Re: [telecom] NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been....

Wesrock 16 years ago

Only a small minority of land-line phone service is 'flat rate' based,

> even today -- business service is all 'metered'. and to 'audit' such
> a bill for accuracy, you have to show when, and _to_where_, each and
> every call was made.

I have never lived anywhere that 1FR and 1FB service were not available and made up the vast number of customers. 1MR and 1MB on the same premises as flat rate service were usually forbidden to prevent the obvious temptation to use the message rate service for incoming calls only and use the flat rate service for outgoing calls. Exceptions could be authorized in some cases where that potential did not exist. Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Vote

David Lesher 16 years ago

Well, NYC, Wash DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, and most of Califunny lack 1FB. That's only the ones I have personal knowledge of same; there are more. Most are ~10c/call, but some are /minute.

NYC, Chicago and CA also lack {for the most part} 1FR. There are some small # of remaining grandfathered "1FR within a borough" accounts; but it was discontinued in 1969 or so.

Vote

Michael Grigoni 16 years ago

In the late '70s and throughout the '80s I had exactly that (Northwestern Bell, Mpls) and there never was any hint of an objection or a problem; in fact this is the first that I've heard of any.

Michael

Vote

Dave Garland 16 years ago

Something changed, then, because by the early to mid '90s (when I ran a Fidonet BBS in Minneapolis) they would not let me have a mix of flat-rate and measured service lines (obviously the idea of cheaper service for incoming-only lines was attractive). I don't remember if it was still NW Bell at that point, or USWest, or Qwest.

Dave

Vote

hancock4 16 years ago

I have one line as flat rate, which I use as my outgoing line, and one line as message rate, which I use as my incoming line.

Vote

Robert Bonomi 16 years ago

You haven't lived in former "Ameritech" or "Northewestern Bell" territory (at least) in a major city at any time since the mid 1980s then. :)

One cannot get any form of flat-rate local calling from the ILEC in Chicago.

Vote

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required