The Mail-Journal, Volume 23, Number 8, Milford, Kosciusko County, 19 February 1986 — Page 36

Today And Tomorrow — Wed., Feb. 19,1986

At United Telephone — pride is alive

Many United Telephone of Indiana customers have a unique situation — they need phone service for only a few months

WHS excells in quality education

Wawasee High School signifies a collection of goals. It excels in quality education. It encourages discipline and responsibility. It also enhances a supportive community. Credit these aspects to teamwork, a concept that has built Wawasee into a good institution. “We have good administrators, good teachers and good staff,” said Ned Speicher, who took over as principal of Wawasee in November. “We have structured many committees in order to make decisions together.” Though decisions concerning the school are made by administration officials, Speicher encourages suggestions from other K' J F J f" 4 V “ FEELING AT HOME — Ned Speicher, Wawasee High School principal, is enjoying the challenge of his new job. He credits a fine administration, quality students and a supportive community for his smooth transition from being principal at the Milford school. (Photo by Dave Straub)

IF YOUR PHONE IS ON VACATION ... ' S' — you can put it back IN SERVICE WITHOUT VISITING OUR OFFICE! hjqtcall' UhHed JUST GALL. ■■■ Telephone 1-800-257-3212 n Indiana ■■■. System I OR COLLECT , . M United Telephone of Indiana 219/936-3879 outside Indiana I

each summer. To help them save money, United works with them in changing their service from full-rate during the summer to

related sources, such as students. “The doors are open here,” he said. As for education, Speicher feels Wawasee is “right at the top.” Reasons for this stem from quality students and heavy emphasis on discipline. “Discipline makes students responsible for themselves,” said the principal. “That’s why we don’t want anything that interferes with education. Education is our primary purpose and we’re here for.” Another important ingredient is the community. Wawasee is blessed with great support and Speicher is quick to point that out. “The support we receive is amazing,” he said. “This community has given us what we need to provide a good school system. A quality education often starts from the top like it does here, but you also need community involvement and we have plenty of that.” An example of that support can be seen by looking at Wawasee’s top-notch facilities. Speicher admits the school has the necessary physical tools for success. In addition, he mentioned that personnel and students are strong areas within Wawasee. Is improvement possible? “I think so,” said Speicher. “We need to focus more attention on areas for gifted students at the school. We would like to implement college level courses for advanced students as well as getting more students involved in decision making. We are trying to meet the needs of the students and a good way to do that is to tailor instruction towards them.” Still learning the ropes of his new job, Speicher welcomes the challenge of heading a larger and more mature student body. “I personally wanted this challenge,” he said. “So far, everything has been better than I had hoped it would be. Everyone has cooperated with me and that helps a great deal.”

half-rate for the rest of the year when they’re not using their phones. In the past, the large volume of paper work for these changeovers made it necessary for United to hire temporary workers to help process about 1,200 service orders each spring and fall. About two years ago, United consolidated its customer service operation to its Northern Region office in Plymouth. At this consolidated center, United processes computerized service orders and has dispatching centers and repair service for approximately 105,300 customers. The change was basically due to changing technology and the deregulation of many parts of the telecommunications industry. The end result, however, is a more efficient way to serve United customers. To be cost effective, it was necessary to change some of United’s local customer service offices to “payment only” offices which are open a few days a week. Others were closed altogether. Now all United phone users can call a tollfree number to place orders for service or ask questions about bills. The number is listed on page two of the official United Phone Book. Automated Testing Ongoing economy measures undertaken at United include the restructuring of field operations from three regions to only two regions two years ago. The Northern Region, headquartered at Plymouth, encompasses 58 of the firm’s 93 exchanges in its Columbia City, Knox, LaGrange, Monticello, Nappanee, Plymouth, Rensselaer and Warsaw districts. United’s automated repair bureau system (ARBS) was piloted in its Southern Region, headquartered at Decatur, in 1984 and now is operational in the company’s service area statewide, with the exception of the Warsaw and Nappanee districts. Those two areas are scheduled to join the ARBS system this year. With ARBS, paper copies of line assignments and customer records have been replaced by computer records. The automated service provides speedy electronic transmission of information from

point to point. This results in quicker response time by United and less waiting time for customers who need repair service. Working in conjunction with ARBS is 4-Tel, a computerized equipment testing system. Four-Tel tells each of United’s switching centers to test itself each night while the equipment has the least usage. After that job is completed satisfactorily, 4-Tel dials and tests lines and equipment for every telephone number handled by each switching center. A computer printout indicates to a technician anything the test may find wrong, it’s exact location and even what kind of technician is needed to correct the problem. FourTel permits much better long-range preventive maintenance for equipment and facilities because it pinpoints potential trouble spots before they would become apparent to the human observer. Still Need To Call ‘ The ARBS and 4-Tel systems enable immediate scanning of trouble locations and show the available qualified technicians in the area. But United customers should realize they still need to notify repair service when they have a problem. Automatic testing by 4-Tel will only operate at night, so it could be several hours before a problem is detected if you depend solely on 4-Tel. United connects people to their world.

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