Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA19318; Tue, 3 Feb 1998 22:16:23 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 22:16:23 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199802040316.WAA19318@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V18 #26 TELECOM Digest Tue, 3 Feb 98 22:16:00 EST Volume 18 : Issue 26 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Microsoft Gets Lessig Removed as Special Master (TELECOM Digest Editor) Our Internic Fees (Cliff Scheller) Book Review: "Growing Up Digital", Don Tapscott (Rob Slade) Compromise On Next Mobile Phone Standard (Monty Solomon) Beware Brooks Fiber! (Murray Bent) Telecom Update (Canada) #118, February 2, 1998 (Angus TeleManagement) Re: Payphones and Up-Front Pricing (David W. Levenson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@telecom-digest.org * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-727-5427 Fax: 773-539-4630 ** Article submission address: editor@telecom-digest.org ** Our archives are available for your review/research. The URL is: http://telecom-digest.org They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to archives@telecom-digest.org to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 21:50:59 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Microsoft Gets Lessig Removed as Special Master People who have been following the dispute between Microsoft and the federal government will recall that Microsoft had strongly opposed the appointment of Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig as 'special master' in the government's attempts to force the company to remove Internet Explorer from the Windows 95 package. Lessig openly expressed his bias against Microsoft on various occasions in the past, and the company rightfully felt they would not get a fair shake in court as long as Lessig was functioning as a 'friend of the court'. Lessig was there in the first place because presumably the judge was/is not sufficiently computer literate to resolve the matter on his own. When Microsoft came into possession of documents showing that Lessig was very biased against them -- documents which previously had been hidden and gone unreported by the Justice Department which did know of them, but chose not to reveal it to Microsoft -- they went to court and asked to have Lessig recuse himself; that is, remove himself from the litigation. The judge was furious! He told Microsoft in effect to shut up and accept things the way they were. The judge told Microsoft that if they even dared to complain about anything or speak up about anything in his court he would punish them even more severely. Well, Microsoft did shut up, at least long enough to get out of court and head straight for Appeals Court. On Monday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted Microsoft's request for a stay in the proceedings, freezing Lessig's work in the case at least for the time being. Microsoft is asking the Appeals Court to force Lessig out of the case entirely, and a source at Microsoft tells me they will probably also ask for a different judge -- one who will listen fairly to all sides. I cannot imagine they would want to go back in front of the same judge now that they got him overruled after his threats against them. The Appeals Court has set oral arguments on the Lessig matter for April 21. In the meantime, Lessig is not to pursue the matter further and the government is not to pursue any further action against Microsoft. In other news, Microsoft expects Windows 98 to be generally avail- able by late spring or early in the summer. It will include Internet Explorer 4. Netscape's response to all this was to declare at the end of January that their Netscape Navigator is now being given away free if you wish to download it from their web site. PAT ------------------------------ From: Cliff Scheller Organization: http://www.compuquestinc.com Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 14:32:59 -0600 Subject: Our Internic Fees Just a small excerpt from: http://www5.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/msnb/0203/281457.html Court: Domain fees appear illegal By Brock N. Meeks MSNBC February 3, 1998 10:42 AM PST WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 - A federal court Monday issued a temporary injunction barring the federal government from spending some $50 million it has collected from the registration of Internet domain names. That money forms a pool of funds intended to be spent for improving the Internet. On Monday, the court sided with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that claims those fees constitute an illegal tax ... Judge Thomas Hogan said Monday that the plaintiffs "have made a significant showing that the (intellectual infrastructure fund) is an illegal tax." ... "Under federal law, no independent executive agency -- such as the National Science Foundation -- can collect fees that exceed the cost of providing the service they are administering," said William Bode, attorney for the plaintiffs. "NSI, the agent of NSF, spends less than $5 to register domain names, yet it charges a registration fee of $100 and renewal fees of $50 per year," he said. Network Solutions did not return calls for comment. The temporary injunction "paves the way for our motion, which we'll file in two days, to require NSI to return all registration renewal fees which exceed the cost of providing that service," attorney Bode said. "We