Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!killer!vector!nobody From: AI.CLIVE@MCC.COM (Clive Dawson) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Residential Hunting Message-ID: Date: 29 Sep 88 00:11:32 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 82 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 148, message 1 X-Submissions-To: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu (Mailing List Coordinator) X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) I thought you folks would be amused by the letter I just received from my friendly local phone company: ****************** September 26, 1988 Dear Customer: Southwestern Bell Telephone Company has filed a tariff with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of Texas which, if approved, will affect the hunting line feature you currently have with your telephone services. The PUC has assigned Docket 8256 to this tariff filing. Hunting line service, also called "hunting," "rotary" or "companion line" lets incoming calls to customers with two or more premise lines "hunt" for the first available line which isn't busy. Except for select El Paso territory "hunting" lines which were transferred from Mountain Bell to Southwestern Bell in 1982, the PUC has not authorized us to provide hunting line service to residence or message rate business customers. Therefore, your account is one where Southwestern Bell Telephone has been providing hunting line service in error. This service has been provided to you at no additional charge. In Docket 8256, Southwestern Bell has asked the PUC to allow the company to continue to provide hunting line service to its single-party residence and message-rate business customers. We have proposed a monthly rate of $.50 per month per line for "Series Hunt"-- in addition to the applicable line rates. Series Hunt is the most common form of hunting and is the service you currently have. Southwestern Bell has also requested tariffs for other enhanced hunting arrangements. The company also proposes that, after the hunting tariffs are approved, our customers would be given the option of continuing the service and paying the additional monthly rate. You will not, however, be charged for service connection or installation fees if you retain the hunting line service in your present service arrangement. Under the company's proposal, if you choose not to retain the hunting line service, or if you do not make a choice, your hunting service will be discontinued and you will not pay the additional monthly rate. There will be no charge if you discontinue the hunting line service. These proposed changes will not occur until the PUC makes a decision on our tariff filing. If the PUC does not approve hunting line service for message rate business or residence customers, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company proposes to disconnect your hunting service at no charge. In that event, you may retain hunting service by subscribing to flat rate multi-line business service. If you wish to intervene in this proceeding you should contact the PUC of Texas, 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 400N, Austin, Texas, 78757, (512)458-0100 or (512)458-0221, teletypewriter for the deaf, no later than October 27. Once the PUC has made a final decision on this tariff filing, we will notify you of your service options. If you would like more information about the proposed changes in your hunting line service, please call your local business office. Southwestern Bell Telephone Company ************ I'm considering the idea of attending the PUC hearings to give my views on this. Any tips about how this service works in other states and what typical fees are would be helpful. This is a perfect example of a feature (like Touch-Tone) which effectively is controlled by one or more bits inside the ESS system, and which has worked very nicely for several years. Now that the bean counters have found out about it, it may very well disappear. By the way, an amusing side light to this that when I moved into my house and ordered two phone lines with the hunting feature, the installation charges were actually CHEAPER than if I had ordered two completely independent lines! Cheers, Clive