Conference 7.286::digital

    I'm no genius, but....
    
    We are doing a lot of business with MCI.  Meaning they buy 10's - 100's
    of millions of dollars of our equipment depending if you figure in
    partnerships (like NASDAQ).
    
    We are doing somewhere less than 15 Mil with ATT.
    
    In addition, MCI is giving us a great price and is saving us millions
    of dollars annually on phone service.
    
    This is one of the best business decisions that I have ever heard of
    Digital being associated with 8^)..
    
    By the way, it is about time that Digital learned that what IBM and HP
    have always known; You buy my stuff and I'll buy yours.
    
    In full support,
    
    
    Jack Boyle
    
    purchasing others services with their purchase of ours.

    Yes, I found a message in my VMail this morning.  
    
    I hope the move to MCI is a better experience than moving to Thomas
    Cook Travels services has proved to be.

I prefer MCI for my personal use, so I think it's great it the company also 
sees the benefits for their use, especially because I have seen great savings 
for the same service!

    Digital moved FROM American Express, not TO Thomas Cook.  There is a
    very big difference there and it had nothing at all to do with the
    level of service.  In this case it is the same as 'you scratch my
    back...', only it is called 'payback is a %^$#!'.

American Express serviced Digital well. Thomas Cook, as an unknown entity,
has proven to be less than effective at reducing Digitals travel expenses.
And their service is horrible.

They'll be moving FROM Thomas Cook when the contract expires ...

Doug.

Anyone heard if the 1-800 number to access DTN's from the outside world will
be cut over to support an MCI card number?


   ...or will this disappear in the shuffle?


And by the way, I'd imagine we still do a fair amount of business with AT&T.
MCI just made us an offer we couldn't refuse.  

I hope our data bandwidth stays with AT&T.

    
    re -1
    
    What is this 1-800 number to access DTNs, please?  Do you mean
    that when I check my voicemail on a vacation, I don't
    need to be paying for the call?
    
    Glenn

    
    You'll need a calling card to use it.  The 800 number prompts you for
    your AT&T (soon to be MCI) calling card before it completes the call.
    
    -Ed
    

    Although you have to use a credit card to access DTN via the 800
    number, the cost is substantially less than 0+ dialing.  Not only is
    the base rate less, but, after looking at my phone bill, it appears
    that we are only charged for the exact connect time, rather than "any
    portion of a minute is a minute."  
    

    I applied for an AT&T card a few weeks ago, and received... one of the new
    MCI cards, with a nice DIGITAL logo on it (old logo and color though!)

    Re. .6:

    Yes! DTN access is still there, although the procedure is a little
    different. You use the same 800 number you use for making regular calls on
    MCI, and dial 8-DTN, after which you'll be prompted for the card number.
    This means you can mix and match DTN and regular calls on the same 800
    number, and after entering you card number only once. Pretty convenient
    when standing at a pay-phone.

    Vincent

	... usual long-distance charges via the 800- number.  Back when I
was receiving the bill, I know I was surprised at the seemingly trivial cost
for a weeks worth of remote accesses.  Now, it's a cost center report entry,
at least for our (Consulting) entity.

    
    Point I was trying to make is that you need a company issued calling
    card to use the 800 DTN line.
    
    -Ed
    

    I didn't get such a cutover memo, and my card really comes in handy for
    checking my voicemail etc. when I travel...
    
    ?
    

A question. 

	Does MCI provide a similar service to AT&T's USA Direct? When outside 
	of the US, you can dial an access number and be directly connected to
	an AT&T operator in the states.


Re: .13

	Here's my copy of the memo.


                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     24-Sep-1993 08:36pm EDT
                                        From:     BLACKWELL
                                                  BLACKWELL@DPDTEL@MRGATE@DPD03@DPD
                                        Dept:      
                                        Tel No:    

TO:  JOHN BIAZZO@LAC


Subject: **Important Telephone Calling Card Information              




             *********************************************************
             *****  IMPORTANT TELEPHONE CREDIT CARD INFORMATION  *****
             *****        **  AT&T CALLING CARD USERS  **        *****
             *********************************************************

   Digital and MCI have signed a long-term contract for telecommunications
   services.  Many of Digital's current AT&T telecommunications services will
   be converted to take advantage of this contract.  Detailed reviews are
   currently underway to define which services will be converted and when.
   If any of these changes pose an affect on your business, you will be
   contacted prior to any action.

