Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Alternate Long Distance Carriers Message-ID: <4704@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 3 Mar 90 17:14:04 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 43 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 142, Message 3 of 9 "No gas will be sold to anyone in a glass container." writes: > A while back, I offered to collect information on long > distance carriers: rates, area of service, quality, billing, 950-xxxx > access, etc. and post a summary here. Here is what I found out: > That's right: nothing. Information such as you describe changes hourly. Any "comprehensive" listing of LD carriers would be obsolete before it hit Patrick's hands for publication, let alone before it was distributed. I have actually been in the middle of writing a post flaming some LD company or another, reached for the phone just to do a last-minute confirmation of my annoyance, and presto-chango the problem was gone. It it might have been something that had been going on for months, but at the last minute my expose had to be dumped in the bit bucket. This particularly applies to rates. I've personally given up trying to keep a handle on who charges what for which. LD prices definately belong on the commodity sheets along with gold, silver, and soybeans. All of the majors are constantly upgrading, so trying to define service level or connection quality is hopeless. And on and on. I'm sorry to throw cold water on your admirable project, but its useful lifespan would make the whole exercise less than practical. It is for this reason that I no longer entertain LD salestypes. Since all the carriers seesaw up and down against each other, it is rather meaningless to listen to a pitch that is exploiting the rate difference between carriers that will in reality have a three day window. Where would you start to do a comprehensive listing of all carriers available in every metropolitan area? How far down the list do you want to go? Top ten? Top twenty? Top fifty markets? I'm not trying to be mean, but which info would you like? Yesterday's, today's, or the applied-for rates to go into effect next week? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !