Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!telecom-request From: covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 26-Mar-1991 0003) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: MCI Card for Germans Includes $15 Gift Message-ID: Date: 26 Mar 91 05:15:38 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 28 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 242, Message 3 of 9 Two observations on this: With the per-minute rate that MCI charges at a little over a dollar a minute and the Bundespost's rate at a little over twice that, anyone in Germany who occasionally calls the U.S. should get one of these cards. The way you would use it would be to direct dial to see if the person you want to talk to is there and available for more than three minutes (something you can probably do in about three or four DM 0.23 units / 13-17 seconds) and then call back via MCI Call USA. This is how I use AT&T's USA Direct service when I'm travelling overseas. But issuing MCI cards to German nationals is likely to upset the Deutsche Bundespost. The CCITT Recommendations on international call charging mention that unequal rates in opposite directions are undesirable, and actually imply that the higher rate of the two is the preferable one! The DBP could increase its charges for terminating traffic in order to retaliate for this effort by MCI to let Germans bypass the high German telephone rates which are, in effect, a tax, subsidizing other government services run by the Post Office. AT&T, the last I checked, would only issue cards to people living overseas if they were U.S. citizens, probably precisely in order to avoid annoying the telephone administrations of foreign governments with which they want to do business. john