   This change in telecommunications service was supported by Digital's
   Senior Leadership Team and will result in an annual cost savings of
   approximately $4M.

   In order to take advantage of these cost savings, all AT&T VTNS calling
   cards will be converted to MCI VNET calling cards during the months of
   September and October.  MCI will send a new calling card and information
   package to each current AT&T credit card user.  The MCI card packages will
   be delivered by U.S. mail to the employee's business address.  If you are
   a current AT&T calling card user you DO NOT need to re-apply for a MCI
   calling card.  

   Your existing AT&T calling card will be canceled approximately two weeks
   after you receive your MCI calling card.  The calling card billing for
   these cards will continue to be processed centrally and a cost center
   manager's report will be issued monthly detailing the credit card activity
   and billing.  All administration for these cards will continue to be
   handled by the Dallas CNS group, DTN 486-6081 (214-404-6081).

   With the new MCI calling card, you can make DTN and non-DTN calls.  In
   order to complete both types of calls, the caller will dial 950-1022 (or
   800-950-1022) to access both the MCI and Digital DTN networks.  Complete
   dialing instructions will be included in the card information packages.

   If you have any questions regarding this program, please call Marjorie
   Blackwell, DTN 223-1115, outside number (508) 493-1115.


VMSmail To information: MTS$::"LAC::JOHN BIAZZO"
Sender's personal name: 24-Sep-1993 1644 -0500

	

    Both MCI and Sprint offer equivalents to AT&T's "USA Direct"
    feature.
    
    				Steve

    
    Our 800 service has been on MCI for months now...
    
    In most respects, AT&T and MCI are equivalent service providers, 
    across the entire spectrum of service offerings.
    
    I doubt you'll notice the difference, and in the process Digital will
    be saving millions of dollars and perhaps saving hundreds of jobs...
    
    /ljj
    
    

    re: .6
    
    > I hope our data bandwidth stays with AT&T.
    
    Why?  Do you think the data have a preference?
    
    bk

Yeah, in fact data applications are more picky.

My experience has been that AT&T generally provides "cleaner" lines for data
applications.  For voice, it's not as important.  You and I can deal with noise
better that computers.

    FWIW:
    
    The Electronic Connection (formerly called the Electronic Store) has
    tons of 800 lines.  They've been supplied by MCI for several years--no
    problems that I know about and supposedly a cost savings.
    
    Chet

    
>My experience has been that AT&T generally provides "cleaner" lines for data
>applications.  For voice, it's not as important.  You and I can deal with noise
>better that computers.
    
    I am aware of the implications of voice vs. data tranmission. Your
    experience is not a quantitative evaluation of bit error rate, frame
    slip, out of frame, etc.  MCI(and Sprint) sell transmission services
    that have thresholds for the allowable performance counts that affect
    data transmision.  If the customer experiences errors that exceed the
    allowable thresholds, they are not required to pay for the service. 
    AT&T also offers this type of service.  MCI, Sprint, and AT&T buy their
    transmission equipment from the same set of vendors.  The difference
    from 'my experience'(also unbacked by hard data) is the commercials on
    TV.
    
    MCI is a huge VAX shop. AT&T is a huge NCR shop.  I think the decision
    to go with MCI makes sound business sense.
    
    bk

>If the customer experiences errors that exceed the
>allowable thresholds, they are not required to pay for the service. 

This is all well and good.  The issue is opportunity cost.  When a line goes
out, the cost of the circuit is miniscule compared to the potential loss of
revenue or business opportunity.

I was merely stating what my experiences have been.  A quantitative analysis
may prove otherwise.

The "you scratch my back and I'll scratch your back" business relationship does
not always yield the best results for both parties.  

The rationale for a decision like this should be made based on service, quality,
and price. If the best vendor is also a big customer, that's great.  However, 
you can then expect them to come back and push for bigger discounts based upon
the sudden "itchiness" of their back. 

We would expect that the same levels of service and quality is being obtained at
a lower price.  Based upon some other corporate decisions of late
(ie Thomas Cook) let's hope that Digital has not accepted lower quality and less
service along with a lower price.  

