Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tektronix!percival!escargot!jbond
From: jbond@escargot.UUCP (Jeremy Shepherd)
Newsgroups: news.config,pdx.telecom
Subject: Re: Alternative Operator Services?
Message-ID: <190@escargot.UUCP>
Date: 14 Jan 89 21:17:32 GMT
References: <472@gandalf.littlei.UUCP>
Reply-To: jbond@escargot.UUCP (Jeremy Shepherd)
Organization: Coredump Central
Lines: 44

In article <472@gandalf.littlei.UUCP> marko@apple.i.intel.com (Mark O'Shea) writes:
>Last night I was paying bills and opened my phone bill.  Well the usual PR
>junk was stuffed in there with the bill.  I normally glance at it to be
>sure they aren't trying to sneak one by, like a rate increase hearing or
>something.  Anyway, the brochure had a blurb about alternative operator services
>and how you could be billed for their use when you are away from home and using
>your credit card.  It went on to say that you should ask what operator you are
>using and ask for a different one if it is not the one(company?) you 
>normally use.
>
>Now I understand that.  What I don't understand is how do I know what I want?
>How do I get the best rate say eight or nine times out of ten?  Does anyone
>know more about this?
>
>Mark O'Shea
>SDA

One of the best ways to make sure that you aren't billed by some oddball long
distance service that the hotel subscribes to (and might charge MANY times more
for calls than AT&T, or one of the other major players in the LD business) is to
first dial the equal access code for the carrier that you subscribe to at home.
If it's AT&T, first dial "10288", then the usual numbers that you would dial. 
For example, to bill a call to your home phone through an AT&T operator at
AT&T rates, dial "10288+0+AREA CODE+PHONE NUMBER", and wait for the operator to
come online.  If you want your call billed by MCI, or Sprint, or anyone else,
replace the "10288" with the appropriate code number (which you can obtain from
the company).

Now the only hitch in this system is if the hotel uses some kind of system that
tampers with your digits dialed, or won't let certain digit combinations go
through.  In that case, try using the pay phone in the hotel lobby, or another
pay phone.  The inconvinience of hopping from phone to phone is usually offset
by the savings over what the hotel's LD company would charge.

DISCLAIMER: I am not connected to AT&T or MCI or Sprint, I'm just trying to 
help out. :-)

       Jeremy Shepherd
       ("...tektronix!tessi!escargot!jbond")



-- 
This is my nice new shiny .sig file! Wow!