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From: DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Douglas Scott Reuben)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Bell of PA Calling Card Calls
Message-ID: <16677@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 5 Feb 91 06:51:26 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 92, Message 6 of 12


Note: This is NOT another "new"/"old" Calling Card system post! :) :)

I got my phone bill today, and took a comparative look at the local
and LD sections:

 -A 1 minute call (11:30PM) from Reading, PA (215-373-9??? -payphone)
to New Castle, DE (302-740-7626), with my calling card, was $1.18, via
"Bell Atlantic" (or really Bell Of PA). This was the "default" which
the payphone used, naturally.

 -The same call the next day, from the same payphone, to the same DE
number, at 12AM, was only $.12 cents on my Reach Out America Plan. If
I did not have the plan, it would have been $.92. (Note that this is
between two states, 1so ROA's Calling Card discount is applicable.)

Why would Bell of PA charge MORE for a call than AT&T, in between TWO
states?  (and not IN-State).

IE, in an area where there is competition, as in the NY/NJ corridor,
NY Tel and NJ Bell charge LESS than AT&T (not including ROA). NJ Bell
even "makes" itself the default carrier from its payphones on all
calls which it is allowed to handle to NYC.

It would seem to be that either there is a VERY low volume of calls
between PA and DE that Bell O' PA doesn't mind this business going
over to AT&T, or no one told them about this! Is it as strange with 1+
calls as well?

So much for rational toll pricing ... (not that it was ever all that
great to begin with ...)


Doug

dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu  //  dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet