Date: Sat, 26 Sep 92 23:21 EDT
From: fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us (Scott Fybush)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: AT&T Wants $3 For International DA
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 741, Message 7 of 9

pedregal%unreal@cs.umass.edu writes:

> In telecom 12 (727) Gabe M. Wiener remarks that AT&T charges $3 for
> international DA.  Funny, I remember it being $1.50 when it ceased to
> be free.

> I've used international DA a few times; I've found the service
> excellent. I concur with the Moderator: it often takes upwards of five
> minutes.  AT&T people have been nice and helpful; on occasion they've
> asked whether I'd prefer to do the talking with the remote DA.

I have similar compliments for AT&T International DA.  I spent an
entire morning at work a few Fridays ago trying to track someone down
across Czechoslovakia.  It required at least five calls to DA there.
AT&T's operators were extraordinarily patient, waiting in one case for
ten minutes for the Czech DA operator to connect!

The Czech DA people were nice also ... their English was easy to
understand, and they handled a weird request like "the main number for
the Slovak government in Bratislava" with ease (I'll spare you the $3
 ... it's +42 7 415111 :-) The people who answered the phones in
Czechoslovakia also had excellent command of English ... with only one
exception (you'd better know Czech if you try to call the Town Hall in
Brno!), everyone I talked to was willing to help me in English.

I think AT&T's service on International DA is well worth the $3, given
the amount of time the operators are willing to spend on a single
request.

> I also was frustrated that non-customers were using the service at the
> expense of customers (like me). So, the question for the wizards at
> AT&T: is it expensive to do a lookup and see if the caller is a Dial
> 1+ customer?  Then AT&T could go back to the nice free international
> DA for those, and politely inform the rest that they'll be charged a
> fee.

Or install a 900 number and a 700 number, and make the 700 number free
to customers able to access it as 1-700-ATT-INFO rather than using
10288 to get there?

Or allow us to dial + country code 555 1212 to get to DA ourselves?  I
know this works with a few countries, but it didn't for Czechoslovakia.

> On the other hand, if Sprint is free now ... :-) 

How long do you think that will last?

One more note ... the Czech phone system has an interesting intercept
that I encountered multiple times that morning ... it's a recording
without a tri-tone that says "International Exchange, Prague.  The
[something] you have [something] is [something]."  I heard the
recording at least a dozen times, and I still didn't quite get it.
Anyone else hear it?


Scott Fybush -- fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us
Westinghouse/Group W are not responsible for my opinions.  They are, however,
responsible for a huge phone bill for international DA and overseas calls.
I'm glad it's them and not me :-)


[Moderator's Note: Maybe you heard about the spy who was arrested
recently in Prague. In his possession was a secret letter which he
managed to swallow so it would not fall into the enemy's hands. The
news was reported in the papers with the headline "The Mail is in the
Czech."  :)   PAT]