innkeeping: June innkeeping article on UWI long distance

[Hersey House B&B <herseybb@mind.net>]

After reading the above article today, I have to comment.

IMHO, UWI does not offer such a good deal.  In fact, we dropped them back
in March and moved to US Long Distance.  We were paying 17 cents a minute
through UWI for domestic long distance and 800 service, and were charged
close to 50 cents a minute for 800 calls from Canada.

I am now paying 11 cents per minute (with 6 second billing) for long
distance/800 out of state and 8.5 cents per minute in-state (Oregon).  The
calls from Canada are being billed at slightly more than 11 cents per
minute.  And, USLD's fixed charges are less than UWI, too.

I've even had a call from AT&T offering me 11.4 cents per minute!

The final insult came when we switched carriers.  It took UWI over 6 weeks
(and two letter from me - one nice, one not so nice) to refund the $11
dollars they owed us.  In addition, I received a rather snotty phone call
from them about the second letter.

With US Long Distance, I have an account rep who checks in with me
frequently to see how things are going.

The point of all this - shop around.  There are lots of good long distance
deals out there, even from the "big three."  Long distance is a very
competitive business, and things tend to change faster than they do in the
computer business.

As a final note, this isn't intended as a slam towards PAII discount
programs or anything like that.  But, I couldn't let the UWI article go
without saying something!

[MODERATOR: PAII does not take it as a "slam" at all. We would be the 
first to say that you must shop around. No program is a be-all or 
end-all, and in the world of phone-call rates, they change almost daily. 
Good for you to find a program that meets your needs.]