In so doing, creating a higher opportunity cost.

JB

    I'd suspect that most of the data bandwidth that Digital buys is
    pure-digital bandwidth; not V.32 over dial-up lines. Although I prefer
    ATT for my personal long-distance carrier, and I hate *all* of the
    commercials, there is no reason to even suspect that the bulk-data
    services are of poorer quality on MCI.
    
    And the local loops are, well, the local loops. You pays your access
    fee, you takes your chances.
    
    ...tom

re: <<< Note 2689.7 by BOOKS::HAMILTON  >>>
    
    
>>>Do you mean
>>>    that when I check my voicemail on a vacation, I don't
>>>    need to be paying for the call?
    
    Double check local management's policy.  I was informed by my managers
    that I was not to use the company calling card (even for this purpose) 
    while on vacation.

    >Double check local management's policy.  I was informed by my managers
    >that I was not to use the company calling card (even for this purpose) 
    >while on vacation.
    
    	I'm certain your managers adhere to this policy strictly themselves
    and are audited regularly for compliance ;-).
    
    Phil
    
    

    I am slightly "inside" this transaction so I can speak from some
    knowledge...
    
    AT&T gave away the business to MCI, period.  What really happened is
    that the we signed a 5-year contract with AT&T about 4 years ago, and
    since then a few things have changed.  We downsized, so our minimum
    commitment level was getting perilously close, and AT&T's street price
    for T1 digital lines fell below our "discounted" level.  The FCC
    declared an open season ("fresh look") on AT&T's contracts, allowing
    MCI to bid before renewal time.  MCI made a great offer.  AT&T refused
    to talk.  We might have stuck with AT&T if they had even come close;
    the conversion is a major ordeal!
    
    The calling cards work differently, to be sure, but MCI is cheaper for
    both on-net and off-net calls.  The rate we pay, btw, is not based on
    retail rates.  For all interstate calls, we pay a flat rate per minute
    based on whether the call is on-net (DEC site to DEC site via MCI's
    switched network), on-to-off (DEC site to non-DEC), off-to-on (as in
    credit card to DTN), or off-to-off (as in credit card to elsewhere).
    The "off" ends cost more because the local Bell company takes an adder;
    in off-to-off, MCI keeps less than half!
    
    Let's give them a chance.  They've come a long way in the past decade,
    and wouldn't have gotten the nod if we didn't think they could handle
    the job.  Their service should be near parity with AT&T.

    re: .21
    
    AT&T is hardly a big NCR shop. It's actually a colossal
    HP/Tandem/Amdahl shop with hundreds of museum-vintage VAX 11/780's,
    8650's and 3B's to boot.
    
    AT&T mostly looks down on NCR, though that may change! 
    
    /ljj
    
    (NY/NY Telecom Branch)

    
    
    Here in the Mid-west, AT&T has VAX 9000's, 8000's, 6000's, 4000's, and
    3000's.  As far as square footage goes, my site is about 50% DEC and
    50% Amdahl/HP/Pyramid.
    
    Jon Aller

    re: .27
    
    if memory serves...didn't AT&T buy NCR a few years ago...???
    
    NCR is AT&T...
    
    

    re: .29
    
    I really was talking through my hat when I said that AT&T is a huge NCR
    shop.  They may not yet be using the NCR products in volume. But, AT&T 
    does own NCR and I suspect it is only a matter of time before they become 
    a predominant NCR user.
    
    Before AT&T bought NCR, MCI was probably sweating bullets thinking that
    AT&T would aquire Digital.  You remember the never-ending rumors.  I
    think they were relieved to know that NCR was aquired to be AT&T's
    computer company.  I wonder if AT&T will ever use their own stuff?
    
    bk

    The new line of ATT/NCR hardware, announced the week of September 7th,
    is based on Intel 486 and Pentium chips.  

    re: AMEX to Cook
    
    I was one of the people who complained about the move, and the
    transition was less than smooth.  BUT now I have experience that says
    that Thomas Cook has delivered service.  Once where they found an Avis
    car for me in a small town in Maine when my car broke down, and now
    where they sent me a ticket via airborne express when not at my site,
    and we're NOT charged for it.  AMEX would always charge for a fedex.
    
