Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: "Independent" Coin Phones Message-ID: Date: 18 Feb 91 09:31:00 GMT Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 29 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 129, Message 4 of 12 Originator: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Andy Jacobson writes: > Agreed, but John, we often aren't given much of a choice. For example > when I needed to call someone from a shopping center in Vista, and > found the whole place wired with Ultra-Rip-Off (TM) phones, that > wanted $1.75 for a call. I had to go miles, like three, to find a real > Pac*Bell phone that would charge me only $0.40 for the same call (I > was going away from where I was calling). And so, you confirm my statements about the marketplace. The fact is, you went three miles out of your way to avoid dropping any money into a device that you deemed unworthy of your business. Granted, in the short term, many will be inconvenienced, overcharged, and otherwise put upon. We Americans are always looking for the instant, quick fix. If we can keep our shirt on long enough and let the marketplace do its inevitable work, COCOTs will go away by themselves without gummit meddling or interference. And the force that causes their demise will be the most powerful in the world: economics. This is far superior to piling on layers of unenforcable regulations or some sort of "quick fix" legislation. When people go miles out of their way to find utility phones, buy and use cellular phones, or just avoid using the phones altogether, COCOTs will eventually experience the death they so well deserve. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !