Date: 15 Aug 1992 09:52:03 -0700
From: leavens@mizar.usc.edu (Justin Leavens)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Pacific Bell Ads For CLASS
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 630, Message 4 of 5

In article <telecom12.623.8@eecs.nwu.edu> lauren@vortex.COM (Lauren
Weinstein) writes:

> Greetings.  The PacBell CLASS ads are somewhat misleading in a number
> of ways.  Their promotion of priority ringing strongly implies that
> it's the person calling you who triggers the "special" ring, not that
> it will only work if they are calling from the officially entered
> number -- not from anywhere else (such as the proverbial payphone).

[very true stuff about "distictive ringing and Repeat Dialing" deleted]

> And while the ads say "available in the 213, 310, 818 area codes,"
> implying that you have to be in those areas to subscribe to the
> services, they don't explain that any calls from outside those codes
> cannot make use of those CLASS features, nor could calls to/from
> non-PacBell numbers (of major significance in areas like L.A. where
> GTE has a *very* large base of subscribers intertwined all around and
> through PacBell areas.  Neither company seems to be very interested in
> inter-company SS7 hookups.

Yes, this is very misleading on their part. Even the reps admit
they're not really sure which prefixes will work and which won't.
Their standard reply is "Well, if it said that the number won't work
then it probably doesn't." Gee, thanks. That means that only 213
(Downtown LA and Hollywood), and a lot of 818 (San Fernando Valley)
work, leaving most of 310 (West LA, East LA, areas south of LA) unable
to work with these new "features". Another strange thing I noticed was
that using Repeat Dialing to radio station choke prefix (520) in 818
didn't work (number not available) but a call to 213-520 worked fine
(although we know that by the time we can get to the phone, the line
will be busy again).

> All in all, these CLASS features seem to be another attempt at getting
> money for semi-useless frills while the quality of "Plain Old
> Telephone Service" (POTS) goes down the tubes while the rates go
> through the roof.

I do find it annoying that they offer these services at a full price
while offering such limited useage. $3.50 to redial any number in your
area code?  $3.50 to ring differently if someone you know and
especially want to talk to (and doesn't live in Santa Monica) call
you? I want to know when friends from out of state call ...

I also dumped Message Center's Daily Reporter, the service that gave
me news, sports, and financial information in my voicemailbox every
morning.  First problem was that it took at least 15 seconds (as long
as a minute in peak useage periods) just to get through all the header
info. Second problem was that I always have to check to see if anyone
called me while I was in the shower before I leave for work, and with
DR I _always_ had a message in the morning that I had to listen to
before I could find out if I had any real messages. Besides, a 30
second radio news report generally had the same information ...


Justin Leavens   University of Southern California


[Moderator's Note: Doesn't your system say *how many* new calls are
waiting? If so, and there is one new call, you might assume it is the
daily news report, and hang up if you are in a hurry; only choosing to
follow up if there are two or more new messages waiting.  PAT]