    Re: AT&T/MCI
    
    The "I'll buy yours/you buy mine" is understandable, but now I want to
    sell solutions and services to AT&T, and I hope that this decision will
    not shoot me in the foot before I even start.
    
    /d.c.

    Regardless of WHO will be supplying the DTN access service, my beef is
    that as the person responsible for not letting out my card number, I
    have absolutely no idea of who might be using my number -- the reports
    go to the cost center manager (the world's busiest people where I am,
    ranking right up there with product managers) and I am sure that
    with all the other things CC managers have to look for that these are
    not scrutinized very carefully.
    
    Sure, if someone glanced over my shoulder at the airport and is now
    using my card number to call Hong Kong, the alarming difference in
    usage would probably be visible; but a smart thief would call just
    enough to make it look about normal (the old frog in the pan of hot
    water trick).
    
    When I contacted Telecom to see if there was a way to send the reports
    on my number to me personally (they surely have my email address) I got
    a fairly pat answer that they only send the reports to the CC manager.
    When I pointed out the potential fraud involved, I never got a reply
    back.  I must infer that the cost to hack some code to send my usage to
    me in email is more than the cost of the fraud which, unfortunately,
    makes business sense to today's thinkers.
    
    Still, guess who they'll come looking for to explain suspicious looking
    calls after the fact?
    
    Dan

    Two points...
    
    1) The internal bureaucracy surrounding calling cards and their reports
    has nothing to do with MCI vs AT&T.  It was a decision made by CIS US
    Telecom some time ago to centrlize the function in Dallas, and they
    happen to do things the way they feel like doing it.  This might be
    changeable in the future, perhaps, but right now they're pretty busy
    replacing a whole heap of AT&T cards with MCI cards.
    
    2) The decision to replace AT&T with MCI has NOTHING to do with how
    good a customer of Digital either one is!  Remember that for a few
    years, MCI was 20% owned by IBM; now British Telecom is their sugar
    daddy.  For us to make purchasing decisions based upon sales could
    amount to reciprocity, which is verboten under the Uniform Commercial
    Code, so don't even think it.  And I can assure you that the decision
    was made on much better grounds -- we save millions of dollars per year
    because MCI gave us a better price, and convinced us (and I was not
    easy) that they could handle it.  We still will do a little business
    with AT&T, but not the calling cards.

Well, I'd like to get some official notification of this change (through my
management chain... as screwed up as it is, (No offense, Gary!)). I travel
frequently and rely heavily on my AT&T VTN card. I haven't heard a thing
about this except here in this conference. 

Jim Mickol
Rochester, NY

Come on, Jim...

You ALWAYS get your information here first...

You'll see an "official" announcement sometime next month, with 35 forwarding
headers using meaningful titles like "FYI..." or "Pls fwd..tkx"

8-)

Bob

    
    Hello folks,
    
    	I was concerned about this "cancel in two weeks" stuff, so I
    inquired about the schedule.
    
    	Oct 1 - Oct 8:	MCI cards mailed out from Boston by ZIP code
     	       Oct 15:  Cards assumed received at DEC ("Digital" for purists)
    	       Oct 31:  Earliest date that ATT cards will be cancelled
    
    	I was told that the cancel date could be moved out if it appears
    that the MCI cards are not getting out per schedule.
    
    Cheers,
    		John
    

I guess they will have to move it further out -- I still haven't received my new
card as yet...


John

    
    Me neither...
    

    
    	I was just notified by US Comm that mailings started 10/25 and
    will continue for about 2 weeks.   If by 11/15 you have not received
    a card and were supposed to you may foloow up and get a card.
    
    KMP

Re:<<< Note 2689.40 by CSC32::K_PATTERSON "Keith, Colo CSC, DTN-unlisted" >>>

>    	I was just notified by US Comm that mailings started 10/25 and
>    will continue for about 2 weeks.   If by 11/15 you have not received
>    a card and were supposed to you may foloow up and get a card.
    
Well there are quite a number of us here who still haven't received our new 
cards.  I hope this isn't representative of the long distance service we're
going to receive... 

-  David

    
    	I just rx mail today that the cards are "on the way" and to wait
    until 1 Dec. to follow up.   ATT card expiration dates have been
    extended I'm also told.
    
