When AT&T was forced to break up back in the 80s, I wasn't a big proponent of it. I'm still not.
Saturday we had occasion to call Australia. My mother's phone service, both local and LD, is through MCI. Apparently, because of the kind of plan she has, she's unable to call internationally. We made numerous attempts, but we kept getting the charming "Code 48" message. On Mom's phone line we couldn't even reach the international operator. Time for Plan B.
I brought my phone out to the family room and we tried it. My local phone service is with the local phone company, and my LD is through MCI. But, and here's the big difference, I have the international savings plan with MCI. It costs me $4.95/month plus taxes, but when I got it I was making calls to England nearly every other night and needed a base plan like it.
Lo and behold, it worked. Hurray!
So today I think "I wonder how many minutes I got billed for and how much that cost." I went to the MCI website looking for current transactions since the last statement (7/24). Nowhere on the website is there a place to look that information up. So I found the "contact us" section and sent them a note, thinking, "every credit card I have shows me current charges since my last bill, why wouldn't MCI?" Ha. I got a note back which reads in part as follows:
Unfortunately, due to the manner in which long distance calls are billed, we are unable to view long distance usage until your MCI billing cycle ends.All phone calls made from your home telephone go through your local phone company. If the call is long distance, the local company automatically sends it through the MCI network. Every 3 to 4 weeks, your long distance calling records are compiled to calculate your bill and discounts.
I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, but at this time MCI can only provide you with a monthly statement. This ensures that you are charged correctly for your long distance calls and receive all discounts for which you are eligible.
So for all I know I'm going to be hit with a large charge for a ten-minute call to Australia, and I have no way of knowing what it might be until the bill turns up. And, because it's automatically deducted from my checking account (which I have them do because if I get a paper bill they charge me an extra $1 per month), I'm going to have to remember to look closely at the next bill.
I want AT&T back.
Posted by Linkmeister at July 31, 2007 12:01 AM | TrackBackRelax, linkmeister, I think you're about to get most of Ma Bell back. Just keep in mind that it's sometimes wise to be careful what you ask for. "AT&T" now contains all of the old lady except Bell Atlantic and NYNEX (now Verizon) and US West (now Qwest) - I got this from the Wikipedia article and I think it's right. I've watched my personal phone service morph from Pacific Telephone to Pacific Telesis to SBC to AT&T - and around and around she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows...
The real point about the old AT&T is that it was regulated; the new AT&T is NOT regulated.
Posted by: hedera at August 4, 2007 07:12 PMNo, what you want is Skype. My wife and I live Down Under, but we call back to the U.S. frequently. She set up Skype on the computer (it's not rocket science) and used the credit card to buy 10 euros' worth of time. It costs 2.1 euro cents per minute to call a landline, and if you talk to someone else computer-to-computer, it's free. You can even watch a counter as your Skype credit ticks away, but the money bleeds off slowly. Calls are not always perfect, but I'd say three out of four have quality as good as telephone-to-telephone.
I am in no way connected with Skype, BTW. But the thing just freaking worksd!
Posted by: Bukko in Australia at August 5, 2007 04:36 AM