Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Ed_Greenberg@3mail.3com.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: What I Like About Telecom*USA Message-ID: <16364@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 23 Jan 91 16:49:00 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 82 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 62, Message 3 of 7 Patrick, Thanks for your comments on Teleconnect (Telecom*USA). I have a few followup questions: 1. You mention a rate of .29/minute for voicemail. Is that also the rate for Voicenews? [Moderator: Yes, I think it is. You can also get Voice News on a 700 number if you are registered with Telecom*USA for 1+ or 10835.] 2. What's the timed rate for incoming 800 service? Is it distance sensitive or flat? Does it work instate? [Moderator: It is flat rate; I think 29 cents per minute during the day and 21 cents at night. The 800 caller reaches the switch in Iowa; it in turn outdials to the appropriate number.] 3. How are the rates for LD calls placed on your personal DID 800 number (let's call this a payphone call.) Do they reflect the .29/ minute inbound to the switch, or are they competitive to other direct dialed point-to-point service? [Moderator: All they charge for calls to my 800 number is the 29 cent or 21 cent rate. For outgoing calls I make through them the rates are much less; whatever they charge; competitive with others.] 4. On a payphone call, can you reorder the switch after your called party disconnects, thus saving a second hotel charge for an 800 number call? (Press # and "dial another call"?) [Moderator: On any call I make to their switch (for voicenews, outbound on a long distance call, etc, the # will reorder the switch. In voicemail / voicenews it has another meaning at some levels, but once back at the main menu then it reorders the switch there also.] 5. If you don't have tone available, will the payphone service time out to the Teleconnect operator? [Moderator: Yes. I think if you are noted in their records as having rotary dial then once you dial your 800 access number to the switch it immediatly shunts you to the operator. Otherwise it will eventually time out to the operator anyway, whence she will first ask for your card number, then take your request. However to use the enhanced features such as voicenews or voicemail, you obviously have to have tone to work through the menus. The operator won't stay on the line to help with that stuff.] 6. You state that MCI took over. Have you experienced any changes in service as a result of this? I'm skittish -- my SBS service was once taken over by MCI (or was it Sprint) then disappeared and turned into the surviving company's generic service. [Moderator: So far I have noticed nothing except that customer service now answers the phone 'Telecom/MCI, may I help you'. Skyline merged with SBS, then SBS went into MCI. One reason I am not yet dropping my AT&T account (or converting Telecom*USA to one-plus is I want to wait and see what happens when MCI digs in in earnest. If they screw it up too badly I can bail out in a hurry.] Thanks for your comments. It sounds neat. An 800 number to call home on (and check messages) sounds worthwhile. Of course, Pathetic*Bell doesn't have distinctive ringing yet... Ed_Greenberg@HQ.3Mail.3Com.COM [Moderator's Note: You are welcome. IBT has distinctive ringing and all the CLASS features now in about seventy percent of the offices. They expect to be fully converted within a few months. We've always been first here. We had the first ESS in the late 1960's in Morris, IL. Downtown Chicago had ESS in 1974. The entire area was all ESS as of about 1986. IBT has always been a leader in new telephone technology. The only exception to full CLASS service is Caller*ID and that should be in place throughout 312/708 within a year or so. You'll recall we were also first with cellular service in the early 1980's. We had E-911 in the middle-1970's, and TSPS in all offices about the same time. We had Centrex here in 1967. Yes, they had Centrex in the old #5 crossbar offices as well as TSPS. Truly amazing, the folks from IBT. PAT]