think that cost [to NSI for the registration process] is significantly less than $10, probably $2 to $3," he said, "which would mean that there would be a refund of approximately $100 million in our judgment." Compuquest, Inc. Fax: 630.830.0877 630-830-2700 URL: http://www.compuquestinc.com Mfg. Innovative Products & Services Since 1983 "Turn Your Pager into a Remote Monitoring System" ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 07:54:42 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Growing Up Digital", Don Tapscott Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKGRUPDI.RVW 971107 "Growing Up Digital", Don Tapscott, 1997, 0-07-063361-4, U$22.95/C$32.95 %A Don Tapscott %C 300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario L1N 9B6 %D 1997 %G 0-07-063361-4 %I McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne %O U$22.95/C$32.95 800-565-5758 fax: 905-430-5020 %O lisah@McGrawHill.ca %P 256 %T "Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation" Don Tapscott apparently gets a lot of mileage out of the story about his kids being unimpressed by Tapscott's TV appearance that had him demonstrating how to surf the Web. According to Tapscott, this proves that his kids are N-Geners: yet another "generation", this one that has grown up with, and is attuned to, the massive international networks, and the technology behind them. Experienced network users might take a different interpretation from the story. Web surfing is a particularly pedestrian skill, if it is a skill at all, and "demonstrating" the use of a graphical browser, with its point and click interface, tends to be both pointless and rather boring for the observer. This book takes a rather dubious premise, and extends it as far as possible, and probably considerably beyond. In the first chapter Tapscott looks at demographics to chart the Baby Boom generation (those born from 1946 to 1964), Douglas Coupland's Generation X (1964 to 1978), and N-Gen (1978 to 2000). However, a look at real demographic statistics points out an unfortunate fact: while most of those in the N-Gen group will have heard of the net, and a great number might have had some experience on it, even among the singularly fortunate population of North America only a minority elite have regular and consistent access to it. The book itself appears to be based on research conducted with a small sample of subjects culled from a single site representing a ridiculously small number of individuals in comparison to the population of the United States alone. (A great deal of the book is based on self-reports from those subjects.) The N-Gen may come, but it probably hasn't been born yet. (The author does, rather frequently, admit that the presence of technology "haves" and "have nots" is a problem, but he never really analyzes the situation, the potential outcomes, or possible fixes. While there is an entire chapter devoted to the topic, it tends to recycle anecdotes rather than look seriously at the issue. In the course of the review I burst out laughing, and had to explain the guffaw to my wife by reading the sentence on page 266 that occasioned it: "Homeless people online at the local library can log on to the community information bulletin board to find beds in a shelter, a hot shower, or even medical and counseling services." Her response was an immediate and disbelieving "Yeah, right!" followed by the observation that the statement was pathetically naive and unrealistic. I really couldn't argue with her. I spend considerable time at our regional libraries, and while we are blessed with access to Freenet through all the card catalogue terminals, and have, in addition, a number of graphical Web browsing terminals, I can't say that I've ever seen one of the homeless looking up a shelter. The Vancouver CommunityNet and Victoria TeleCommunity Net seem to agree with me: they don't even have a listing for shelter for the homeless, although Vancouver does have one for wildlife. I think Tapscott has been getting his information from "Doonesbury.") One of the great unchallenged assertions of our day is that children feel more comfortable with technology, and learn it faster than adults. Tapscott holds fast to this premise, and uses it frequently in telling how our kids are going to be much different than we are, or were. His most important assertion based upon this fact is the Generation Lap, which he uses to mean that traditional teaching roles are becoming reversed as children are becoming instructors of their parents in regard to computers. There is only one problem: the central statement is not true. Those under the age of eighteen do not have any magical skill or empathy with technology. They are just as confused and frightened about technology as anyone else. If they tend to learn more than those around them, that has more to do with the general lack of experience with computing in the population as a whole. If I have dealt with many adults who couldn't remember that a Window out of sight is not also necessarily out of memory, I have equally taught children who were so afraid of computers that they wouldn't input a program without typing on a typewriter first, and others who had so much trouble with the concept of double clicking that they had to be taught to click and then hit return in order to invoke a program. Even if it were true, though, that children learn software applications by some sort of effortless osmosis, I fail to understand