🚀 go-pugleaf

Kim Richardson <richards@cs.curtin.edu.au> writes:

> As if charged local calls wasn't enuff! In the U.S their local calls are
> free and its only trunk calls that are charged for ...

I don't know if it's really a matter of central offices, but more a
matter of distance (I think that's the way the regulators set it up).
I believe there are even cases where you can call a different area
code as a local call.  Here I can call someone on the other side of my
capital city for 25 cents, whereas in the states any call more than a
few miles away is timed.  25 cents is pretty high, though; a short
long distance call in the states could easily be less than 25 cents.
Bottom line:  I think my phone charges are quite a bit higher here
than they were in the states.

> Telco's in general aren't into "Advancing Australia" or any of that
> stuff ... they're just in it for the money ... just look at all the
> protocols that were designed/changed to accomodate "charging"
> information interchange ...

Clearly.  If they're really worried about people tying up lines for a
long time, let them charge for that.  Maybe charge 25 cents for each
hour or part thereof for a call, so a 1 minute call wouls cost 25
cents, a 3 hour call would cost 75 cents, and a 3:01 call would cost
$1.00.  But discriminating on the basis of the content of the
connection seems all wrong to me.  It sounds like they're dividing
their customers so they can charge more to people who are willing to
pay more.  It seems pretty obscene to me thay Telstra turns over
$billions each year to the government.  I would have expected a
government-owned company to be non-profit.

If Optus plays their cards right they'll really cash in on this.  I
know I'd switch to Optus in a second to avoid these ridiculous
charges.

-- 
-Peter Schachte      URL:  http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~pets/
pets@cs.mu.OZ.AU     PGP:  finger pets@128.250.37.150 for key
    Apologists for Economic Darwinism seem to forget that the goal is
    maximum aggregate utility -- not just having the fittest corporations.