Intro

I had worked for a company who was contracted out with one of the main long distance carriers.  I won't tell you which one, nor will I recommend any specific company.  I will not reveal anything that is proprietary information. I have seen many people who had to pay large amounts of money dealing with their phones that could have been prevented.  Some of these people refuse to pay and end up in collections.  I want to provide you with essential information that you need to know before you own a phone.

 

Basics

 

There are five calling areas for your phone service.  First you have your local calling area, which most people are familiar with.  Each State is divided into areas called Latas.  If you make a call outside your local area, but within your Lata, this is an Intralata call.  Is is also called a Toll Call, or Local Long distance.  If you make a call outside your Lata, but within your state, this is a Interlata call, also called Intrastate or In State Long distance.  Calls to another state are Interstate, and calls outside of your country are International.  Your Local Exchange Carrier (local phone company or LEC) usually handles your local area.  Your Intralata may be handled by your local company or a long distance provider.  (*Your local phone company may divide the local and Intralata areas into more regions.)  Your In State, Interstate, and International service are provided by the same long distance carrier.  In many cases, your local company can now provide long distance, and your long distance carrier can provide local service.  Check the rates, as you may be able to save some money this way.

 

Setting up Long Distance/Local Long Distance Service

 

Usually when you get your phone installed, you will tell your local phone company which Long Distance Carrier you want.  It is very important to call the Long Distance provider to set up an account.  If you don't, they can set you up on their most basic rate, which may be many times the rate that you can get.  You should also periodically check with your Long Distance carrier every couple of months to make sure you are getting the lowest rate.  If you make International calls, check to see if they have any additional discounts.  If you need to make any changes, such as change of address, make sure to contact both your local phone company and your long distance company.  This also included termination of service.

You should check with both your Local Carrier and Your Long Distance Carrier to see what Local Long Distance (Intralata) rates they offer.  Many times, one will be significantly cheaper.

 

Having No Long Distance

 

There are some cases where you may not need a long distance carrier.  If you never make long distance calls or want to use a "10-10", service, you want not want a carrier.  There is a difference between blocking long distance and having no carrier.  You can be blocked for long distance, but still be assigned to a long distance carrier and thus incur charges from them.  Even if your long distance is blocked, if you have no carrier, or even if your long distance is restricted for nonpayment, you can still make calls using a 10-10 service.  So, make sure you are clear as to what you want when you are requesting no long distanace.  There may a monthly charge for not having a carrier.

 

Price Vs. Cost Vs. Quality

 

The lowest rate is not always the cheapest plan.  One important thin to look at is billing increments.  For example, some companies will bill you for 30 seconds for a connected call and then bill you for 6 second increments.  So a call from 1 - 30 seconds would be billed as 30 seconds.  A call from 31-36 seconds would be billed 36 seconds.  From 37-42 would be billed 42 seconds, etc.  Other companies may bill in 1 minute increments.  Connected call to 1 minute would be 1 minute.  One minute, 1 second to two minutes, would be two minutes, etc.  The smaller the increments, the more precise the billing.  Larger increments can make the overall cost higher, due to the rounding up of calls.  Some companies may also charge you for busy calls.

 

There is a difference in the quality of phone service.  Some companies have bigger, more advanced networks that are much better than other companies.  If you ever hear an "all circuits are busy" message, your call is being routed into a company with a smaller network.  I won't give you a specific recommendation for a long distance carrier, but you are better off to go with one of the major companies.  One of the long distance companies has a network that is many times the size of any other company.

 

Blocks

 

You may want to consider placing blocks on your phone to prevent unwanted calls from going through.  You will have to check with your local phone company to see what they may or may not charge for the blocks.  This is especially useful for businesses or households with curious employees/children.  Some blocks that you may be able to get include:  900/976, international, long distance, collect, third party, and operator handled.  The FCC requires local companies to also offer 10-10 blocking, but most don't have it.

