Telco Response (October, 1987)
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After months of trying, we've finally managed to get a response from the
telephone company concerning our battle to eliminate the fee for touch-tone
service (see [the] July, 1987 issue).

We've received a fair amount of publicity concerning this matter.
Consumer-oriented radio stations like WMCA in New York have shown a great
interest and devoted time to the growing battle. Several newspapers have
reprinted our press release and it was one of those that drew the response
which was written by Bruce Reisman, a staff director of media relations for New
York Telephone. Since more than a month passed between the printing of the
press release and Reisman's reply, we believe that some consultation was
involved and that this is pretty much the official view of New York Telephone.

"There is nothing improper here," Reisman states. "This is the practice
throughout the United States....It's longstanding public policy." The same
words could have been used to describe racial segregation once. The fact that
an unfair practice is occurring all over does not make it right or
justifiable. And the populace is most definitely waking up to this unfairness.

He goes on to justify the cost, claiming central office equipment that
recognizes tones has to be paid for, as well as the labor involved in making
the change from pulse to tone. This logic is so flimsy that a child could knock
it over. As we said in our press release, touch tone decoding devices are
standard equipment for practically every central office in existence. Every
electronic switch has the capability of allowing touch tones on all of its
lines. The only thing preventing this is an "N" instead of a "Y" inside the
customer database. Which brings us to the labor question: Just how much should
the company rake in for changing an "N" to a "Y" anyway? Reisman says $10.55 is
reasonable. We say let's stop kidding the public.

We were accused of misleading when we claimed that customers very often lost
the use of their touch tones when an area upgraded to electronic switching. Not
so, says the phone company - the customer is always asked to pay before service
is disrupted. Well, we don't base our conclusions on mere speculation. We know
of many people who have lost the use of their tones the instant their central
office cut over to electronic switching. The fact that the phone company claims
this never happens is further evidence of their distorted perception.

It's only eight cents a day, they protest. Figure out how many people are
paying the phone company eight cents a day for doing absolutely nothing. Take
into account that the cost is higher for business customers, a fact they
conveniently forgot to mention. This is a very large amount of money.

And finally, the usual mistruth: "Touch-tone service also enables the customer
to conveniently bank or shop electronically from home." This is simply not
true. As long as you have a touch-tone phone, you can use any of those
bank-at-home services. The only thing the phone company can do is prevent you
from placing a call with tones. Once you're connected, they have no way of
deactivating your tones. The tones, after all, are created inside your phone,
not inside the phone company. If everyone realized that, their policy would
never have survived this long.

But things are changing. There will be an article in the November issue of
Popular Communications that points out the unfairness of this fee, not just in
New York, but nationwide. We are bombarding the New York Public Service
Commission with information about this and we expect some kind of a reaction
from that entity. We need your continued support. Spread the word. Tell your
parents. Tell your children. Tell your elected officials. Write letters to your
local papers and send us a copy.