    KMP

    well, they started showing up in Seattle last week..
    

 <<< Note 2689.44 by YUPPIE::COLE "Free: A 4-letter word starting with "F"!" >>>
                        -< Ditto for me in ALF, today. >-
Well, I received two cards. Each with a different account number. Now
if I could just convince them to give me two pay checks!

- John

    Folks,
    
     I just received my new card also. I'm convinced its a new security
    feature. Just consider the additonal security added ( and
    productivity):
    
  	  			  Att		MCI
    DTN call from payphone
    			       1800+ 7 digits	1800+ 7 digits		
       			(bong) 14 digit cc#	8+7 digit dtn
    			(bong) 7 digit dtn	14 digit cc#
    
    			total	32 digits	33 digits
    
    Long Distance from Payphone
    				0+ 10 digits	1800 + 7 digits		
		    	(bong)	14 digit cc#	11 digit phone number
    						(bong) 14 digit cc#
    			total	25 digits	36 digits	
    
    So by my count we're 1-11 digits more secure and productive! 
    Wanna bet how many phone calls the people that made this decision make? 
    
    Anyone have this new code programmed into their dial in modems /
    terminal emulators yet? Are there enough digits to dial in while on 
    the road?		
    
    Chuck
         

    Voice mail from home takes up 3 programmable buttons on my AT&T phone.
    Calling the office takes only 2.

    re:.47
    
    It is not unlikely that AT&T will start migrating its own users towards
    1-800 access and away from 0+ access.  Too many pay phones are
    programmed to route 0+ calls to sleazebag "alternate operator
    services", who charge up to $72 for a local call against a credit card. 
    While 800 numbers are generally inferior, they guarantee who you'll be
    reaching.  (950-1022 may also work for MCI, saving 4 digits.)

950-1022 is also preferable to using the 800 number - they charge you less for
using the 950-1022 number than the 800 number - the 800 number should only be
used in areas where the other number is not available - I learned this from
having my own MCI card for many years.

    re:.50
    They don't charge DIGITAL less for 950 than for 1800.
    
    They do charge Digital MUCH LESS than they charge you!  (If you have
    enough volume, you get to negotiate a deal.)
    
    I'm not sure if there's a difference between 950 and 1800 any more.
    In the olden days, many years ago (like late '80s), all 800 numbers
    were AT&Ts, but 950-1022 went straight into MCI.  Thta's no longer
    true, so MCI doesn't take the bath on 800 they used to.

    re: .47
    
    I think you're wrong. You should NOT be dialing AT&T long distance using 
    10288 + 0 + number. By using the 800#, your calls add up against
    Digital's bulk pricing of $.13/minute + $.03/surcharge per call. The use
    of credit card using direct dialing may not come into the Tariff 12
    rate we got from AT&T. I suspect the same is true for MCI.

Piece of cake:

ATDT9501022,,phonenumber,CCnumber<return>

Timing is almost perfect using the number of commas indicated.

Norm

    I use 
    
    ATDT9501022WphonenumberWccnumber<return>
    
    The w tells the modem to wait for MCI's tone before continuing.  Should
    work with most modems. 
    
    Thing to watch out for is the length of the dial string may get too
    long for the modem's dial string buffer. In a bad case hotel you may
    need to do:
    
    ATDT8W18009501022W07195551212W98765432109876        44 Chars
    
    best case
    
    ATDT9501022W85926000W98765432109876                 35 Chars
    
    My modem buffer holds about 40 characters so the worst case string does
    not work.

    Anyone know what the difference in cost is for using a WATN
    dial-in connection vs. 950-1022 or 1-800-xxx-xxxx?
    
    I was traveling recently and was quite surprised that I could
    not dial into the local facility LAT (I was across from a major
    Digital facility) and do a C WATN.  CNS told me I should dial
    the TYMNET access number instead.  I'd have to believe that
    using voice credit card dialing instead of WATN or TYMNET
    is much more expensive to Digital.  
    
    Anyone know the hard facts,
    
    Jeff
    
    

    re:.55
    WATN (Tymnet) rates vary by time of day.  They're lower than calling
    card rates, but not even by half, during the day (about 6c/min). 
    They're about 2c/min at night, which is cheaper than any non-local
    phone call.  These are rough ballpark numbers.  We don't pay a
    differential for high/medium/low density numbers.  BTW, I think Tymnet
    is being acquired by MCI (part of their BT deal).
    
