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1995-01-01
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UPDATE NOTE AS OF JANUARY, 1995:
I NO LONGER AM ACTIVE IN THIS PROGRAM. THIS FILE IS BEING LEFT IN THE
ARCHIVES FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY ... HOWEVER DO NOT CONTACT
ME ABOUT IT. IF INTERESTED, CONTACT THE COMPANY DIRECT TO LEARN THE
NAME OF ANOTHER AGENT WHO CAN ASSIST YOU.
PAT
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Telepassport International Calling Program
Telepassport is now available and open for business! Hereinafter in
this message I shall refer to it as TP. TP is an international long
distance carrier. The idea behind TP is to route international calls
all over the world via the United States, allowing callers to access
state of the art telecommunications technology, the best line clarity,
and the lowest rates in the world.
TP capitalizes on the rate differential between the USA and other
countries using a technique known as 're-origination'. The switch
takes calls from customers anywhere in the world, reverses the call so
it is billed as USA originated, and provides USA dialtone so the
customer can complete the connection to any other country in the world.
The cost savings to the customer could be up to fifty percent, depending
on a few factors.
For example, a five minute call from Italy to the USA handled and
billed by the PTT would cost $11.40. Using TP, the cost for the same
call would be $6.84. A five minute call from Brazil to the United Kingdom
costs $18.95 through the Brazilian PTT, but only $10.84 using TP.
Legal Status:
=============
TP is available in virtually every country in the world as a Value Added
Service. Although in some countries the PTT may not welcome the compe-
tition, they are bound by international telecommunication treaties to
allow us to operate. In addition, TP is required to compensate the PTTs
as part of an international settlements process for carrying our calls
in and out of their country.
Where telecommunications monopolies are in effect, they specifically
prohibit competition by disallowing the installation or use of facilities
in the territory controlled by the monopoly. TP requires no installation
or equipment of any kind in various countries except the telephone
instrument itself. It is an American service and its customers are billed
in the United States, with the US Dollar the method of payment.
In the United States, AT&T has raised objections when certain companies
it suspected were marketing a callback system filed for FCC authorization
to carry international traffic. In their objections they complained that
callback systems were illegally using carriers' facilities to signal for
the callback and thereby avoiding payment of the tariffed rates for useage.
In fact, the tariffs are specifically set not to charge for uncompleted
calls so there is no avoidance of payment. AT&T's own answering machine
product, 'The Toll Saver' is designed not to answer a call if there are
no messages on the machine, thus signalling such to the caller without
him incurring a charge. There are several other examples of security
systems, energy devices, etc which use the telephone for signalling
without payment. AT&T was requested to respond as to their intentions
regards their own products and the technology used by non-telecom
related services (security devices, etc) and 'toll avoidance'. AT&T
was asked if their stance on this related only to organizations in
direct competition with that company.
How to Use Telepassport:
========================
An account is required of all users. TP cannot accept 'casual users'
who do not have a specific business relationship with us. This is
because of the nature of how the TP switch operates. Accounts are
*very easy* to set up, but accounts *are* required, since your
telephone number must be authorized to use the service. You need not
call from an authorized phone however; if you do so, your call will
proceed without further identification or security checks unless you
ask us to incorporate this feature. If you (as a subscriber) call from
an unauthorized telephone, then an account number and PIN must be
entered as part of the session.
Subscribers who are outside the USA:
Three methods can be used to access Telepassport -
(A) Automatic Callback when calling from an authorized telephone:
1. Dial your TP access number in the USA (1-212-xxx-xxxx).
2. Let the phone ring once or twice (preferably twice to insure
we caught the signal), then hangup.
- You will receive a call within 10-20 seconds -
3. When our call arrives, pick up your receiver, then you will hear,
depending on your instructions one of these messages:
"Telepassport"
OR
"This call is for <your name>, please transfer this call to
<your name>; if you are <your name> press 1 on the keypad."
OR
"Please transfer this call to extension xxx, if this is
extension xxx please press 1 on the keypad."
One of these messages (depending on how you have it set up) will play
in any of several languages, depending again on the language you have
chosen for the computer to use.
4. Press '1' at any time during the message.
- if you are not at your authorized telephone, or if you
instructed us to make the PIN mandatory on all calls you
will then hear, (in language of choice) "please enter
your PIN now."
5. If PIN required, enter it at this time.
- USA dial tone will be extended to you -
6. Dial the number you wish to reach followed by # (country code +
city code + number + #) ... for example, to Japan 81 44 954 3951#
or to the USA 1 818 956 6936#.
