[WEB4LIB] Help needed on long distance charges problem

[bmenk at hampton.lib.nh.us]

Jeanne

On 9 Nov 99, Jeanne Heicher wrote:

> Things were going great, until we got a message the other day that our
> B channel ISDN line had been suspended, because there was a bill of
> hundreds of dollars (after having a bill of $6/month for months). We
> are waiting for the phone company to send us an itemized list of the
> alleged calls, which were unavailable at the time of our initial call
> to the phone company (to find out what was going on).
> 
> My question is: Is there any possible way to call out or fax out from
> a computer that is configured like ours (no modum)? Could the public
> be making calls which would account for the billing amounts? These
> calls would have to be out of our area code. 

In a dial on demand ISDN setup, some phone companies (Bell 
Atlantic apparently among them), charge connect time or usage 
fees for the line. They seem particularly fond of doing this for the 
second channel line which is what gives you the boost to 128k. 
That may be what's doing it. If it is, it may be worth getting a small 
router/ISDN modem (around $300) and upgrading the line to a 
dedicated one so you can budget based on a fixed monthly fee.





Bobb Menk, Internet Librarian, Lane Memorial Library
Hampton, NH 03842  603-926-3368
bmenk at hampton.lib.nh.us