    It is NEVER cheaper to dial Tymnet via a calling card; if you are not
    local to Tymnet, it is cheaper to dial DIRECT via a calling card. 
    (Tymnet's 800 number costs more than an MCI card.)  Not having a local
    dial-in makes the least-cost option unavailable; it may be that way
    simply because a) the site CNS doesn't want to bother to maintain a
    modem pool, and b) WATN is a different cost center, and CNS managers
    are masters of cost-shifting.
    
    In order of ascending cost:  Local call, [FX call, ]WATN local number,
    MCI card, WATN 800 number.

Has anyone out there noticed any dialing problems with the new MCI cards?

It seems that MCI's system can not handle short tones that are given by my
AT&T 5510 cordless phone.  Approximately 80% of the calls I attempt with my
MCI card do not go through because the system apparently can't handle the 
shorter tones.  I never had the problem with AT&T.

(I know, I know, ironic, isn't it - AT&T phone with MCI long distance:-)

Jay

Re:<<< Note 2689.42 by CSC32::K_PATTERSON "Keith, Colo CSC, DTN-unlisted" >>>
    
>    	I just rx mail today that the cards are "on the way" and to wait
>    until 1 Dec. to follow up.   ATT card expiration dates have been
>    extended I'm also told.
    
Well some of us here in CXO *still* haven't received them.  We're not *that* 
far from the GMA...  :-)  :-)

-  David

    re: -2
    
     My ATT 5450 cordless is working fine. My only problem was forgetting
    to dial the "8" for DTN access.
    
     Chuck

    re: .57
    
    I get a higher number of incomplete calls with MCI these days, but I've
    always just attributed it to busy circuits or poor routing management.
    In some places, you still get what you pay for ...
    
    Geoff

Well, I decided I'm going to take my phone in to have the tones lengthened
slightly, because my AT&T 54xx works fine (noticeably longer tones).  I was
told by AT&T technical support that there is a way to adjust that timing.  I 
wish I knew how to do it myself.

Jay

    What is the 800 number we are supposed to call with the MCI card to
    get to the dtn, is it the same as before?  I got no instructions with
    my new card.
    
    Brad.

    While trying to use the stored number feature of my car phone (which
    makes me dial the 1-800-xxx-xxxx number) I found that the MCI operator
    kept interrupting the dialing process and asking me for the number I
    was calling. I finally asked why I couldn't call directly with my car
    phone like I could with the "old Bell" numbers. She checked with her
    supervisor and came back with "you can't store your card number and
    dial it automatically with your car phone. It won't work".
    
    Anyone else have any car phone experience with the new MCI setup? Am I
    being le astray?
    
    Gil
    
    

    Re: .62-
    
    	The same 800 number as for 0+ calls:
    
    	800-950-1022. At the tone, enter 8 and the DTN.  At the next tone,
    enter your card number.
    
    Phil

    Re: MCI operators
    
    What I have found is the time between when your last digit is entered
    and when the next response is expected is much shorter with MCI. If you
    wait too long to enter your CC # you are much more likely to have an
    operator come on-line. This is fortunate because if I needed the 5 or
    6 commas used by my terminal emulation package and ATT I would run out 
    of space to enter all the numbers and commas.
    
    I don't know if this is a problem with car phones. I have been able to
    store the 800# and CC# in several phones.
    
    Chuck

Re:      <<< Note 2689.58 by BSS::CODE3::BANKS "Not in SYNC -> SUNK" >>>

>Well some of us here in CXO *still* haven't received them.  

A memo I got yesterday said to call a hot line if I still hadn't received my 
new card.  So I called the number and was forwarded to a voicemail system where
the recipient's mailbox was full!  Talk about overload!!! 

I called the originator of the memo and apparently they're doing another
mailing, cancelling the original cards supposedly sent, and issuing new ones. 
They're now in the process of FAXing copies of the new card number along with
instructions, so I now actually have a number to use.

Wonder if I'll ever get an actual card? 

-  David

re: .57 and others with MCI performance problems...

