Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!decwrl!hayes.fai.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Response to International Calling Redlining Message-ID: <13083@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 5 Oct 90 14:40:00 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Lines: 60 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 715, Message 8 of 8 Responding to: Ravinder Bhumbla (and Telecom Moderator) continuing a long and frustrating thread about blocking international card-charged calls from payphones, Mr.Bhumbla (in Digest V10, Iss712) says: >I called the AT&T operator today to find out a way to get around the >blocking of calling card calls to India from payphones.... And goes on to describe the frustration and obvious untruths that he, like many must be receiving daily about the matter. Our Moderator replied at some length about the wrongness of this, and suggests that it is time some real action took place, saying: >...how stupid does AT&T think their average user must be? No matter >who you call with some authority/knowledge in the matter at AT&T, >you will never get the same answer twice, and you will never get a >*truthful, candid* answer at all! ... and suggests some public action, concluding with: >When you contact the FTC, FCC or telephone administrations, carefully >document your claim with the time, place and destination of your >call. Include the names and titles of any employees of AT&T you speak >with. Let's force the issue! PAT] I wholeheartedly agree with consumer action that gets corporations to pay attention, and here suggest all the participants in this forum have a tool they may not know of. It is the Internet gateway to public E-Mail. On the AT&TMail and MCIMail networks, some very influential people have listings. Here they are: Username: !reallen NumericID: !6284486 Name: Robert E Allen Company: AT&T Address: Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 Phone: +1 201 221 5151 MCI ID Name Organization Location 109-0242 William McGowan MCIC Washington DC No further should need to be said in view of what Digest readers have demonstrated from the past, except to say that this may mark an innovative way for top execs to hear from the public. And, as our Moderator advises, ALWAYS ask those Three Little Words: "What's Your Name?" It can work wonders. If you get a refusal, then make note of the time, date, and number at which you got an employee who refused to identify themselves and put that in your report. It could be more powerful than having the name! [Moderator's Note: The first of the two addresses given above would be addressed from the net as 'reallen@attmail.com'. The second address would be written '0001090242@mcimail.com'. Whether or not either of these gentlemen read their email direct or have it scanned and printed out for them is not known. We shall see what happens and post the responses received. PAT]