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From: cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Is a Foreign Exchange Worth the Cost?
Message-ID: <12780@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 28 Sep 90 15:55:51 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 694, Message 1 of 12


A former neighbor of my parents (residence is in the Wilmington, Del.
exchange) had so many calls to/from the Chester/Marcus Hook/Woodlyn
area in Pa. that they used Holly Oak as a foreign exchange.  Holly Oak
(a nonpostal name in Delaware) is local to those Pa. points, but
Wilmington is not.  You should be welcome to examine the FX rates, but
there may be quite a large volume of calls required to make it
worthwhile compared to using normal long-distance.

Along Foulk Road (state route 261 in Delaware & Pennsylvania), there
is a case where points maybe only 3 miles apart are long distance.
Just south of Silverside Road in Delaware, you are in 302-478, a
Wilmington exchange.  But just over the Pa. line, you are in 215-485
Marcus Hook.  Then if you keep going north on Pa. 261 to U.S. 322, you
are in 215-459 Chester Heights, a local call from Wilmington.

(Between 302-478 and the Pa. border on Foulk Road, you are in 302-475
Holly Oak, which is local to both 215-459 and 215-485.)


[Moderator's Note: Typically, an FX line only pays off if you keep the
line loaded at least 12-15 hours per day. You are starting out with a
charge of several dollars per month which has to be amortized during
the month by the savings from toll charges to the desired place. At
rates of only a few cents per call to nearby points, it takes a long
time to use up the difference. And if all you do is use it up and do
not actually come out ahead, why have the aggravation of maintaining
an FX, with all the telco coordination involved, etc.  PAT]