	I have just returned from a week in Anchorage, Alaska and I found
   that using my MCI card was something of a turkey shoot...with snowballs.

	From the hotel, the card would not work with either of the local or 
   800 numbers.  It would work if the local operator dialed the call.

	From the customer site it would work from selected phones.  
   Further investigation indicated that the working vs non-working
   phones where on different exchnages (within the same city).

	Lastly, neither number worked from the Anchorage airport.
   However, my personal Sprint card worked from all the numbers dialled.

	Dialing "24 hour customer service: 1-800..." got me to the MCI
   operator who transferred me to the MCI Digital National Account service 
   representative (1-800-765-3321...I was told that this number was not
   printed on the card because Digital "just became a National 
   Account".)  This person could not answer the question as to why my 
   card did not work without me providing the specific date, time, 
   location, and phone number I was calling from for each failure.   At 
   least she did not blame it on the earthquake.   On my next trip I will
   carefully log this information.

	I have not experienced phone problems with either my personal
   Sprint card or my ole ATT card.  Then again, I have not had a bad car 
   from Avis (while on business), but this too will probably change in 
   the future.

This problem isn't as rare as it should be. For instance, I could not use
a MCI card in the Oklahoma panhandle. When I dialed the access #, I got the area
hospital, instead. An exasperated night nurse answered the phone, and explained
to me that the MCI access phone # rings her phone, every time. I simply 
could not make a call using MCI.

Similar dial-up problems also occured to me in different locations around the
northern half of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California.

MCI isn't worth the hassle, and is, for me, worthless. ATT always works,
everywhere.

John D.  

    Wait a second.
    
    950-1022 _always_ gets you MCI IF it gets you anything.  It can't ring
    a hospital, gas station, or anything else.  Telephone numbers cannot
    begin with 950; that is a special prefix for Feature Group B long
    distance carrier access.  Because of the way it's connected, not
    everywhere can dial 950-1022, but if it's working, it goes to MCI.  If
    that doesn't happen then it's not MCI's fault, but they'd be happy to
    hear about it so they could give the errant local phone company grief.
    
    If 950-1022 isn't available, 800-950-1022 will be.  The "950" means
    nothing special when behind 800; MCI just had the cleverness to claim
    "950-1022" as their own 800 number before anyone else got it.  You can
    also reach them via 800-COLLECT (who do you think takes out all those
    TV ads?).  That's even more clever.  All 800 numbers should be
    accessible from all phones within the USA.
    
    There may or may not be other problems concerning MCI's cards, but
    getting to their access ports shouldn't be.
       fred

    For about a week after I got my MCI card, my success rate on first
    dial was about 50% (meaning actually getting a useable connection).
    Things seemed to get easier as the week went along, but I was in 4
    different cities in 6 days, so different exhanges might have different
    capabilities.
    
    Mark
    

    A rathole:  I wanted to call attention to the cleverness of MCI in
    snarfing memorable pieces of "phone-number space" like 800-COLLECT and
    800-950-1022, the latter to reinforce their 950- assignment.  Recently
    I've been noticing other clever 800-numbers, like 1-800-CRANKME (seen
    on the side of some truck owned by a car battery company, I think). 
    These are all examples of a forward-looking marketing organization, in
    the early stages of a "land rush" (the term applies equally to physical
    and cognitive territory, methinks) into a new marketing territory like
    the 800-space, being perspicuous enough to know where the "high ground"
    is.  Such "early adopter scouts" are an essential part of any
    organization's future success -- if they are listened to, as MCI's
    obviously were.
    
    There's a similar land rush on right now, into CyberSpace, aka the
    "Information Highway."  DIGITAL is fortunate enough to have had
    Corporate Research active in the Internet for years, and the Internet
    is the precursor of the Info Highway.  The Internet's growing by leaps
    & bounds these days, as is DIGITAL's participation therein.
    
    Within the Internet, a multimedia hypertext system called the
    World-Wide Web is growing at least twice as fast (in terms of net
    traffic) as the entire net is growing.  And DIGITAL is participating in
    this land rush!  We actually have an "Internet Marketing
    Communications" group, (space forbids mention of all the relevant CRA
    and Marketing names) and they have actually placed DIGITAL
    ADVERTISEMENTS in at least one fast-growing network-visible
    "Cybermagazine," the Global Network Navigator from O'Reilly Associates. 
    This advertisement actually directs interested users to our
    externally-visible "gatekeeper.dec.com" machine, where they can peruse
    our product and service offerings, read the Digital Technical Journal,
    ... try out an Alpha processor, ... (and in future, probably will even
    be able to actually order our products and services!).
    
