Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!iuvax!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: How To Dial Locally
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Date: 1 Feb 90 23:07:51 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 70, message 7 of 10


Re complaints about whether you put in the money before or after
you dial:

It is a local call from West Lebanon NH to Woodstock VT, even though
they are in different states and different LATAs.  Maine, New Hampshire,
and Vermont are each one NPA and one LATA, very tidy.

So I was at the mall in West Leb and I wanted to call my wife in
Woodstock.  I discovered that if I just dial the local number
457-xxxx, I have to deposit a dime first.  (Seven digit local dialing
is universal, none of the NPAs are very full.)  On the other hand, if
I dial 1-802-457-xxxx, it gives me back the dime if I deposited one,
the nice lady asks me to "please ... deposit ...  ten ... cents," and
when I do so, thanks me for using AT&T.  Now that's confusing.

Also, in Harvard Square I came across one of these Call America COCOTs
that offers a flat rate of 25 cents/minute anywhere in the continental
U.S., and states that you get AT&T calling card or collect rates
otherwise.  The phone didn't work, of course, but if it did it's the
first decent COCOT ever.


John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl
"Now, we are all jelly doughnuts."