[Asterisk-Users] Qwest can't/won't

[brett at websmyths.com]

Comments at the end and in-line...
On 1/18/2006, "Steve Murphy" <murf at e-tools.com> wrote:
> Hello--
>
> I've been making note of a local situation that seems somewhat
> irritating, and thought maybe some of you experts out there, might be
> able to propose some alternatives.
>
> The situation goes like this:
>
> Rural Wyoming. Cody, to be exact, but I'd wager that you could almost
> anywhere in Wyoming and find similar situations.

Or just about anywhere else QWest in involved...

> The county gov. phones and the school system phones do not provide
> callerid.
>
> Why? because they bought T1's at like $1k/mo instead of separate lines
> at $100/line/mo each. Saves them a ton of money. Has been for years.
> 5 or more years ago, callerid was not available out here. Slowly, over
> the last 5 years or so, they have been upgrading the populace, so now,
> almost everyone reports callerid, except the county gov., and the school
> system. They come thru as "unavailable". They both want it, but they
> can't afford to get/give it. They'd have to switch back to individual
> lines to get that, at over 2x the cost, and they'd rather die.
>
> Now comes the interesting part. Qwest is offering most customers the
> option to block anonymous calls. All you have to do is dial a *xx and
> you won't get those pesky
> charity/politicals/telemartket/pollsters/magazineresubscibers/etc.
>
> And you won't get the county gov. or the school system calls either.
>
> Why? Well, apparently, they say that the switches in Cody/Powell are
> old, feature-free switches, and one is a slave switch to the other or
> some such. And these old switches provide no capability to play with CID
> on T1 lines.

Probably still crossbar LOL

> And they sure as heck are not going to upgrade the switch for a small
> group of country bumpkins. What's interesting to me, as that of all the
> features they send us little pamphlets about in our monthly bills, very
> few of them are actually available here.

Same with most other 'copper' providers - even if they have it - you
can't get it without major bucks...

> Are there any clever solutions to this problem, for the county gov or
> school system?

So - my thoughts (I used to live on the other side of the Bighorns)
1. What is the cost difference between a T1 'phone' and a T1 'data'
line?
One would think that the Wyoming government should 'help' or get a good
rate on a data line...
2. Replace all your PBXs (like you have one LOL) with Asterisk 8-)
3. Get a VoIP provider (I use a TelIAX exchange out of Sheridan so my Mom
can call locally)
4. Use you 'huge' user base to get a discount/special deal with the
VoIP provider to get 'proper' CID AND a good rate (Hey helping out the
gov and education is a feather for anyone - except QWest)
5. Drop all but 1 analog line for each location (to cover 911 calls)
6. Collect your $50 'bonus' for saving them thousands of dollars a
month.
and
7. Tell QWest to stick it....
Can't think of a better way to spend the summer (except camping)

Brett