    That's the sort of scouting-out-the-high-ground we need.  Thanks folks!

>>        <<< Note 2689.69 by CARAFE::GOLDSTEIN "Global Village Idiot" >>>
>>              -< let's not get carried away; they have 3 numbers >-

Well Fred, I didn't see you in the phone both with me, but I can assure
you that I am not making up a story, just to hear my self "talk".

It was a couple of years ago, in Boise City, Oklahoma. I don't recall the 
number I dialed; I followed the instructions on my card. It didn't work, I
was connected to a hospital, the woman I spoke to was tired of receiving
MCI "access" calls. 

Since I have no plans to go back to Boise City, perehaps you can go there
and check it out, or not.

But don't tell me I'm getting "carried away". 

Thank you,

    re:.72
    
    If you just "followed the instructions on the card", and it was some
    years ago, then the number might NOT have been 950-1022.  The 950
    series is not a phone number but a special access code.  In the olden
    days, MCI used to use ordinary phone numbers for access, and these
    could be listed wrong.  THere are lots of errors in the Tymnet books,
    for instance, in part because these numbers change more rapidly than
    the books.
    
    In any case this isn't a mark against MCI but against the local phone
    company IF they are misround calls.

Re:      <<< Note 2689.66 by BSS::CODE3::BANKS "Not in SYNC -> SUNK" >>>

>I called the originator of the memo and apparently they're doing another
>mailing, cancelling the original cards supposedly sent, and issuing new ones. 
>They're now in the process of FAXing copies of the new card number along with
>instructions, so I now actually have a number to use.

Well now we've been told not to accept the FAXed numbers... "since our FAX's
are not in a controlled environment and anyone could have made note of the
number before it reached the appropriate person."  The janitors could be having
a ball with our numbers for all we know.

Who knows when they'll get this straightened out properly...  :-(

-  David

    the amount of time and effort going into this will eat up any savings
    we should have realized...

    RE: FAXING MCI CALLING CARDS NUMBERS:
     Yes, we are faxing some calling card numbers to secure DTN faxes. These 
     are faxes that are near the users on Digital sites. We are also sending 
     the MCI calling card numbers to All In One accounts marked Digital 
     Confidential. Both methods have been reviewed and OK'd by Security.
    
    RE: SAVINGS AND TIME SPENT ON THIS PROGRAM:
    Yes, it is unfortunate that many of the original MCI mailed calling
    cards did not arrive in a timely manner at the end users offices.
    However, the MCI card does save Digital money over the ATT card, and
    the quicker we can get them out to the users, the more money we save.
    
    Any additional questions, please call.
    
    Marjorie Blackwell
    Calling Card Program Manager
    223-1115
            

    
    
    
    ***********MCI CREDIT CARD DIALING************
    
    TO PLACE A DTN CREDIT CARD CALL:
    1) Dial 950-1022 from any touch-tone phone. (If you are unable to dial
    950-1022, you can use 1-800-950-1022.)
    2) Caller is prompted with a tone.
    3) Caller dials 8 + DTN number he/she wishes to call.
    4) Caller is prompted with a tone.
    5) Caller enters the MCI authorization code.
    6) Caller is routed to the DTN destination.
    
    TO PLACE A NON_DTN CREDIT CARD CALL:
    1) Follow the directions for a DTN credit card call, only enter the
    non-DTN number (0+area code+7 digit telephone number) instead of the
    DTN number. (step #3 above)
    
    IF YOU WANT TO PLACE A SEQUENTIAL CALLING CARD CALL:
    1) After you have completed your first call, dial # to initiate another
    call.
    2) Caller is prompted by a tone.
    3) Caller dials the new number he/she wishes to call. You may dial
    either 8 + DTN or 0 + area code + number or 011 + international number.
    4) Caller is routed to the call.
    
    Marjorie Blackwell
    Calling Card Program Manager
    223-1115