Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bu.edu!telecom-request From: irvin@northstar105.dartmouth.edu (Tim Irvin) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: The Status of 1+703 Dialing Message-ID: Date: 21 Feb 91 20:33:04 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 65 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 146, Message 7 of 8 In TELECOM Digest V11 #142, Greg Monti writes: > This marks a fairly unusual > happening in the post-divestiture telephone industry because Leesburg > is not in the Washington LATA (it's in the Culpeper LATA). Calls that > were once the purview of competitive long distance carriers are being > sucked back into the purview of the local operating companies. This brings up a point I have been wondering about. I live very close to the New Hampshire - Vermont border, in New Hampshire. The entire state of NH is one LATA, and the same goes for VT. However, my local calling area is made up of two NH exchanges, and three VT exchanges. How is it that I can call across a LATA boundary as a local call? Also, I have discovered that payphones in my exchange aren't aware of this cross-LATA local calling area. In placing a call to a VT store which is about .5 miles from the NETel PayPhone in my NH exchange I was using, I got the friendly recording telling me to deposit $2.50 for the first three minutes (or some such). I opted to drive the 1/2 mile. In related issue, my New England Telephone Directory (now simply marked as the NYNEX YELLOW PAGES and [in much smaller letters] White Pages) states in "Local and Nearby Calling" Section: -------------- IF YOU ARE CALLING FROM A COIN TELEPHONE Your local calling area also includes telephones LOCATED WITHIN THE SAME CITY OR TOWN AS THE COIN TELEPHONE, but served by exchanges other than those shown for the local calling area. Here's how to dial these calls: Dial "0" + the seven-digit number and charge the call to your New England Telephone Calling Card. When you receive your bill, call your Service Representative and ask to have the charge adjusted to the local coin rate, including overtime charges. Remember, this adjustment applies only to customer dialed station-to- station calls made with your New England Telephone Calling Card. All other calls are long distance calls and regular charges apply. ---------------- I take it they are refering to FX lines. Well, I have a few questions about this: 1. How many people actually read the "Customer Guide" at a payphone before making a call? Those that don't won't be able take advantage of this handy feature, and those that do will have to remember to call their Service Rep at month's end. 2. What happens if you are not a New England Telephone customer? I guess the tourists just get left out of this deal, unless of course NETel is providing Calling Cards to everyone worldwide, that is. 3. What do you think happens if you make one of these calls from a COCOT, and you tell the Service Rep at the end of the month that you want this $29.43 five-minute call adjusted to ten cents? (Sure a slight exaggeration -- but you get the idea). Tim Irvin Project NORTHSTAR Dartmouth College