Conference 7.286::digital

  That message, sent to all personnel at the affected sites, raises
  for me a troubling problem:

  There doesn't seem to be any place left where peons can make a
  local phone call with any assurance of privacy. We certainly
  can't do it from our cubes, and now we can't do it by temporarily
  borrowing a conference room.

  I realize we're not paid by Digital to be on the phone for personal
  reasons, but sooner or later, we all need to make a phone call that
  we'd just as soon not have the neighbors overhear. Maybe we're going
  to order something using a credit card, or make a doctor's appointment,
  or even just deliver a personal message to a loved one. And the cell-
  phone that I carry in my pocket isn't really a solution either; it just
  exposes me to a different sort of eavesdropper.

  All in  all, this strikes me as another step in the continuing
  dehumanization of the workplace here at Digital.

                                   Atlant

  Of course, it possible the message is wrong and that local dialing
  is still possible, but not mentioned in the memo. If this is true,
  perhaps the memo should be re-issued for a third time.

                                   Atlant

    This policy of having to use a MCI Credit to make a local or long
    distance call from a conference room, doesn't make much sense.
    A direct dial call is significantly cheaper than using a phone card.
    
    God forbid if a vistor to the building needs to call a customer long
    distance and will end up costing the company alot more money, but
    it will hit the right cost center.
    
    

    
    	And that is *all* that counts these days...
    
    		the Greyhawk

    >> A direct dial call is significantly cheaper than using a phone card.
    
    I questioned this once several years ago and was told that Digital's
    phone card wasn't exactly the same as your personal telephone card. 
    That is, it did not accrue the usual surcharge when a call was made and
    that the negotiated rates were cheaper than the normal rates charged to
    individuals.  In essence, it was described as simply an alternative way
    of billing for phone service.
    
    I have no way of knowing if this is really true.  Of course, this was
    still when we were using AT&T cards but I assume we have the same (or
    better) deal with MCI.
    
    Larry
    
    

	If you need to make a phone call in private, go to a conf. room
	with your personal AT&T/MCI/Sprint/Nynex card and use the 800 # on
	the back.

							mike

Mike:

> If you need to make a phone call in private, go to a conf. room
> with your personal AT&T/MCI/Sprint/Nynex card and use the 800 # on
> the back.

  To make a *LOCAL* call that would have cost Digital *1* Message
  Unit? Are you serious?
                                   Atlant

    I have not seen this yet in MRO.  I forwarded it to my manager to find
    out if it applies to us.
    
    Mark

    Ok - what about the service that the company uses when all of the DIBS
    conferencing lines are used?  They require you to call a 1-404 number
    LONG DISTANCE!  Since few of the engineers in my group travel, almost
    none of us have phone cards.  What do we do?
    
    Irene

    Re: .8    I got a copy of it and I am in MRO.

    re .7
    
    Atlant,
    
    I'm sure that you could ask someone who has a closed office in your
    area to borrow their office to make a personal phone call.  At least this
    policy is better than what was in place previously...that is, the phones
    in the MRO conference rooms had to be enabled by placing a work order if
    you wanted to make a long distance con-call.  That policy was really
    silly.
    
    
    
    Paul

re .11

As far as I know, there are three buildings here and only one closed office.

/john

    I think this is good common sense.   Public telephones with long distance
    capabilities and no accountability... sounds like abuse waiting to
    happen.  My experience in the field has been that most companies don't
    even allow long distance at office phones, and those that do force the
    end user to input a long security code to do it.  We have it made.
    
    Brad.

    re .0
    
    I saw no specific mention of local calling in the base note. It did
    state what would be "enabled" and although it did not include local
    calls, could it be that the author was not entirely clear?
    
    Rob Wall
    

9+local number is NOT being blocked; we have no classes of service in
the affected PBXs which allow 800 numbers but not local numbers.

For business-related long-distance calls, if you work in the same facility
(or even in another facility in the same PBX*), you can call your secretary,
who can transfer an inside call coming from within the same PBX to any inside
or outside number.

Or call anyone else in your own cost center and have them transfer the call.

/john

*The three PBXs are the Marlboro cluster, the Maynard/Acton/Littleton cluster,
and the New Hampshire cluster.

  re .14 and .15, Thanks, and see .2. In it, I allowed for the
  possibility of an unclear (incomplete) memo. It wouldn't be
  the first time! :-)
                                   Atlant

    okay, the memo reached us over the weekend.  My boss says that he pays
    for the phone in the conf. room, so it looks like our cost center is
    paying regardless of who uses the phone.  I suppose that also means
    that he gets a report listing what numbers are called.  Is that a
    privacy concern?
    
    Mark

    
    privacy!!!...Who owns the phone???....Only right if there is a 
    listing of numbers used!...
    
    Drive home and use your own one...
    
    rgs,
    
    mick

  Local calls are not itemized on the bill. They only show up ag-
  gregated togather as a total number of "Message Units" used.

  Toll calls do show up itemized in the billing detail.

                                   Atlant

>    paying regardless of who uses the phone.  I suppose that also means
>    that he gets a report listing what numbers are called.  Is that a
>    privacy concern?
    
  A few years ago, someone told me that the report lists not only all toll
calls, but also all DTN (8 + 7 digits) calls.
  Shortly after the memo re calls from conference rooms came out, I asked GPS
if this includes local and 800-number calls. They said they think it doesn't,
but to call the telecomm group (I forgot which group exactly) to be sure.
  My biggest concern about this is for people such as me who occasionally 
visit other Digital plants, or attend meetings in their own plants that it 
would be awkward to step out of, and may need to make a long distance call 
from a conf room. I don't want to go thru the hassle of getting a Digital MCI
phone card and carrying around yet another credit card in my wallet. But if 
the above situation arises and I don't have a card, I am stuck.
  I don't consider calling someone in my cost center and asking him/her to
forward the call a viable option. This assumes several things: that I can
reach someone in my cost center, that he/she knows how to forward a call, that
he/she dials the forwarding number correctly, etc.