- you will hear a TP tone indicating your call is being
processed. -
If you get a busy signal, or the called party does not answer or you
get an error message, just press * to get dial tone and make another
call if you wish, or hang up. Also when the called party hangs up you
may stay on the line and make another call if desired.
If you make an error in dialing, just press *, wait for dial tone and
dial your call again. If you get an answering machine or some other
device answering the call, maintain silence for five to ten seconds
after speaking your message and you will hear dial tone.
(B) Immediate Callback (For use when not at your authorized telephone):
1. Dial the TP toll-free number from your country, or if toll-free
is not available in your country dial the direct number in New York
(1-212-xxx-xxxx).
Please note if toll-free access to us is not available in your country
then you will have to pay PTT charges for this call, however once you
connect with us, *immediatly* instruct the computer to make a callback
to you. This will limit your exposure to PTT charges to a minute or
lerss.
2. After dialing our toll-free number from your country (or our direct
New York number) you will hear the computer respond,
"Telepassport, please enter your account number and PIN".
Enter these numbers and you will hear a spurt of tone followed
by dial tone.
3. Either dial your call to completion as per 'automatic callback'
-or- preferably to keep your costs down access the Administrative
Functions Menu to arrange an immediate callback.
(C) If you choose to continue the call, we refer to this method as
'Direct Access'; if you choose to have us call you back, we refer to
it as 'Immediate Callback'.
You use 'Immediate Callback' or 'Direct Access' when you are NOT at
an authorized telephone number. When you are at an authorized tele-
phone number you merely call the number we give you, let it ring a
couple times and hang up to await our callback.
If you are calling from within the USA:
=======================================
1. Dial the number we assign you to call or the direct access number.
If you are calling from an authorized TP telephone, you will
hear 'Telepassport' followed a second or two later by dialtone.
If not, you will hear 'Telepassport, please enter your account
number and your PIN'.
After entering this you will hear dialtone.
Regardless of where you are calling from, or how you access TP (that
is, by Direct Access or Automatic Callback) when you reach the
dialtone you can either place your call or access administrative
functions.
To reach administrative functions, press 1# when you get dialtone.
You will hear:
"Press 1 to change your callback number, 2 to access your
account balance, 3 to change your callback message, 4 to
change your callback message language, 5 for an immediate
callback."
Changing your callback number:
Press 1. "Please enter your new callback number."
You enter the country code, city code (area code), number, and #.
You will be asked to re-enter it for confirmation. If you
do it the same way, fine, if not the computer will keep asking
until you get it the same way twice in a row.
We will then use this as the number to reach you for Automatic
Callbacks until you change it.
To change it back to your authorized telephone number as per
our records, when you are asked to 'enter new callback number'
just press #.
The computer will respond, 'your new callback number is
<authorized number>'.
Press 2 to hear what credit balance remains in your account.
Press 3 to change the way we speak when we call you back. If the
short form 'Telepassport' is sufficient, you can indicate that.
If you are in a hotel or at a place where many people answer the phone
or we need to be transferred to an extension or room number, you can
tell us with choices 1, 2 or 3 how to ask for you:
"This call is for <your name>, call <your name> to the phone".
"Please transfer this call to extension xxx"
If you tell the computer to ask for you at an extension number, the
computer will ask you to enter the extension number we are to ask
for, followed by #.
Press 4 to change the language we use when making callbacks to you.
Press 1 for English; 2 for Spanish; 3 for Mandarin; 4 for Japanese;
5 for German; 6 for French; 7 for Italian; 8 for Portugese; 0 to
make additional choices.
Your callback message ('connect this call to <your name>' or 'connect
this call to <extension number>') will remain in the language chosen
until you change it. This is helpful when dealing with telephone
operators or hotel clerks, etc in other countries.
Press 5 to get an immediate callback from us. The computer will ask
you to enter the number you want us to call you at. This will be
the country code, city code and number, followed by #.
After entering this, hangup. We will call you back in 10-20
seconds, at which time you would proceed as with Automatic
Callback.
To exit administrative functions menu at any time, press *.
Other features of Telepassport:
==============================
Voicemail: callers leave you messages. You retrieve later with your PIN.
Message forwarding: If called party is not available, you can record
a message. We will try to deliver it every two hours for four days.
Phone Home: You pay for the calls of relatives and customers, but
only on calls they make to you. The best way to describe this is that
it is very similiar to the AT&T Easy Reach 700 service.
Toll Free service from USA to other countries: If your country does
not offer toll free service (or offers it, but not from international
points) then TP will offer this to your customers in the USA. They
will dial an 800 number here, and get cut through to your international
number (as shown on our records, or to whatever is your 'callback
number' at the time).
