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From: levin@bbn.com (Joel B. Levin)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Is a Foreign Exchange Worth the Cost?
Message-ID: <12955@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 2 Oct 90 16:15:09 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 706, Message 6 of 13


The Moderator quotes a very high rate for an FX line between Chicago
and New York.  That is to be expected; the rates are based on mileage
between two central offices.  I had an FX line between two adjacent
COs because from the next one over I could get unmeasured service to
the Boston area; from mine the best I could get was Bay State service,
which allowed one or two hours of calling within (then) 617 and a flat
rate per additional minute.  The break-even was around 30 hours /
month; still a lot, but frequently I had to log into a machine at work
all evening.  I'll bet I never made up the installation charges,
though.

The monthly charges were based on several dollars per mile (this is
in-state rates), more heavily weighted toward the first five miles,
plus charges for two channel interface units that lived in the COs,
plus the going rate for Metropolitan (unmeasured) service in the
foreign exchange.  Total back then, around $100/month.  But
installation was around $350 (!).


JBL

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