over considering the service I've gotten) In short, highly recommended! (You may be surprised, but I've no affiliation with them, other than as a satisfied customer. As I said in a previous posting, this is the only carrier I've dealt with that has allowed me to *ever* speak with someone that knew how the telephone network worked, let alone having the people who answer the main number know!) If you call the S.F. Bay Area office, ask for Mike McKenney - he's always handled my account promptly and returned my calls, even though I don't spend very much per month.