Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!killer!vector!nobody From: rja@edison.ge.com (rja) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: USA-Direct Message-ID: Date: 30 Jan 89 12:19:41 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 38 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 38, message 2 In article , gast@CS.UCLA.EDU (David Gast) writes: [ stuff deleted here for bandwidth ] > For the country I inquired about, it is the same price every minute > of every day. That rate is fairly reasonable too (except for the > fact that there is no reason that there should not be off peak use > discounts) and the mandatory operator assisted charges. > [ more stuff deleted here] > > Based on the above information, I would say that the 'no extra > charge' is just marketing hype. They set the rates and then > they say there is no *EXTRA* charge. The charges are definitely > not the same from X to USA as from the USA to X, even if both > are operated assisted. > For USA Direct calls placed from Hong Kong, the call is billed at the US rate meaning the same cost as if the call had been placed from the receiving US number, including any time-of-day discounts. This can be a big savings in HK since all calls originating in HK are billed at the 'standard' rate otherwise. The HK Telco is also prone to lie and say that it is cheaper to call from HK to the US than from the US to HK. For 16 hours a day calls from the US are cheaper than calls from HK, and for the remaining 8 hours the cost is the same either way. Moreover, since HK is 12 hours away then afternoon phone calls from HK get billed at the midnight-7am night US rate if you use USA Direct -- this is great for FAXes. My experience is that it is cheaper to use USA Direct during most of the day than it is to call the US directly (whether by cash or phonecard). As an aside, the HK Telco is the least helpful of any Telco/PTT I've had to deal with anywhere in the world. I suspect that each country overseas imposes slightly different rules on AT&T so that looking into each country's situation would be advisable. ______________________________________________________________________________ rja@edison.GE.COM or ...uunet!virginia!edison!rja via Internet (preferable) via uucp (if you must) ______________________________________________________________________________