🚀 go-pugleaf

boaz@concerto.lcs.mit.edu (Boaz Ben-Zvi) writes:
>>it'll take more than (approx.) 6-8 hours of monthly
>>phone use (in the local area!) to make Unlimited service a good choice.

barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:
>you can't have measured service on one and unlimited service on the other.
>I ...  but use my modem an average of about 3 hours per day ($90/month
>at the rate you quoted).

Actually I've found that measured service costs more than you might think.
For a few months after I first moved to Somerville five years ago, I
had unlimited-local service, thinking I didn't use the phone all that much
so I didn't need Metropolitan service.

What they nail you for is multiple message units and even toll fees whenever
you call non-adjoining towns.  I was rather surprised to find that Canton
was tariffed as a toll call from Somerville for measured and unlimited-
local users, but as a local (free) call for Metropolitan service users.
('twas a nasty surprise, too!)

So measured service only makes sense if you don't use the phone much at
all.  Unlimited local service only makes sense if you only use it to
talk to immediate surrounding communities.  Metropolitan service is the
only way to avoid getting hit with 2- and 3-unit calls which rack up
a lot faster than $0.016/minute.

In a multiple-person household, you can't even divvy up the phone bill
fairly if the calls aren't itemized.  Ma Bell has us by the calls, indeed!

-rich