why that would automatically lead to an understanding of the fundamental technologies involved, as Tapscott implies when talking about education. The book does make some interesting observations. Those who use the net tend to accept diversity, to be more curious, and to be confident. However, these occasional insights tend to be buried in a mass of commentary that is either trivial and obvious (computers are fun!) or questionable (the Internet automatically teaches children how to learn). Repeated statements about the "success" enjoyed by some of the young people contacted in the course of writing the book seem to say much more about entrepreneurship than technology. A defence of the violence of video games makes a weak nod toward the work of Bandura, but unconvincingly states that it really isn't important. (The makers of violent computer games, toys, and television programmes will undoubtedly be relieved to hear it.) Some points in the book may well be true, but unhelpful. Tapscott's statement that mass education is a product of the industrial economy falls into this category. "Individual" instruction probably *is* better for the student. The text fails, however, to look at how such education might realistically (and economically) be provided, and how a free-for-all curriculum might result in some kind of graduation or assessment that would convince potential employers as to the skills of the products of this type of schooling. (OK, that statement is a product of an industrial economy too. Generalize it, then: how are we to know anything about the success of such an educational system?) Other parts of the book are best described as pseudoprofound. There are frequent quotes from the young participants that, on first glance, seem to point out some kind of new age wisdom. Chapter ten has the N- Gen focus group express surprise that adults would have trouble sharing information: a relatively easy statement to make if you have never put a lot of work into study and the development of information. Given a moment's thought, though, the statements tend to demonstrate a kind of naive ignorance. This is simply a result of lack of experience and study of history on the part of the young. It is not their fault, of course, and may provide a brief moment of amusement in comparing their blind spots with our own. Those who are experienced with the net will find that this book doesn't say anything that isn't pretty widely known already. But I dare say the knowledgeable user is not the target audience. For the uninitiated, then, Tapscott provides a bewildering variety of new insights. I use the word bewildering deliberately, since many of these insights are either trivial or untrue, and it will be quite difficult for the reader from the general public to sort the wheat from the chaff. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKGRUPDI.RVW 971107 ------------------------------ Subject: Compromise On Next Mobile Phone Standard Date: Tue, 03 Feb 98 18:52:06 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Compromise On Next Mobile Phone Standard By Sandra Maler PARIS (Reuters) - Mobile telephone makers, operators and regulators agreed on Thursday on worldwide standards for the next generation of high-performance cell phones, delegates at a telecommunications standards meeting in Paris said. The hard-fought compromise paved the way for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a new standard due to offer clients features like two-way text messaging, video and Internet access by the year 2002. It included elements from two competing proposals, one based on the W-CDMA technology backed by Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson and the other on TD-CDMA technology favored by Germany's Siemens and the U.S. group Motorola. "The goal of this proposal is to offer the competitive long- term solution for GSM evolution to UMTS," a statement by the European telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) conference said. Each rival had powerful backing from manufacturers and telecommunications authorities around the world, who wanted to ensure a smooth transition from GSM, the de facto world standard now, to a new generation. "The proposal has key elements of both proposals," GSM operators association chairwoman Adriana Nugter told Reuters. "It is very good that Asian, European and American manufacturers are happy with this proposal." The text of the approved proposal showed the compromise formula was basically the W-CDMA technology modified to ensure it works with GSM, has FDD/TDD dual mode operations and fits in the 2-to-5 megahertz band required for the U.S. market. The meeting brought together manufacturers, operators and regulators to end a dispute between Europe's mobile telephone manufacturers. The ETSI meeting voted for the W-CDMA technology on Wednesday, but failed to give it the 71 percent majority that ETSI rules require. The Nordic-backed W-CDMA technology is a CDMA standard fully compatible with the current Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology. The rival camp proposed TD-CDMA, a CDMA standard combining elements of the Time Division Multiple Access, used in Asia, Europe and other regions. The Nordic alliance is backed by Japan's DoCoMo, the mobile arm of Japan's largest telecom operator NTT. It also claims support from Britain's largest mobile phone operator Vodafone, British Telecom, Finnish Telecom, the Swiss national telecoms operator and Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV of the Netherlands. Siemens, on the other hand, is backed by Alcatel Alsthom, Italtel, Sony and Northern Telecom. Lucent Technologies said it had not yet made up its mind and saw advantages to both systems. Europe is the world leader in mobile telephony thanks to its GSM standard, which has become the de facto global standard and now has some 66 million subscribers in 110 countries. The United Nations-linked International Telecommunications Union (ITU), based in Geneva, is also studying standards for cellular telephony and is expected to recommend one of them by end of 1999. ------------------------------ From: Murray Bent Reply-To: murrayb@imailbox.com Subject: Beware Brooks Fiber! Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 15:45:06 GMT Brooks Fiber is now synonymous with CABLE OUTAGES, afters somehow drilling through three cables and putting 5000 customers offline since Wednesday. I've only just now gotten back online. I know of doctors, and other emergency workers that were incommunicado due to the cut. Families were unable to arrange car transport for family members, workers out-of-town were worried what had happened back home, gated apartments were cut off from their intercom systems, people started feeling a lot more vulnerable about their safety despite increased police presence and a temporary system of dozens of fire spotters across the city. For all the finger-pointing between different competitors and authorities, the end consumer was thrown back into the stone age for a week. I'd like to see a comprehensive plan from Brooks Fiber setting out how they plan to continue conducting business in the City of Palo Alto without destroying even more infrastructure in the process! Murray Bent 45 Newell Rd #209 Palo Alto CA 94303-2733 USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 11:45:13 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #118, February 2, 1998 *********************************************************** * * * TELECOM UPDATE * * Angus TeleManagement's Weekly Telecom Newsbulletin * * http://www.angustel.ca * * Number 118: February 2, 1998 * * * * Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by * * generous financial support from: * * * * Bell Canada ................. http://www.bell.ca/ * * City Dial Network Services .. http://www.citydial.com/ * * Computer Talk Technology .... http://icescape.com/ * * fONOROLA .................... http://www.fonorola.com/ * * Lucent Technologies ......... http://www.lucent.com/ * * * ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** LD Carriers in New Price War Sprint Canada AT&T Canada Bell Canada ACC TelEnterprises ** BCE Profit Before Writedown $1.4 Billion ** CRTC to Telus -- Comply or Desist ** LNP Rollout Dates Affirmed ** fONOROLA to Be CLEC ** WTO Agreement Takes Effect ** Shaw to Drop "Wave" Price ** Lucent Intros 400 Gbps Fiber ** MCI to Open Winnipeg Call Center ** Newbridge Allies With 3Com ** PSINet Has Received 69% of Istar Shares ** Gandalf Offers Simultaneous LAN/PBX Access ** Videotron and Regional Cablesystems Trade Assets ** Correction: Shaw Messaging ** Free Telecom Management Anthology ============================================================ LD CARRIERS IN NEW PRICE WAR: Major long distance carriers fired the first shots in a new battle for consumer customers last week. ** Sprint Canada's residential "The Most" plan now bills calls in one-second increments after the first minute. Calls shorter than 10 seconds are free. Overseas rates are reduced. ** AT&T Canada's "True Choice Anywhere" residential customers now pay 10 cents/minute for evening and weekend (7pm-7am) calls within Canada. AT&T dubbed the change "Dime Time." ** Bell Canada's new "FirstRate" residential plan offers 10 cents/minute evening (6pm-8am) and weekend calling within Canada. Evening and weekend calls to the U.S. are 20 cents/minute. Canada/U.S. weekday calls and all international calls are 25% off base rates. There is no minimum charge. ** ACC TelEnterprises has announced two plans for Canada/U.S. calls: one provides free calls on Fridays for business customers; the other, 5 cents/minute calls on Sunday anywhere in North America for consumers. ** All of the Stentor companies have reduced overseas rates, and restructured them to eliminate the extra first-minute charge. BCE PROFIT BEFORE WRITEDOWN $1.4 BILLION: Aside from its $3 Billion writedown (see Telecom Update #116), BCE Corp. had its best year ever in 1997. Net income (before writedown) was $1.414 Billion, up 23% from 1996. Total revenues rose 18% to reach $33.2 Billion. ** Bell Canada's profits rose 21% to $801 Million. BCE Mobile's net earnings were $71 Million (a 53% increase). Bell Canada International posted a loss of $58 Million, compared with a $25 Million loss in 1996. CRTC TO TELUS -- COMPLY OR DESIST: The CRTC has rejected Telus's request to continue its multimedia trial despite its inability to install digital equipment. If Telus doesn't comply with the terms of its license by February 3, the Commission will begin proceedings to force a halt to the trial. LNP ROLLOUT DATES AFFIRMED: On January 29, the CRTC confirmed the rollout dates for Local Number Portability proposed by Commission staff last August. LNP is to be available in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal by this fall, and in Halifax, Winnipeg, St. John, and St. John’s by the end of the year. Victoria, Ottawa, and several mid-size Ontario cities will follow in early 1999. