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From: yarvin-norman@cs.yale.edu (Norman Yarvin)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: More on BBSs and Phone Rates
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Date: 13 Jan 91 18:05:53 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 34, Message 1 of 8


>[Moderator's Note: Good question. Is there any single method of
>charging for phone service and use which everyone would be happy with?
>I'd personally like to see an intermediate category of rates applied
>to lines used in a non-residence/not-really-business environment.

It seems to me that there are two ways of dealing with this.  One is
to continue the endless proliferation of rules, special cases, and
additional considerations.  The other is to charge by cost.  This
would mean removing the distinction between residence and business
listings.  For local calls, I presume that it would mean both a
per-call fee and a (low) fee depending on connection time.  For long
distance it would mean junking the flat-rate FCC access charge, and
charging both local rates (paid to the LOC) and long distance rates
(paid to the IXC).  (I make no claims to omniscence regarding the
above scheme; if it is not a decent stab at reflecting costs, correct
me.)

Then, if politicians/do-gooders wanted to subsidize the phone bills of
poor people, or charities, or electronic communities, or whatever,
they could spend tax money (they already add tax to phone bills) and
do it directly, rather than doing it in the current underhand manner.

We just had a session of griping about how complex the world is
becoming.  In the telecommunications world, this is largely a function
of the complexity of the policies and regulations governing it.  Those
who gripe about complexity would do well to attack this obvious
target.


Norman Yarvin		yarvin-norman@cs.yale.edu