 

Rates/Regulatory Fees

 

Every rate for every type of call must be approved by the FCC.  If a company wanted to charge a lower rate, they would have to have it approved.  The FCC will not allow a company to charge a rate that is significantly different then other companies to ensure fair competition.  The FCC also controls regulatory fees such as the Carrier Line Charge (CLC) and Universal Connectivity Charge (UCC).  Be weary of companies who claim they do not charge these.  These charges have to paid for, even if they are not specified on your bill.  Sometimes they call it something else.

 

Internet Service

 

Make sure you set up your internet account to dial a local access number.  If you are not sure if it local, check with your local phone company.  If you set it to dial a toll or long distance number, you will be responsible for all of the charges that incur.  No one will adjust them off your bill.  I have seen residential customers with $900 phone bills for this mistake.

 

There is a lot of fraud related to the internet.  Sometimes, you will go to a site and a program can be installed on your computer that will try to call an international adult number.   The charges could be from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars a minute.  Does this scare you?  It should.  I recommend using a firewall, such as Zone Alarm.  (Clcik here to ger Zone alarm Get the free version from the first column.)  This will block unauthorized access to your computer.  If you use Zone Alarm, set the internet setting to at least "Medium."  In Windows, you can go to Start>Settings>Dial-Up Networking.  If you see an icon that has an adult oriented name, you need to delete this.  Seek a more advanced computer friend if you are unsure of this.

 

Fraud

 

If a phone call is billed to you it is either because A) someone has tapped into your phone line B) there was a crossing of phone lines or C) someone made the call from your phone.  If you don't recognize calls, you can call your long distance carrier and they can usually give you the listing for the number.  In most cases, someone made the call and forgot about it.  You are ultimately responsible for the security of your phone line.  Please note that most long distance carriers will adjust up to a certain dollar amount of "unrecognized" calls per year, rather than arguing with you.

 

However, there is a lot of Fraud occurring where people do tap into phone lines. This will usually result in international calls being billed to you.  If there are a number of calls that you don't recognize, you may be required to have the phone company perform a Wire Check.  This can determine if they was a crossing or tapping.  This usually does involve someone coming to physically inspect the line.  You will usually be charged around $100 for this inspection.  To prevent unauthorized calls, you can consider blocks or a pin number (if your carrier offers one) to make long distance calls.

 

Calling Cards

 

The most important thing when using a calling card is that you access an operator of the same company that issued the card.  For instance, to use an AT&T calling card, you would dial 1-800-CALL-ATT.  If you use a different company to connect the call, you will receive large surcharges, making the call very expensive.  The worst scenario is using a card issued by the local phone company, but going through a long distance provider to connect the call.  You will be charged a surcharge by both the local company and the long distance carrier, usually over $5 total.  You then will be charged the highest rate per minute that the long distance company offers.  And no one will adjust your bill for this.

 

Conference Calls

 

If you call to set up a conference call, you will be billed for the total combined minutes for each party involved.  If 6 people talk for an hour, you will be billed for 6 hours.

 

Toll Free

 

If you have a business, you should have a toll free number.  If for nothing else, you will generate more sales.  Statistically, adding a toll free number increases sales by 25%.  Enough said.

 

What about residential customers?  You may want a toll free if someone in the family travels a lot and calls home.  Another reason is if you have a kid in college.  The can call the toll free and only call home. rather than using a calling card, which they can use to call anywhere.  The rate for toll free is far cheaper than using calling cards or collect calls.  Also, having a business toll free is cheaper than having a residential one.  You can be a residential customer with a residential calling plan, while having a business toll free.

 

Slamming

 

There is a lot of talk about slamming.  Slamming is when a company takes over your phone service without your authorization.  It is not as common as you may be lead to believe.  About 95% of the time, a person thinks they were slammed, when they were not.  Most of the slamming is done by small companies, and not the major three long distance providers.  After two years, I can count on one hand the number of instances where the company we were working for actually appeared to have slammed a customer.

 

When you have NOT been slammed

 

Most people will assume that when they see charges from a company other than their regular long distance carrier, they have been slammed.  Here are a number of reasons why you may be charged by a different company:

 

Collect Call

Operator Assisted Call

Calling Card Call

10-10 number used

Third party call charge to your number

900 call

 

In all of these instances, another company was utilized.  Your service was not changed to another company.

