Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!warble!vector!telecom-request From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: 900 numbers and amazing bills Message-ID: Date: 22 Aug 88 08:33:00 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 32 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 131, message 6 X-Submissions-To: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu (Mailing List Coordinator) X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) A few months ago, New England Telephone (and I'm sure other Bells) set up conference bridges for "party line" calls. They advertised them on late-night TV, and aimed at least one at teenagers. There were other providers, such as Talkabout (must be Aussie -- the pun is) too. They charged, around here, 20c for the first minute and 10c for each additional minute. Well, after the bills started coming in, NET couldn't take the flack and their intra-LATA talk lines ("dial 1-550-") were discontinued, or at least not advertised. Lately, the TV has been jammed with more such ads, most promising love and happiness and the girl of your dreams, etc., if you call 1-900-999-foo. These are rather like the discontinued intra-LATA talklines, but with a notable difference: Most charge between $.75 and $1.00 per MINUTE. (Last I heard, NET's service was a flat $2/call, instead of per-minute billing. Still an order of magnitude less, typically.) What's the difference? So far as I can tell, the new ones are operating under interstate tariffs, beyond the state DPU's ability to regulate. Since the FCC has no qualms at all about interstaste jurisdictional gouging (i.e., COCOTs, AOSs), these guys will continue until public pressure blocks them. THe most likely way to do that would be for the state regulators to prohibit telcos from being their billing agents. (Virginia just passed a rule prohibiting telcos from billing for AOSs, for instance.) In such a case, their bills would become rather difficult to collect. How many lonelyheart teenagers out there are going to be in for a rude surprise when their folks open up a $200 phone bill? This isn't deregulation, but there's no polite word for what it is. fred