Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!munnari.oz.au!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!ditmela!yarra!melba.bby.oz.au!leo!zvs From: zvs@bby.oz.au (Zev Sero) Newsgroups: news.misc Subject: Re: Fcc Regs/Data Comm. Message-ID: Date: 3 Jan 90 03:46:23 GMT References: <31A.news.misc@pro-generic> <70194@looking.on.ca> <1990Jan2.174527.9041@world.std.com> Sender: news@melba.bby.oz.au Organization: Burdett, Buckeridge and Young Ltd. Lines: 37 In-Reply-To: bzs@world.std.com's message of 2 Jan 90 17:45:27 GMT In article <1990Jan2.174527.9041@world.std.com> bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes: Another analogy is when directory service suddenly became a cost add-on. Well, no doubt it costs money to have operators etc. and that was the reasoning. But originally it was supposed to be there to encourage us to use our phones and hence generate revenue for them, a fine trade-off. It also was worked into the phone charges (musta been, it was being paid for.) Now suddenly it's an extra-cost item. Wait a minute, doesn't that mean we're now paying for it twice? I was in the US when this happened, and I recall the reason given was that people were calling AT&T directory assistance, and then calling the number on Sprint or ITT or something (I know I did). Instead of providing a revenue-generating courtesy to its own clients, as it had been, AT&T found itself providing a free service for its competitors and *their* clients! Obviously, this did not make sense, so they started charging for it. As for the component of your original bill which represented the overhead of directory assistance, remember that your billing structure changed completely during the divestiture. I presume that somwhere in the calculations which produced your post-divestiture bill, this was factored in. When the price of coffee changes, presumably this affects the overhead of your local Bell, which has to buy coffee for staff. When they go to the FCC for a tarrif change, this would be included in their `changed costs'. Do you notice the slight change in your bill due to `Brazilian drought' or whatever? -- Zev Sero - zvs@bby.oz.au As I recall, zero was invented by Arabic mathematicians thousands of years ago. It's a pity it still frightens or confuses people. - Doug Gwyn