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From: zellich@st-louis-emh2.army.mil (Rich Zellich)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: What *is* "least cost"
Message-ID: 
Date: 22 Jul 89 14:17:11 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 201, message 2 of 8

In the TELECOM Digest, Volume 9, Issue 200:

> (4) Least call call routing. If you do not specifically request a
>     specific long distance carrier, the local operating company should
>     route the call on the carrier with the lowest list price for the
>     given origin and destination. With stored program control exchanges,
>     this would be fairly simple to implement, and would spawn a new
>     level of competition between the long distance companies.

Simple?  Just what is the "lowest list price"?  Rates from different service
providers differ not only on first-minute or first-3-minute charges, but also
on subsequent-minute charges.  Which is cheaper often depends on how long you
talk...how is the computer supposed to know if you're making a 1- or 3-minute
call, or a 5-10 minute call?  Does the system have to keep a customer-history
log on you and use AI techniques to figure out how long you're *probably* going
to talk?  And how will it account for multiple subscribers using the same line?
Not to mention knowing if you prefer a certain provider for calls to particular
locations, due to line quality considerations...

All in all, I think we'll be using 10288, et al, manually-entered access codes
for a long time (those of us who aren't too lazy to not always use the
"default" LD carrier.