Re: A DOV technical question

["Fred R. Goldstein" <fgoldstein@bbn.com>]

  At 10:18 AM 11/4/96 -0500, Michael Philip Kaufman wrote:
  
  >BTW, Fred -- does NYNEX up there *also* charge the per-call "drop" (10.6
  >cents, here in NYC) for data calls, on *top* of the per-minute data charges?
  
  No. NYC's resi tariff is based on per-call charges.  The rest of NYNEX
  doesn't do that; we have real flat rates for resi subscribers.  (Measured
  is an option, but its availability is sometimes restricted.)  Data isn't
  a surcharge per se; rather, the measured rate applies to all data
  bearer calls, while you can elect a flat rate plan (we have several to
  choose from) for "voice" calls.
  
  >The combination, here in NYC, makes demand-based throttling (where my
  >hardware could bring the lines up and down based on traffic) prohibitive...
  
  True.  Ameritech's the same way.  Per-call charges with no timing are
  counterproductive when duration's the issue.  These go back a *long* way.
  They're "message unit" tariffs dating back to the pre-dial days, when the
  operator punched a ticket for each local call.  On stepper gear (which NYC
  never had, though Panel may have had the same problem), primary-local (one
  message unit) calls were hard to time.  NYNEX/MA got permission to adopt
  "single message rate timing" (SMRT) in the late '70s, but many steppers kept
  untimed 1MU calls because it was too costly to upgrade.
  
  Trouble is, any alternative pricing raises other issues.  Telcos just don't
  like flat rates (well NYNEX doesn't!).
  ___
  Fred R. Goldstein      fgoldstein@bbn.com  
  BBN Corp.              Cambridge MA  USA    +1 617 873 3850