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From: gutierre@nsipo.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Best and Worst (was: Labor Day, 1990)
Message-ID: <11911@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 8 Sep 90 11:24:40 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 631, Message 5 of 7


> 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

> 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.

Ahh, but the current situation has become much better than in the
past.  Back when American Telephone and Telegraph ruled the states,
there were *no* phones with major credit card access, or alternate
L.D.  companies who you could order so-called "stand-alone" calling
card accounts.  AT&T, as far as they were concerned, didn't think you
exisited if you lived outside the USA or were not in the armed
services.

> 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.

This is an excellent idea that AT&T should have adopted before `ol
Harry broke them up (that's Judge Harold "Equal Access" Greene to
you!).  But this is now impossible with the poliferation of the
one-armed bandits ...errr ... COCOTS, and different Long Distance
companies now.  Japan can (and did) do this, but only because they
were (at the time) a monopoly.  They didn't have to fight with X
amount of COCOT mfgr's or X amount of AOS carriers or L.D. companies
or X amount of local telco's, etc ... you get the idea.

The best we can hope for now is an Automated Teller/Instant Teller
debit card system that *maybe* some L.D. carrier would implement, and
allow the public at large (or at least the ones who hold such cards)
to use their services casually.  This will at least allow some people
from other major countries to use the services here.  This, of course,
doesn't even come close to the open access that NTT/Japan allows
through the use of their telephone debit cards.

I have three NTT 50 unit telephone cards myself (given as a gift to me
 ... they have my favorite Japanese cartoon characters on them).  I can
only look at them and wonder in frustration why there was never a
similiar system here.


   Robert Michael Gutierrez
   Office of Space Science and Applications,
   NASA Science Internet - Network Operations Center.
   Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.