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/telecom/order/1998/o9860_0.txt fONOROLA TO BE CLEC: fONOROLA has registered with the CRTC as a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. fONOROLA has not yet said where it will offer service. WTO AGREEMENT TAKES EFFECT: The World Trade Organization agreement on telecommunications trade, signed last February (see Telecom Update #70), will come into effect on February 5. The 72 countries that signed the agreement account for 93% of world telecom trade. SHAW TO DROP "WAVE" PRICE: Shaw Communications is reducing the price of its WAVE Internet service to $39.95 a month from $55. LUCENT INTROS 400 Gbps FIBER: Lucent Technologies has introduced a networking system which provides up to 400 gigabits/second on a single strand of fiber. MCI TO OPEN WINNIPEG CALL CENTER: MCI says it will build its first outsourcing call center outside the U.S. in Winnipeg. The new facility will hire 200 employees to handle mainly inbound traffic. NEWBRIDGE ALLIES WITH 3COM: Newbridge Networks has formed a "long-term strategic alliance" with 3Com Corp. 3Com will sell Newbridge's ATM systems and network management software. PSINET HAS RECEIVED 69% OF ISTAR SHARES: PSINet, which is purchasing Istar Internet, has received deposit of 69% of Istar shares and has taken over Istar's day-to-day operations. PSINet has extended the deadline for the tender of shares to February 10. GANDALF OFFERS SIMULTANEOUS LAN/PBX ACCESS: A new product from Gandalf, now a division of Mitel, allows a PBX extension and a LAN connection to be extended off-site over a single ISDN line. VIDEOTRON AND REGIONAL CABLESYSTEMS TRADE ASSETS: Le Groupe Videotron has sold its 100,000-subscriber Northern Ontario cable system to Regional Cablesystems, while purchasing Regional's 7,000-subscriber system in Quebec. Net proceeds to Videotron: about $110 Million. CORRECTION -- SHAW MESSAGING: The report in Telecom Update #117 on Shaw MobileComm's sale of its messaging division referred to this as Shaw's paging business. In fact, Shaw sold its voice messaging service bureaus. FREE TELECOM MANAGEMENT ANTHOLOGY: Until February 27, new subscribers to Telemanagement will receive a free copy of "Front-Line Telecom Management in the 1990s," a newly published collection of Henry Dortman's popular "On the Line" columns. ** To subscribe to Telemanagement, call 1-800-263-4415 ext 225 or go to http://www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub.html ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE Angus TeleManagement Group 8 Old Kingston Road Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7 =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web on the first business day of the week. Point your browser to www.angustel.ca and then select TELECOM UPDATE from the Main Menu. 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to majordomo@angustel.ca. The text of the message should contain only the two words: subscribe update To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to majordomo@angustel.ca. The text of the message should say only: unsubscribe update [Your e-mail address] =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER: All contents copyright 1998 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 225. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ============================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 18:55:27 -0500 From: David W. Levenson Organization: Westmark, Inc. Subject: Re: Payphones and Up-Front Pricing As previously reported here, a recent FCC ruling will require that callers be given the opportunity to know the price of a long distance call before they enter their billing information. The intention of this rule is to allow consumers to make an informed choice, in a competitive market. (It is hard to choose if the price isn't posted!) I find it very interesting that AT&T, of all people, should object to this rule: "The FCC today, instead of targeting the companies that charge rip-off rates, is applying a regulatory solution that will unnecessarily raise costs to the entire long-distance industry," said Rick Bailey, AT&T vice president, federal government affairs. AT&T wanted the FCC to place a ceiling on the rates that the "offending" companies could charge. The effect of the new rule is to force long distance carriers to compete on price. AT&T has typically managed to compete based upon name recognition, but their prices have seldom been the lowest in their market. While this rule was intended to curtail price-gouging by AOS companies, it will also force the `legitimate' carriers to compete on price, and AT&T, apparently, is uncomfortable with that. A more interesting problem is that the price of a call often depends upon who is paying it. An AT&T customer who subscribes to OneRate(tm) service will pay less than an AT&T customer who does not. But the price quote offered via the network must be given before the customer enters the billing information. For this case, the rule allows a carrier who cannot announce the actual price to quote the highest price it might charge for the call ... Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. Voice: 908 647 0900 Web: http://www.westmark.com Stirling, NJ, USA Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V18 #26 ***************************** NOW ISSUE 25 , THEN 27 WILL FOLLOW IN REGULAR ORDER