In article <telecom24.415.11@telecom-digest.org>, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
says:
> NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info wrote:
>> Danny Burstein wrote:
>>> In <telecom24.411.18@telecom-digest.org> Wesrock@aol.com writes:
>>> Bit by bit the 75 message unit allowance got cut down, so nowadays
>>> there's nothing there there. On the slight plus side back in the
>>> 1970s the "local area" for untimed calls expanded to the entire
>>> city.
>> Also cut out is the discount for LOCAL calls made in evening and night
>> altho Verizon kept itemizing how many were made eve and night.
> IIRC, more distant Message Unit calls in NYC were timed. Immediate
> local calls were untimed, but more distant calls had a charge, such as
> one unit for every two minutes and the even further calls one unit for
> every minute. There was a complex chart in the phone book that
> explained it all.
> Philadelphia used and continues to use a similar system to this day.
> It's called "measured service now" but the principles are the same--an
> non-itemized aggregate of cost for intermediate local calls in the
> "Metropolitan Calling Area". In contrast to the above, in more recent
> years discounts are given for night/weekend calls, in the past there
> were no discounts for offpeak calling. Also, in more recent years
> boundaries were liberalized and basically the charges declined.
I wonder how VoIP and unlimited local/ld is impacting measured
service. Put it this way, a measured service line in RI would cost
about $25 a month. For that much I use Vonage and get unlimited.
> Based on the Bell System history, many big cities had measured
> service. Adding meters to each line for panel switching did not seem
> to be a big deal; indeed, I think it was part of the plan. I don't
> think adding meters to SxS was that hard either as it was done in the
> 1940s for Los Angeles.
> Note that cities had fairly large calling areas and the opportunity to
> reach literally millions of people on a local call. In contrast,
> small towns had a much smaller calling area before going toll and far
> fewer people to reach. So you in a small town could call your next
> door neigbhor for free, but your cousin in the next town was a toll
> call.
> For example, the regional high school serving my area covers a fairly
> large geographic area. End to end is a toll call, in the middle are
> message unit calls, and local calls within narrow spots. You can see
> the contrast in calling options and fees for a kid in a city high
> school (measured, but cheap) and a suburban kid (either free or toll).
> Remember too the Brady Bunch episode discussed here where too many
> calls were being made and the parents clamped down on the kids.
> Obviously they had measured service. (In a modern house with six kids
> with three adults. Hmm, yeah right. Geez, even in those days
> families like that were putting in second lines for the kids to use;
> the phoneco even had combo packages.)
I've never had a measured service line. Just wasn't worth it to me,
particularly in the early 80's doing BBS testing where you might make
12 calls a day.
Tony P. (kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net)