Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-10-16
EXPLAINS COST Of
PHONE SERVICE
Preparation and Furnishing the
Two Elements, Says Vice
President Hall.

Montpelier. oct. 13.-Vice-P President
+. Is. Hall of the New England Tele-
phone company continued his statement
before the public service commission
when it resumed it's hearing of telephone
matters this afternoon.
There are, he said. two clements en-
tering into the cost of telephone service,
preparation and furnishing. Some new
construction Is necessary before service
can ho commenced, and in this respect
the telephone business differs from any
commercial business. The cost of prcpar-
alton can never be accurately determined,
nor can the cost of furnishing, for IT
cannot be foretold what new construc-
ton will he necessary for any subscriber
or what amount of character of service
he vii! require.
The company tries to make a proper
adjustment of rates so that no class OF
ser ice and no exchange shall be oper-
atcd at a loss.
COST AND VALUE OF SERVICE.
( The cost and the value Of the service
are the two important items to be con"
sidercd in fixing rates, and the value OF
the service is less in the small than in
the large exchange
In group 8, which includes the larger
part Of the Vermont territory, the rates
are as follows: Business s33, 81, 81;
residence SEA. sci. SIS. These rates are
for one. two and six-party lines, respec-
lively.
The preparatory cost may be as great
for a residence as for a business connec-
ton. but the demand for use, that is,
the service furnished, will be less, so
a lower rate is established. The higher
rate in either class of service is charged
for the privilege of freer use of the line.
The business man or the professional
man frequently receives service much In
excess OF the rate that he ought to pay a
does not mean that he ought to pay a
higher rate for the value of the service
will be modified in the charge by the
items Of cost.
GENERAL 5 is DESIRED.
The creates value to the community as
. whole Is to have the exchange rates
such rs will bring about the greatest use
of the telephone in the community. W.
believe the rates in Group $ are just and
reasonable. As we go from the smaller
to the larger group the use of the tele-
phone increases ana ll' cost ana inc
value of the service also increases"
While the rates are largely increased
In the larger exchanges, provision IS
made for the smaller business user. by
giving a measured service rate. based
on a charge of five cents per call for
the two larger groups and four cents
in the third and fourth groups.
Going from the smaller to the lar
H.
crease more rapidly than the residence
rate, and the elements of use, cost and
value increase more largely in bus
ness than in residence use.
The rates for the various groups
were presented to the Massachusetts
commission from time to time in the
course Of preparation and We're ap-
proved by 1t, and on such approval it
was deemed that they should be APP
piled to the whole system and not to
Massachusetts alone.
SCHEDULE BETTER BALANCED.
These rates have been put in force in
Massachusetts. Vermont and New Hamp-
shire and to some extent in Maine, and
the results thus far show that It is
better balanced than the old schedule.
There was no increase in rates by The
adoption of the new schedule and the
company cstimate its net yearly loss
at more than 100000.
The effect of the changed rates has
been to increase the number Of single
party lines. In Vermont the number of
single party lines has increased from 123
to l5.i per cent: two-partY, from POS to
3S.5 per cent. while the multiparty lines
decreased from o. to 4G.l.
Mr.. Hall cited the changes made in
the different groups in Vermont. show
ing that in all cases a reduction had
been made or that changes in the char
acter of service had been made.
BURLINGTON RATES CHANGED.
In Burlington, for instance. the
business rates remained the same; the
one-party residence rate dropped from
$40 to $27; two-party from s25 to s2l,
and s~iX-party from s21 to SIS.
The rates of the subsidiary COM
panies do not entirely follow those OF
the New England. The independent
companies, operating under a license
from the American Bell Telephone
p company, fixed the rates as they
pleased and there vas a great variety,
As the New England company pur-
chased these line it did not always. for
3, various reasons. make their schedules
conform to the standard, A schedule of
the rates OF the four subsidiary compan-
, les was submitted, which showed that the
rates are substantially the same as the
New England, but there is an occasional
slight difference sometimes higher, some,
times lower, in the charge for certain
classes OF service.
Adjournment was taken before Mr.. Hall
had finished.