We also offer speed dialing and restricted calling using four digit
codes. You can set it up so that persons calling you dial an 800
number in the USA, then are permitted only to enter a four digit code
to reach you. Or you can allow employees to make calls to certain
places while not making calls to other places, etc.
Conference calls: dial multiple numbers linking participants from all
over the world.
Fax broadcast: send your fax to TP, and we forward to your
distribution list.
Above special services and rates discussed on request. Various special
applications can be designed.
Billing arrangements: All payments are made either by credit card or
electronic funds transfer from your bank to ours. You will receive a
very detailed monthly accounting. If you prefer, you may establish a
trust fund with the TP business office from which charges will be
paid. If you wish, a 'credit limit' will be set for monthly usage to
assist you in detecting abuse when usage for the month reaches the
agrreed-upon limit. TP does *not* offer open account billing at this
time.
---------- RATES FOR CALLS ------------
This is probably the most important part to many of you. A full
schedule of rates would be impractical to list here; there are simply
too many countries which can call other countries, etc ... so this
sample listing will provide rates *to and from the USA* from other
countries, with some comments about calls from other countries to
third countries via the USA.
I'll be glad to quote rates between countries on request; just ask
for your specific application.
Our rates are composed of three parts. Calls to the USA, and certain
other countries where we have agreements in place will only see ONE
OR TWO of these components. Calls to third countries via the USA will
see either TWO OR THREE of these components.
The components are:
ACCESS CHARGE (a per session charge regardless of how long you
are connected through us)
INITIAL CHARGE (a per call charge which applies on many inter-
country calls via our switch)
PER MINUTE CHARGE (the cost of the call for each minute you
are connected, speaking with someone).
On calls to the USA from other countries, usually the only charge will
be the PER MINUTE charge. From some points, the ACCESS charge will
also apply. The INITIAL CHARGE will only apply when calling between
other countries using the USA as the transit routing. If we had *our
way*, only the PER MINUTE rates would apply ... but we must make
payments to the PTTs and AT&T for services they render to us, thus
the ACCESS CHARGE and INITIAL CHARGE in some instances.
Here are some sample rates to the USA from elsewhere. Where the rates
are shown as amount/amount/amount this means standard/discount/economy
rates, as per the custom in the country where the call originates.
Time of day for the call is always by local time in the country where
the call originates. Remember, the ACCESS CHARGE is made one time per
session; you can make several calls in succession by pressing the *
key between calls. Each callback by us (or direct access to us) counts
as one session, or one ACCESS CHARGE.
From (to USA) Access Charge Per Minute
============== ============= ==========
Venezuela 51 cents .91/.81/.81
Italy 36 cents $1.09/1.09/.80
Lebanon 86 cents $2.73/2.73/2.73
Mexico None .95/.95/.95 plus .16 INITAL CHARGE
per call.
Canada None .39/.39/.39
China $2.12 $1.29/1.29/1.29
Greece 52 cents .91/.91/.91 plus .59 INITIAL CHARGE
per call.
Korea Dem. Rep. $1.15 $1.20/1.20/1.20
Japan None .98/.85/.79
Colombia 68 cents $1.05/.94/.94
Taiwan 95 cents $1.04/.99/.99
Argentina 57 cents $1.39/1.19/1.19
CIS (USSR) 91 cents $1.81/1.81/1.81
Brazil 60 cents $1.50/1.30/1.30
Dominican Republic 23 cents .85/.85/.85
France None .89/.67/.60
Germany 28 cents .99/.99/.99
Haiti 31 cents $1.11/1.11/1.11
Israel 31 cents $1.03/.83/.80
United Kingdom None !! Fifty cents per minute always !!
These are just a few examples ...
Now country to country via the USA gets tricky -- you can check out
what your local PTT charges for calls, knock off 30-40 percent in
almost every case, but add on an INITIAL CHARGE typically in the range
of 50 cents to a dollar. The charge for the first minute therefore
will be INITIAL CHARGE plus MINUTE.
Now on calls from USA subscribers outbound:
TO: (from a USA origin) First 30 secs. Addl. 6 secs.
======================== ================ ===============
Argentina 1.18/1.02/.94 .07/.06/.05
Australia 1.00/1.00/1.00 .06/.06/.06
Germany .69/.67/.63 .06/.06/.05
Israel 1.25/1.25/1.25 .07/.07/.07
Netherlands .59/.43/.43 .06/.06/.06
Hong Kong 1.54/1.27/1.30 .07/.06/.06
Japan .34/.32/.30 .07/.06/.06
United Kingdom 48 cents per minute, all hours!
France 58 cents per minute, all hours!
