Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pyrdc!netsys!vector!nobody From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: RE: New England Telephone advertisements Message-ID: Date: 5 Oct 88 07:21:00 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 21 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 153, message 1 X-Submissions-To: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu (Mailing List Coordinator) X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) In Telecom 8/149, Ted Ede asks why New England Telephone bothers to advertise when it has no (or little) competition. David Ofsevit mentions that the advertisements help NET increase their volume by making people more aware of services (and prices). But most importantly, the things N.E.T. advertises most, long distance calling withing the N.E.T. Calling Area (L.A.T.A.) and CENTREX service, are two areas where N.E.T. does have fairly stiff competition. Massachusetts permits other common carriers to provide long distance service within New England Telephone's calling areas -- I could call from Acton to Boston on Sprint, MCI, or First Phone (but not AT&T because AT&T hasn't filed an intra-LATA tariff). CENTREX competes directly with PBXs provided by other companies. N.E.T. is also facing competition in the local exchange plant -- other carriers can now provide tie trunks between buildings in Boston. /john