Home voice mail: privacy, but at a price

Article Abstract:

Home voice mail is being touted by Bell Regional Holding companies as the replacement for telephone answering machines. For most consumers, however, an answering machine is more cost effective. Typical fees for home voice mail include a $7-$21 installation fee, a $5-$6.23 charge per month for the first mailbox and an additional $1.50-$2.50 per month for extra mailboxes. The main advantages of voice mail are that it can take messages while the customer is using the telephone, and having a mailbox for each member of the family insures that messages remain private. The dial tone beeps or stutters when the telephone is lifted if there are messages waiting. Customers complain that there is no visual signal to remind them to check for messages. Voice mail cannot be used to screen incoming calls, and some systems are difficult to learn to use. And in some areas of the country, customers have experienced problems with reliability when the system is first installed.

Regional Bell Operating Companies, Voice mail, Reliability (Trustworthiness), Reliability, Price, Telecommunications Industry, Bell Regional Holding Companies

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F.T.C. and A.T.&T. give warnings of 3 schemes

Article Abstract:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and AT and T are warning consumers about three fraudulent telemarketing schemes. The first of the schemes involves telemarketing firms calling consumers and tricking them into believing that they have won cash prizes. Under this scheme, consumers are asked to send between $175 and $300 for the delivery of prizes. Another fraudulent scheme asks unwary consumers to accept charges for international calls in exchange for substantial credit or cash. This scam runs under the guise that the telephone company is investigating a service problem. Consumers should also be aware of giving out their calling-card numbers. Telephone companies never request that consumers give out their numbers because they already have that information. Swindlers will also use binoculars to steal calling card numbers from users at crowded places, such as airports.

Admin. of general economic programs, T, Investigations, Ethical aspects, Fraud, Marketing industry, Crime, United States. Federal Trade Commission, Telemarketing, American Telephone and Telegraph Co.

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For a special number, dial (800) VANITY

Article Abstract:

The employment of personalized vanity or mnemonic numbers is a growing trend in the long distance telephone market. The advantage that vanity numbers provide is as a means for potential users of a telephone service or purchasers of a product to remember the firm's number. Market research has determined that phrases are much more readily recalled than numbers. At the present time, about two percent of all toll-free numbers use letters to form words or phrases; other firms employ a combination of numbers and words. Offsetting the advantages of mnemonic numbers, however, are two factors. First, there are a limited number of possible words and phrases that firms can utilize. There is also the difficulty of searching for the letters on the keypad in order to spell out a word, which some users find inconvenient.

Telephone and telegraph apparatus, Long distance telephone services, Trends, Marketing Strategy, Telecommunications Service, Long-Distance Telephone Service, User Relations, Toll free numbers, Toll-Free Telephone Numbers

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