Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Roger Fajman Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Is a Foreign Exchange Worth the Cost? Message-ID: <12843@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 30 Sep 90 18:45:48 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 29 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 699, Message 9 of 10 > [Moderator's Note: Typically, an FX line only pays off if you keep the > line loaded at least 12-15 hours per day. Not so in my case. When we moved to our current house a couple of years ago, I checked on FX rates. Washington, DC, has a large local calling area that includes portions of Maryland and Northern Virginia. We live in Maryland, just outside the Metro Calling Area, as it is refered to. We can call DC and certain areas of Maryland as a local call, but not Northern Virginia. I was told by C&P Telephone customer service that we could get a Layhill number, instead of an Ashton number, for about $18 additional per month. The break even point for that is about three hours per month of calls to Northern Virginia. I didn't opt for the Layhill number, as we don't call Northern Virginia that much and most of the calls we do make there are reimbursed by someone else who wouldn't pay for the additional monthly charge. I haven't checked the costs more recently. [Moderator's Note: I guess the break even point would be a function of how much the line costs to begin with, i.e. how far it is extended to reach you. Years ago we had here in Chicago an FX from Manhattan, NY; that is, going off hook on it produced dial tone, etc from New York City. It was about $700 a month for the FX ... yet supposedly paid for itself because for twelve hours a night it was transmitting data to some office in New York. During the day, office staff used it to place local calls to New York instead of using the WATS lines. PAT]