From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: ont.general
Subject: Re: Long-Distance: Who's got the Feeling now?
Date: 9 Nov 92 09:23:43 GMT
Distribution: can
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc., Ottawa, Canada

In article <1992Nov07.162602.16147@mongrel.UUCP> amdunn@mongrel.UUCP (Andrew M. Dunn) writes:
>sdfinuca@cayley.uwaterloo.ca (Sean Finucane) writes about long-distance rates
>subsidizing local calls:

>>Canadians have come to see a telephone as a natural convenience.  Multiple
>>phone lines and people casually making long local calls are commonplace
>>in my experience.  This could change if nothing is done to stop it.

>Sean, you regard the ability to call your friends and relatives for
>long periods of time, for free, as a right.  OK.

That's not what he said at all.  He didn't say anything about rights.
And it certainly ain't free.

>What if my friends and relatives are all long-distance, and yours
>are local?

That's your tough luck.

>What about a business located outside of Toronto (let's say, in
>Kitchener-Waterloo, serving the local customer base).  They still have
>to deal with vendors, agencies and governments located in Toronto, and
>this costs them hundreds of dollars more per month than their competitors
>within the Toronto free calling area.  Far more extra than it should, 
>because of the subsidy.  So this local company's goods are now more
>expensive, and all their customers go to Toronto to buy them cheaper 
>instead.  Is this fair?

They have several alternatives.  Including getting direct lines or
moving closer.  After all, they're probably saving a *lot* more money
on rent than they're paying on LD.

>Why is the system set up this way?  Because, in a monopoly situation,
>the service provider (ie. Bell) can do what they want.  A competitive
>marketplace would never sustain this kind of cross-subsidy.  But it
>allows Bell to claim cheaper local rates.

This is entirely false.  CRTC sets rates.  The situation is precisely
because the CRTC, indirectly the government and the electorate (ie:
us) feels that "basic service" is close enough to a right rather than
a privilege that the higher resource consuming users pay more than
a "fair" share.

The only way to get around this to a truly "fair" system is to meter
*all* calls and remove monthly fees.  I don't think you'd want that
would you?...

>I don't see any reason why people shouldn't pay for the services
>they use.  If they use local equipment (the telephone, the wires from
>the house, the wires to the telephone exchange, and that multi-million
>dollar collection of switching equipment) WHY SHOULD THEY GET THAT
>FOR FREE?

Where do you get this?  Of course they pay for it.  Perhaps not
all of it.  But they do pay for it.  Where else do you think their
monthly goes to?

>Seems to me that the repair and installation staff at Bell service
>almost exclusively local lines.

What on earth does this mean?  Bell services all parts of the
network.  From the telephones out to the trunks.  And for those
bits that they don't own, they're paying for its maintenance.

While there are several components to that service - there are different
groups of people for servicing different parts of the network, Bell
does own (and service) almost all of it.

>They come to fix your local phone
>when it breaks, and put the local circuit wires back on the poles
>when the wind blows them down.  All of this equipment is available
>for you to use, FOR FREE, at _my_ expense if I use long-distance
>services.  These staff maintain this equipment for you to use, FOR
>FREE, at _my_ expense.

Utter nonsense.  Somewhat subsidized, sure, but free?  Nope.
Besides, you're using it too, aren't you?  You're subsidizing
yourself.

>Really fair system, huh?

CRTC thinks so.

It would also be amusing to see your reaction if Bell started charging
you fairly, per minute, for your news link to xenitec - a local call away
ain't it?

You might try asking how the British like that system...
-- 
Chris Lewis; clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca; Phone: Canada 613 832-0541
Psroff 3.0 info: psroff-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Ferret list: ferret-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Newsgroups: ont.general