Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mcnc!duke!wolves!ggw From: ggw%wolves@cs.duke.edu (Gregory G. Woodbury) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Big Brother charging for modem use? Message-ID: <1991Mar5.150854.5406@wolves.uucp> Date: 5 Mar 91 15:08:54 GMT References: <1991Mar3.045031.25491@unx2.ucc.okstate.edu> Organization: Wolves Den UNIX Lines: 80 X-Checksum-Snefru: 25f31174 bef441ee 1352133f a70ab60d In article dgelbart@questor.wimsey.bc.ca (Dave Gelbart) writes: >minich@unx2.ucc.okstate.edu (Robert Minich) writes: > >> I would like to publicly ponder whether Arthur has witnessed the >> phenomena of the teenage female with regard to phone usage. Should phone >> companies charge more for households with children, much like insurance >> companies do for auto insurance? This is just my light-hearted thought >> for the day. > >That completely misses the point. It's impractical for the phone company to >start charging households according to usage level, teenage girl quotient, >etc. *Very* impractical. You don't seem to realize that in many places, the telcos DO charge by effective usage level. Unmetered service (flat rate/free local calls/etc.) is mostly a smaller town situation. In the large metropolitan areas most service (business or residential) is measured and all call are paid for on a time used basis. Even here in Durham NC where I have unmeasured local calls, the extended calling area (which allows lower than LD rate calling to Chapel Hill and Raleigh) is simply a measured service rate. LD has always been a measured service. The local telcos are also going to have a damn good idea of the service utilization patterns in their COs. They may not know exactly how much service a particular line uses currently, but they ARE collecting the usage statistics and aggregating them for their planning use. If they want to track individual line usage, it is simply a matter of programming in most modern switches. > On the other hand, it's pretty easy for them to >start charging BBSs -- which *consistently* have greater than average phone >use -- as they do not have to rearrange or scrap existing regulations. Now, this is the real crux of the matter - existing regulations. In most places, it would NOT really be too hard for the telcos to introduce tarriffs that provided more than two tiers of service. The distinction between residential and business is one carefully maintained by the telcos. In reality they have several levels of service tarriffed in most places. For example, there is usually a "lifeline" service tarriffed that provides measured local calls, no LD access and a very low rate which is available for locations or users that only need telephone access for emergency or minimal use. This tarriff was introduced in most places at the insistence of the PUC or equivalent. But you will almost never hear the telco mention this particular service option. On the other end of the spectrum, the largest users seldom buy telco service line-by-line. They get a PBX and a "trunk" interface that in essense makes them a micro-telco on their premises. The buy large chunks of service at a time and may often get a lower aggregate rate than a residence. It is the vast middle class of telco users - the residences and small businesses - that get shafted with high rates and strange regulations. The telcos try to shuffle most folks into the "standard residence" or "standard business" tarriffs so that the telco will get maximal return on investment. >Besides, it's doubtful there will be a public outcry if all telcos >started charging BBSs higher rates. Well, there may not be much PUBLIC outcry, but there sure is a lot of outcry and complaints and testimony before the regulators when they do try it. >Incidentally, I believe several telephone companies have standing policy, >which they have never bothered to enforce, that BBSs pay business rates. >I know BC Tel, my local telco, does. Well, in this GTE satrapy, BBSs get charged business rates if they operate as a business. If they charge for access, advertise strongly or are operated as part of a business, they get charged business rates. On the other hand, if they do not require contributions and don't draw too much attention, they can operate on residential lines. -- Gregory G. Woodbury @ The Wolves Den UNIX, Durham NC UUCP: ...dukcds!wolves!ggw ...mcnc!wolves!ggw [use the maps!] Domain: ggw@cds.duke.edu ggw%wolves@mcnc.mcnc.org [The line eater is a boojum snark! ]