New subject: Ring Charge

22 Jan 2003

The going rates for businesses in our area (south Texas, using Southwestern
Bell) is to bill by the minute, with start/stop time and ring-time measured
and billed in 6-second increments.  If your party answers before the 3rd
ring, there's no ring charge.  It they answer between the 2nd & 4th ring,
there's a 6-second charge.  If they answer after the 4th ring, there's a
full minute charge.  The main portion of the call is billed by the minute,
with your final minute being charged in 6-second increments.  Southwestern
Bell has a near monopoly here, but the competition (after their lure-in,
loss-leader specials) is worse, since the also have to pay Southwestern Bell
to use the same trunk lines...   -sigh-
Ed Tillman
edward.tillman(a)valero.com <mailto:edward.tillman@valero.com>
...
   -----Original Message-----
 From:  cctalk-admin@classiccmp.org@PEUSA   On Behalf Of chris
 &lt;cb(a)mythtech.net&gt;
 Sent:  Wednesday, January 22, 2003 1:05 PM
 To:    Classic Computer
 Subject:       Re: A plea to classiccmpers
 Pay by the minute for connection time?  You're
getting screwed. 
 Maybe they are, but from what I gather, that is not unusual outside the
 USA.
 Even here in the USA, if you are on a dialup connection, and calling from
 a business... guess what, you are probably paying by the minute. Most
 business lines in the USA are billed per minute of connect time (or
 worse, by the "message unit").
 -