226 DEAR HACKER

226 DEAR HACKER

Dear 2600: While I agree with you that most of the services Allnet offers are outra-

geously overpriced, I do have to disagree with you about call delivery. Being the sort of person who travels and likes to call in when passing coin phones at rest stops (cellular is OK but too expensive for routine stuff), the Allnet basic 950 or 1-800 rates are somewhat better (for the most part) than the other providers.

The call delivery option is very handy when the other line is busy, or if I’m checking in at an ungodly hour. At $1.75 to leave a message, it seems reasonably fair and legit. Also, of course, sending a one-way message means you don’t get stuck actually talking to the person.

On another topic, many of the alternative common carriers will, in fact, give you remote (as opposed to 1+) access if you tell them you’re part of a big PBX or Centrex which has been committed to one of their competitors. No guarantees that any specific company will provide you with such an account, but it’s definitely worth a try.

Finally, I noticed an interesting feature of my recently upgraded cen- tral office. If I call a number, the ring or busy signal will cut out after about 1.5 minutes. After a bit of kerchunking, I get kicked back to a dial tone. If other COs and PBXs do this sort of thing, it just might be

a way to get second, unrestricted, dial tones. Danny

Harlem, NY

Dear 2600: Thought you might be interested in the enclosed item that came with

my latest Pa Bell bill. Note that while they are cutting $1.20 off most bills for touch tone service (not mine, I ordered rotary dial service when I moved in), they are also cutting back on a negative surcharge so as not to lose any revenue (so my bill goes up).

Note that if you have custom features (Pa Bell calls it “COMSTAR,” the touch tone service is bundled in with it and since there is no extra charge for touch tone, no price reduction.

T H E M A G I C O F T H E C O R P O R AT E W O R L D

As an aside, several years ago, Pa Bell sent me a letter saying they had detected touch tones on my line and I wasn’t paying the surcharge for touch tones, so I had to either start paying the surcharge (since it was “their mistake” that allowed my use of touch tones, they offered to waive back payments if I agreed to start paying now), or they would remove the touch tone service. I called and told the belldroid to remove the touch tone service. She said fine. I never heard anything further, and my touch tone phones still work to this day.

RG Los Angeles

Dear 2600:

I received one of AT&T’s “Tele-Gram” letters requesting that I switch to AT&T for my long distance calling.

If you call the number listed on the letter, you can request to be de- leted from AT&T’s mailing list. You may also give a reason for your request.

I encourage people to call and request to be deleted. Also, request that they take down the reason and inform them of your concern with AT&T’s public deception with respect to the Craig Neidorf case and their attempt to make an example of an innocent person.

Dark Overlord

Dear 2600: MCI is here to save you money. A new service introduced by MCI

allows you to have MCI bill you for “regional” calls, i.e., calls within your area code. The benefit is that your volume discount would be combined for the regional and long distance and 800 calls. The reality of the matter is interesting, however. For example, a call from Antioch, Illinois to Libertyville, Illinois for 11.8 minutes at 9:23 pm is billed $1.42 by MCI and $.17 by Illinois Bell. The volume discount would reduce the MCI charge by about 14 cents. The MCI way of doing busi- ness is a net loss of over 650 percent.

Somewhere, MCI’s concept of saving money with this program is lost in the reality of their rates.