Calls to Australia as an example would cost $1.30 for the first minute
and 60 cents per minute thereafter.
Calls to Japan as an example would cost between 60-70 per minute
depending on the time of day.
Calls to Hong Kong would cost 60-70 cents per minute after the first
minute which is much more expensive. The same is the case in calls
to Israel.
I am not privy to all the details as to why calls to some places have
higher first minutes; I do know that TP had to negotiate not only with
AT&T on outbound calls from the USA but also with various PTTs around
the world to meet their requirements and pay them certain fees, etc.
Also, I should point out that USA subscribers calling outbound will
pay an additional 9 cents per minute if they access TP via our 800
number for that purpose. If they dial direct to our New York number,
they pay the rates shown above. It almost makes better sense (and we
recommend) for all callers to whenever possible use our automatic
callback from their authorized phone(s) or immediate callback to avoid
the extra toll charges while they are calling our switch.
To sign up for Telepassport service, send me email. In the course of
our discussion and sign up process, be prepared to supply the VISA/MC
or AMEX number you wish to have charges applied to periodically or the
bank account you wish to have debited for charges. (But we will be
sending you a detailed monthly analysis and billing in any event.)
Other fine print and 'gotcha!' things you should know about:
Anyone is free to sign up. Businesses will be the primary users of
Telepassport but individuals making at least $25 per month in
international calls are also invited to join the service. In fact, we
have a $25 per month minimum fee; you will be charged that minimum fee
unless your usage exceeds that amount.
Another 'gotcha!' --
We have both 'system time' and 'connect time'. System time is the time
between when you answer our callback and the party you are calling
answers the phone. Connect time is the time you are actually speaking
with your party.
When your caller disconnects (but you stay on the line to make another
call) then the 'system time' clock begins running again. As long as
your 'system time' each month is not more than ten percent of the
total session time (system plus connect) we waive the charges for
system time. If your system time is excessive (i.e. in excess of ten
percent of the total amount of time you spend connected to us), then
system time is charged at the rate of a call to the United States.
There is no system time if the call is on your nickle, i.e. you dial
our direct access number and continue straight through. System time is
only the time when *we call you back*. And as stated above, provided
this is not excessive, we waive that charge.
How can you keep system time from being excessive? For one thing, a
call of ten minutes would in effect give you a free minute of system
time. When we call you back, be prepared to begin dialing immediatly.
Answer our phone calls promptly if we need to have someone call you to
the phone, as in a hotel. We offer speed dialing of your common
numbers at no extra charge. Most international connections from the
USA can be done in seconds if you dial rapidly and remember to put the
# terminator on the end of the dialing string.
If you were to spend let's say, two hours per month in actual talking
time on international calls, that 120 minutes would give you 12 minutes
of system time at no charge -- more than enough to dial your calls,
wait for the ringing, change your administrative options, etc. For
most users, this will never be a problem ... but I am required to tell
you that if you call us and hang on the line doing nothing but wasting
our time and money on the callback connection, we charge you for it.
Almost anytime you make a call that lasts two or three minutes or longer
your system time will be easily absorbed. And since it accumulates all
month, several short calls and one or two longer ones will reach the
same result: no system time charges. Remember the ratio is not more
than ten percent of the time on call set ups, administrative options,
etc.
Welcome to Telepassport! I hope it will provide a low-cost solution
to your international calling requirements both to and from the USA.
For precise rates, please ask, and certainly on calls between
countries where the USA is the switching point ask for rates. I could
not begin to list the thousands of actual rates in this message.
Patrick Townson
ptownson@eecs.nwu.edu
==== Application For Service ====
PLEASE FILL OUT AND RETURN TO:
POB 1003 Chicago, IL 60690 USA
Or Fax to 1-708-329-0572
TELEPASSPORT SERVICE APPLICATION US FiberCom Network Inc.
1212 Avenue of the Americas
New York NY 10036-9998
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Customer Name Number (Existing Customers)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agent Name Number
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Billing Address Country
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Telephone Fax
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credit Limit Prepaid Amount Prepaid Security
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credit Card Type Credit Card # Exp Date
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bank
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABA# Account #
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
New/Change/Delete Access# (existing users only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
User #1 Name Credit Limit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Callback Number Ext PIN# Req'd (Y/N)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Restricted Areas Callback Type Language
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
New/Change/Delete Access # (existing users only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
User #1 Name Credit Limit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Callback Number Ext PIN# Req'd (Y/N)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Restricted Areas Callback Type Language
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
New/Change/Delete Access # (Existing users only)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
User #1 Name Credit Limit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Callback Number Ext PIN# Req'd (Y/N)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Restricted Areas Callback Type Language
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Customer agrees to pay USF's prevailing rates for the TelePassport
Service and hereby authorizes USF to charge the total amount of their
TelePassport usage each month to the credit card, or bank acount,
listed below. This authority is to remain in effect until USF receives
written notification from the undersigned to cancel this authority.
