From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 22:23:13 +0800
To: Jerome Tan <jti@i-manila.com.ph>
Subject: Re: Metered Phone
Message-ID: <199607150749.AAA07586@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 01:19 PM 7/7/96 +0800, you wrote:
>Does anyone have any ideas about this metered phone? 
>I am from Philippines and heard some news that it will be 
>existing in 1997. Quite a big problem! Every dial will be counted, 
>every seconds will be measured...

That sounds like you're getting newer telephone technology.
In the US, most areas with newer telephone switches offer you
the choice of flat rate service (you pay a constant price per month
for calls in your city or other local area) or measured service
(you pay a lower price per month plus a few cents per minute
for local calls.)  In many places with measured service,
the phone company measures how much time you use for local calls,
but doesn't record who you call, only how many minutes.
For long-distance calls, which always charge for time,
they do record what number you call.

For computer users, there are two issues -
- recording who you call is, of course, bad 
- if you have flat rate telephone service, you can stay
connected to your Internet provider full time,
instead of calling up every N minutes or when you have mail.

#				Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com
# http://www.idiom.com/~wcs
#				Re-delegate Authority!