Date: Thu, 31 Dec 92 10:53:36 EDT
From: Jerry Leichter <leichter@lrw.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: SNET Rate Request
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 928, Message 1 of 13

SNET, which serves most of Connecticut (and little bits of New York -
some of the LATA lines here don't match the state borders) has filed
for a new rate plan with "$160 million in new telephone rates
[whatever that means] to be phased in over three years".  The most
interesting part of the new rates is that they actually ENCOURAGE flat
rate calling.

Currently, phone rates are based on three dimensions:

- Exchange class I-III (depending on the size of the exchange).
	Class II is about 10% more expensive than Class I; Class III
	about 10% more than that.

- Residence or Business line.  Business line rates are almost exactly
	three times the corresponding residence rates.

- Flat rate, message rate (30/90 free calls (residential/business),
	then 12 cents/call), or Select-a-Call (measured:  1-2 cents
	per minute after an initial 3-5 cents, depending on distance).
	Select-a-Call has a fixed rate independent of exchange class.

Under the new scheme, we have:

- Exchange classes I-V, and some of the inter-class differences are
	larger (up to 20%).  (The difference between the smallest and
	largest class was about 30%; it's now about 60%.)

- Residence, Business, or a new Home Business category.  Business
	base rates are uniformally double the corresponding Residence
	rates.  Home Business rates are uniformally 1.5 times the
	Residence rates.

- Message rate disappears.  Select-a-call becomes "per call" (should
	really be called "measured") and is now uniformally 5 cents
	per minute, within the Extended Calling Area.  Flat rate
	splits into two possibilities:  Home Calling Area or Extended
	Calling Area.  The difference is in the number of exchanges
	included in the flat rate.  If you have HCA, calls to the
	Extended area are the same 5 cents/minute as for "per call"
	service.  Only ECA rates vary with exchange class.

	Home Business lines MUST have HCA service.

Needless to say, overall rates are up.  To take my home town of
Stamford (in exchange class II) as an example, current residence rates
are: Flat $11.19, Message $7.59, and Select-a-Call $6.00.  New rates
(now exchange class III) will be: HCA $15.00, ECA $25.65, and Per Call
$10.00.

It's unclear how the current Flat Rate area (which generally includes
your own town and physically adjacent ones) compares to the new HCA's
and ECA's, though SNET claims that for "most customers" the new ECA is
larger than the current Flat Rate area.

It looks as if ECA is the service SNET will try to get most customers
to take.  It's the most expensive base rate -- but it's also a flat
rate service.  For people who want to save money, the $5 difference
between Per Call and HCA is rarely going to make much difference --
with a break-even point of 100 minutes of even local calls per month,
it's not a very good deal in most cases.

The Home Business classification is an interesting innovation.  It
entitles you to a business white pages and DA listing, and you can buy
a Yellow Pages listing.  (Business service includes a free YP
listing.)

In the past, it's been officially impossible for different lines at
the same address to have different classes of service.  (In practice,
SNET *asks* you if you have another line, and what its class of
service is; they never seem to check what you tell them.)  It'll be
interesting to see whether they will allow you to mix Residence with
Home Business lines.  If not, the Home Business lines may be much less
attractive.

Intra-state LD also sees major changes.  SNET wants a uniform 22
cent/minute rate anywhere in the state.  (There are steep after-hours
discounts.)  This is a decrease for most longer calls, but a
significant increase for some shorter ones.  My table of phone rates
of some nearby towns (about a 50 mile radius) ranges from 10 to 25
cents/minute.  It's not clear which of these might be included in the
new ECA; the only one I'd bet on is the 10 cent/minute one.  (This one
will hit me, since my most common intra-state call is to Danbury,
about 35 miles and several towns away.  Calls there are currently 32
cents plus 18 cents/minute.)

Various charges like line connections go up ($35.73 to $45.00 for
residence, for example).  Centrex lines go up by up to almost 50%.
Pay phones go from a flat ten cents to 25 cents for five minutes plus
five cents for an additional three, a major increase.  One of my
favorites, non-listed phone number (note: NOT non-published;
non-listed IS available from DA, they just have to leave it off the
yearly list they send to the printers) goes from $1.00/month to
$2.00/month.  I'd love to see the salaries for the people who must go
through and pull the non-listed numbers out by hand; nothing else can
justify that kind of charge.  (Before you say, well, non-listed
numbers generate more DA calls: DA calls go from 24 to 40 cents, plus
they go from first 5/3 free for residence/business to 3/0 free.)

These are all proposals to the DPUC.  I don't recall the local DPUC
being particularly active around here, so I expect this stuff to go
through pretty much as it stands.


Jerry