Tele-quiz disrupts phone system

Tele-quiz disrupts phone system

JAKARTA (JP): The former chief of the Jakarta office of state-
owned telecommunications company PT Telkom has urged television
stations not to air tele-quiz shows during peak hours.

John Welly said over the weekend that it would be better if
the stations aired such shows earlier than the current airing
time.

"Currently, the shows are broadcast from 7.30 p.m until 8 p.m.
This is a busy period because many people are taking advantage of
the discounted rate provided by the company," Welly said.

Welly, who was replaced by Bambang Ryadi Oemar on Friday,
explained that PT Telkom gives several discount rates every day:
25 percent for using the telephone from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., 50
percent from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and 75 percent from 9 p.m. to 6
a.m.

"Most of the customers are using the telephones at home during
the discounted periods," he said.

He added that due to this, the disconnected call rate during
that time is high because the computer in the telephone exchange
can only accommodate a certain number of connections.

Welly explained that one exchange serves about 10,000 lines
but it can only connect several lines a second. "When the number
of people from one telephone exchange, who intends to use the
telephone at the same time, is higher than the capacity, some
will be put on a waiting list," he added.

Welly was commenting on complaints raised by many PT Telkom
customers because their telephone lines are dead whenever they
try to participate in the tele-quiz held by the privately-owned
RCTI television station.

Some of the customers even charged that there was a scam
behind the problem, saying that there were certain officials of
the telecommunications company who intentionally cut the lines.

"It is not true, their connections are put on the waiting
list, which makes it as if the lines are disconnected," Welly
argued.

Therefore, he added, it is recommended to change the airing
time of the shows earlier, for example between 3 to 6 p.m.
because not many people use telephone lines during that time.

In an effort to overcome the problem Welly also urged RCTI to
use the hunting system and provide answering machine announcing
that the line is busy.

"By installing those facilities the callers will know that
they failed to go through instantly and they will quickly
disconnect the call," Welly said. (yns)