88 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
88 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
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PICK YOUR TOLL-CALL FIRM
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You can pick your toll-call firm despite your primary carrier. It's
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one of the best-kept secrets in the telephone business. None of the many
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long-distance companies advertises it. And operators at Pacific Bell and
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AT&T won't even admit that it exists, although it is a distinct
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advantage to the consumer to know about it.
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The secret:
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If you have already signed up with a long-distance company, you also
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can make your long-distance through ANY other long-distance carrier.
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Throughout California, you can roam around among 22 long-
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distance companies at will casually using any of them that serve your
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area, without regard to the company you selected as your primary
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long-distance carrier.
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"Its the best of all worlds," said a phone industry executive. "I
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picked my primary carrier on a basis of quality and reliability, and
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now I pick and choose among the others according to my needs, such as
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an occasional hour-long call to my son at college over another
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company's lines that offer cheaper afternoon rates."
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Said an officer of a major long-distance firm: "If I'm calling home
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on Christmas or Mother's Day and I get a busy signal, I immediately
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switch to another company's line to get through." "Competition is here,
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and its working, in an instant," the officer said.
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An official at another company said he makes all his personal
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over-seas calls on a competing carrier's lines because his own
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company doesn't serve many over-seas countries. "And my own
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company also charges a premium for calling of the really small towns
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that I call quite often, so I use still another carrier
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periodically."
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Such calls, known in telecommunications jargon as "Ten Triple XXX
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dialing" are automatically billed by Pacific Bell at whatever rates are
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established by the long-distance company used by the caller. No bill
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comes from the company used. Example:
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Under the rules governing the breakup of the Bell System, a
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customer has signed up with AT&T to handle all long-distance
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calling. When the receiver is lifted, calls automatically are
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handled by AT&T.
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But, if the caller wants to use MCI, it can be reached by
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dialing five digits and then dialing the call. MCI's five-digit code
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is 10222.
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Each company has a different code, all beginning with 10 and
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followed by three numbers. Because of this its known as "Ten Triple
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XXX," or simply "the company code."
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Use 10444 for Allnet; 10288 for AT&T or 10777 for Sprint, etc. (See
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accompanying chart.)
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Constant users of Ten Triple XXX quickly learn that 10 are the digits
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that make it work and automatically dial 10, leaving to memory only
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the last three digits. Two companies have made it relatively easy:
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AT&T is 10 ATT and Sprint is 10 SPR.
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But the system doesn't work unless the customer's phone has been
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converted to the new equal-access system, which gives all phone users
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equal access to all long-distance companies. When equal access
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arrives in an exchange area, Pacific Bell rewires its telephone
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switching gear so that long-distance calls are handled by whatever
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long-distance company has been selected by the customer. But along
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with this new company-selection option, comes the added bonus of being
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able to use them all with Ten Triple XXX dialing.
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Ten Triple XXX codes.
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Company Code
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Allnet ................................. 10444
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American Network/Savenet ............... 10311
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American PTT ........................... 10278
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American Telephone Exchange ............ 10050
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Amptelco Systems ....................... 10267
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AT&T ................................... 10288
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Com Systems ............................ 10266
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Comex/Chinamerica ...................... 10788
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CP National ............................ 10276
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Escondido Telephone Co. ................ 10441
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Express Tel. ........................... 10700
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GTE Sprint ............................. 10777
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ITT .................................... 10488
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MCI .................................... 10222
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Republic Telecom ....................... 10001
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SBS .................................... 10888
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Standard Information Services .......... 10747
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TDX Systems ............................ 10223
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Telesphere Network ..................... 10555
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TMC Long Distance ...................... 10007
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U.S. Telecom ........................... 10333
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Western Union .......................... 10220
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By Charles W. Ross Staff Writer for:
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The San Diego Evening Tribune
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