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From: rees@pisa.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Best and Worst (was: Labor Day, 1990)
Message-ID: <11894@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 7 Sep 90 19:51:04 GMT
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Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees)
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 629, Message 10 of 12


I've been to, and used the phone system in, about 40 countries in the
last two years.

The Best:  USA, Hong Kong, Singapore

The Worst:  India, Vietnam, Indonesia

None:  Laos (they don't have phones outside the big city!)

My biggest complaint with USA phone system right now is that it's very
hostile to outsiders.  The multitude of long distance companies is
confusing to someone used to the telephone monopolies of other
countries, and there is no provision for non-subscribers to pay for
phone calls.  AT&T won't give a credit card to someone who has no
phone.

Here is an exercise for you Americans.  Imagine yourself standing on a
street corner downtown in your city with nothing but lots of cash and
a Visa card.  You do not have a "home phone" in this country.  You
don't want to make the callee pay for the call. How would you make a
long distance phone call?  Remember, most of the world will cost you
on the order of $3 a minute.  That's 12 coins of the largest
denomination accepted by a pay phone.

Here are two ideas from other countries to make the USA phone system
more usable to outsiders (that includes me, and I live here!):

Do away with coin-operated phones.  Replace them with phones that take
a smart card.  They should take both pre-pay cards (available at any
corner market for $10, $20, etc) and telephone credit cards.

Make meters easily and cheaply available.  You go in to a bar and want
to make a phone call.  The bartender writes down the meter reading,
you make your call, and pay for the number of units you used.

One or both of these systems are widely used throughout Europe and
Asia, and it makes life a lot easier.