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From: clear@cavebbs.gen.nz
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: New Zealand Sysop Fights Telco on Business Rates
Message-ID: <16105@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 16 Jan 91 08:07:55 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 42, Message 3 of 6


My experience of BBSs and business rates may be of interest to other
c.d.telecom readers. I have followed the debate with keen interest and
submit my scribblings for comparison.
 
New Zealand Telecom is now a private corporation, the NZ Government
holds a controlling share, NZ Telecom and a consortium (including Bell
Atlantic and Ameritech) holding the rest. The telco is split into
several regional operating companies (ROCs), despite a population of
only three million.
 
I have been running a BBS for over three years. In that time I've had
no real cause for complaint. When I upgraded my BBS, I was asked why I
needed three lines into my house. The clerk listened politely, and not
only gave me my choice of numbers but found desirable ones in a
hunting group. They were listed in the directory as The Cave BBS.
 
In September I put a 3B2 system online to provide a public access
Usenet feed and requested another four lines. I was asked the purpose,
and again no trouble. The clerk asked her supervisor to call me. After
verifying that I was not running a commercial system he allowed the
residential classification to proceed. He asked if I intended changing
to a commercial BBS structure in the future. I assured him that if I
went commercial, or got a company to sponsor one or more lines, those
numbers would be notified to Telecom and a reclassification to
business rates would be in order.
 
In October I was startled to receive a phone call from my boss.
Someone purporting to be from Telecom Investigations Division had rung
my workplace and demanded all sorts of confidential information. When
none was forthcoming, they rang off and called back a co-worker. Did I
work from home? What was my connection with the firm? Did I do
business from my home address? Did they redirect callers to my home
number?
 
Shortly after, I was called at home by a person describing himself as
the Manager of Directory Services. I had been "under investigation" for
"some time" for illegally running a business from my home while
maintaining residential phone rates. If I was found "guilty", this
person assured me my "fraudulent" activities would not only result in
business rates being applied and backdated to the time of line
installation, I might be prosecuted.
 
I explained the whole BBS scenario to this guy, who refused to believe
a word of it. Nobody allowed Joe Public to access their computer for
nothing. "I got a computer on my desk. I use databases. They cost a
lot of money." I listed the differences between a BBS and a database.
"Even so, you wouldn't have seven lines running into your house if you
weren't running a business." Again, I detailed what a BBS was,
including the analogy between CB radio and boards. They do it with
radios; we do it with modems.
 
"You still haven't convinced me. I'll give you fourteen days to get a
written explanation to me or else I will reclassify all your lines as
business."  If I disputed his decision, who would I appeal to?
"Nobody, I am the person in charge of deciding what is and isn't a
business. I make the decision, and if you refuse to pay we'll charge
you with fraud."
 
Hell, I didn't need fourteen days. I waited for half an hour before I
stopped shaking with anger, and phoned the area manager of my ROC. He
was horrified at what had happened. He'd check it out and get back to
me. I hookflashed and dialled my contact within Telecom Corporate (Hi
Nelson!). He said he'd suss it out and get back to me.
 
After two days, I got a call from the area manager apologising for
this person's actions (far from being in charge, he was in fact at
office supervisor level). I had come to his attention because the data
entry clerk had queried four new listings with the same address being
flagged residential. The lines would remain at residential rates, I
had no need of a letter of explanation and would I please forget about
the whole matter.
 
That's where it would have ended, but in typical world-wide telco
style the next bills arrived with my rating on all six lines changed
to business ... so much for fourteen days to convince the Manager
Directory Services! Four of them have since been changed back, but I'm
still waiting for the other two to be reversed and still waiting for
the credit for the overcharges.
 
This has two important lessons for TELECOM Digest readers in the USA: 

1 - A totally deregulated telecommunications environment is not
desirable except in economics textbooks, as not only could I not have
appealed the "business rates" decision (PUCs? Hell, this is
DEregulation!) but there is no regulatory body stopping Telecom (or
even my ROC) from introducing a special tariff for hobby BBS systems.

2 - Representatives of Bell Atlantic have told me in person that New
Zealand is now very much the US "guinea pig" system as far as rating
and tariffs are concerned. (Maybe our system was unneccessarily split
into ROCs to better simulate the American telco model?) Any decisions
with regard to business rate charging for BBSs in New Zealand are
likely to have a flow-on effect to the RBOCs in the USA. If they can
get away with it here, you can bet they'll try getting it past the
PUCs on precedent.
 
I'm just damn lucky I have a reasonable, responsible area manager. 
 
Mr. Townson, I respect your arguments for/against BBS business rate
classification (do I get the impression you're enjoying playing
devil's advocate?  8-). Nothing you have said convinces me that
SWBell/GTE is anything but a clear case of discrimination based on the
number of inbound calls.
 
Business rates are designed to recover fair costs of a large number of
bidirectional calls. Most business lines have some form of keyphone or
PABX installed, reducing the number of trunks required compared to the
number of handsets in use. Business rates recover that loss. No tariff
I have seen allows a telco to arbitrarily change the classification of
a line used for residential purposes merely on the basis of the number
of calls received.
 
If that was the case, every home with a teenaged daughter would be in
for a nasty surprise when the next phone account arrives.


Charlie "The Bear" Lear | clear@cavebbs.gen.nz | Kawasaki Z750GT
DoD#0221 The Cave MegaBBS +64 4 643429 V32     
PO Box 2009, Wellington,  New Zealand