Because TelePassport Service can only be accessed from the Customer's
selected telephone number or by the Customer's account number and PIN,
the Customer agrees to accept exclusive liability for the payment of
all charges for TelePassport Services regardless of whether access was
authorized by the Customer.
Agreed to this day of ,199 .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Customer Name Independent Representative Name
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Signed Signed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telephone Telephone
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fax Fax
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Office Use Only: Credit Card Auth Approval
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING OUT TELEPASSPORT SERVICE APPLICATION
PLEASE FILL OUT THE APPLICATION AND MAIL IT TO:
Post Office Box 1003
Chicago, IL 60690 USA
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Or Fax 1-708-329-0572
Fill out ONLY the following:
a) Customer name
b) Customer billing address
c) contact person (if this is a company)
d) your telephone and fax (if you have one). This will be: country-areacode-#
e) Credit card type (VISA, American Express, Mastercard, Eurocard)
f) Credit card #
g) Credit card expiration date
h) User #1 Name: (only fill out one column): Write: First name last name
i) Callback number: This is the primary number you will use for callbacks.
This should be: country+areacode+phone number. Thus,
if my phone number in Chicago was 555-5555, I'd write:
13125555555.
j) PIN#: This is the 4-digit PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER that may be
required at the user's primary telephone, and will always be
required at other telephones. It should be a number that can be
easily remembered by the user but kept confidential.
k) Req'd (Y/N): If N is specified, the PIN will not be required at the
user's primary telephone. If Y, it will be required.
l) Callback type: This field identifies which of the 3 messages are played when
the callback is answered. The choices are:
1 "TelePassport" followed by dial tone
2 "this call is for 'First Name, Last Name', press 1 if you are 'First
Name, Lastame'".
3 "this call is for extension 'xxx', press 1 if you are at extension
'xxx'".
m) Language: This field indicates the language that TelePassport will
use for all of the system messages. The choices are: English, Spanish,
Mandarin, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, HEBREW,
Arabic, Russian, Slavic.
n) SIGNATURE and details (date, phone, etc.).
o) Under the credit limit, fill in the amount of your estimated
monthly usage, plus a little exctra in case you go over some month.
DO NOT FILL OUT ANY FIELDS NOT MENTIONED ABOVE!
In addtition to faxing the form for fastest respone (if you have one)
you must mail it to us at Post Office Box 1003, Chicago, IL 60690 USA.
----- more information -----
USFI TELEPASSPORT
USFI is a division of one of the largest long distance telephone and
cable television companies in the United States. With TelePassport we
are now offering international telephone service to every country in
the world. In many countries the telecommunications industry is
controlled by government monopolies with pricing strategies motivated
more by politics and government goals than by competition and costs.
TelePassport is a set of products and services that route
international calls through the United States, allowing callers to
access state of the art telecommunications technology, enjoy the
ultimate in line clarity, and pay the lowest rates in the world.
TELEPASSPORT SERVICES
>From outside the U.S. From the U.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call your assigned TelePassport number. Call a toll-free 800 number.
Let it ring twice, then hang up. If calling from your authorized
You will get a callback within seconds. phone, you will hear dial tone.
A voice in your language will ask for Then dial anywhere in the world.
you by name. Otherwise, dial in your security
Listen for dial tone, then call anywhere. code to get the dial tone.
When call is complete hangup, or listen
for dial tone and place another call.
Or,
Call an international toll-free number,
enter your account number and PIN, and
receive dial tone.
BILLING
TelePassport users receive a detailed usage report monthly. Payment
can be by credit card or bank transfer.
ADVANCED CALLING FUNCTIONS
Message Forwarding: if called party is not available, record a message for
later delivery.
Phone Home: you pay for the calls of relatives or customers but only calls
to you.
Voice Mail Box: callers leave you messages, you retrieve later with your PIN.
Conference Calling: dial multiple numbers to link all of your participants
into your call.
International Toll Free: advertise your products anywhere in the world
and have inquiry calls billed to your company.
GENERAL BENEFITS
Lowest International Rates in the World
- Real 40% savings to the U.S.
- Up to 40% savings to other locations
State of the Art Switching Technology
- Near 100% Availability
The Ultimate in Line Clarity
Best Service and Support
Security Codes/Fraud Detection
Convenient Billing
Complete & Accurate Reporting