 

Another reason people think there were slammed is if they did not want a long distance carrier, but did not notify the local phone company.  If you do not choose a long distance carrier or request no carrier, one will be assigned to you.  You will receive the fees and the most basic rates that company offers.

 

Another reason to be charged by another company is an error in the routing at the local phone company.  If the local company admits to this :D), you can usually receive credit.

 

How you Can Be Slammed

 

There are many ways someone can take over your long distance service.  One way is to fill out a contest form.  In the small print, it may say that by entering, you will change your service.  Another way is to send you a check, which states that your service will change if you cash it.  There are also contests on the internet that can have your service changed.  Please note that if is does state this in writing, than this is a legal change of service.  Some of the illegal ways include calling you, and asking you questions that you should reply "yes" to.  They then splice a recording of the "yes" onto a tape asking you if you want to change.  Sometime companies simply take over your service.

 

Resellers

 

Most of the slamming occurs by resellers.  All long distance companies are required to "sell" their airtime to other companies.  These companies than "resell" the service at their own rate.  There are many legitimate resellers, but it's the same group that causes most of the slamming.

 

How to Determine If You Were Slammed

 

The obvious reason is if you notice regular direct dialed long distance calls are now being billed by another company.  Your Local Carrier can try to verify your long distance carrier.  They can also give you a number to call to check who your carrier is.

 

How to Prevent Slamming

 

The first thing to do is request a "Pic Freeze" through your local phone company.  This prevents your carrier from being switched to another company, although this does not effect some resellers.  Be cautious of entering contests and giving out personal information out on the internet.  Hang up the phone if someone offering long distance asks you dumb questions that would invoke a "yes" response (like, Did the Sun rise today?)  Immediately call you local phone company and then your long distance carrier to get this resolved.  Many local companies may offer credit to you.  You can always complain to the FCC and even take legal action if the dollar amount would warrant it.

 

Access Codes

 

An access code is a 10-10 number, such as 10-10-321.  Dialing it overrides your current long distance carrier and causes you to be billed through whichever carrier the number is for.  If you use these, make sure to check for any hidden charges, etc.  There are some that are good, but many are much more expensive than direct dialing a long distance carrier.

 

The is a huge problem where people are being charged for using an Access Code, when they in fact have not.  Their calls are charged a "non-Pic Surcharge"  of $2-$5 per call on top of a expensive per minute rate.  Why so much?  Depending on the access number, the local phone company may charge the long distance carrier the surcharge for switching the customer's carrier for the duration of the call.  This is then passed onto the customer  How can this occur?

 

  Someone dialed the 10-10 number

  There is an error in the programming of the phone or phone system, where It is automatically designed to use the access number

  You changed long distance carriers in the middle of a bill cycle

  There was an error at the local phone company

 

The last two instances are the only ones where you be able to receive credit.  Obviously, if you are dialing the access number, you will be charged the rates it incurs.  And if there is a problem with your equipment, you will have discuss the charges with the manufacturer of the equipment.  Changing carriers in the middle of a bill cycle sometimes causes a billing error where you are charged the surcharges.  The long distance carrier should rerate these for you.

 

Ok, over 95% percent of the time, these access code calls are the result of an error at the local phone company.  If the local company will admit to the long distance carrier that an error occurred, then you will receive credit.  Unfortunately, the local phone companies do not want to admit to these errors, as they realize they will have to pay the long distance carriers back.  If you can get a representative at the local company to admit to an error, write down their full name, contact number, employee number, etc.  If you have 3-way calling, confernece the rep with the long distance carrier.  As you can guess, this is almost a scam, since the local carrier charges the long distance carrier for switching the service, when most of the time the service is being switched due to the local phone company's error.

 

Owning A Payphone (skip if you don't)

 

I worked in the department that handled payphones for over a year.  In case you didn't know, a private individual or company can own payphones.  The owner can make money either by the money deposited or by commissions through a long distance provider when a payphone customer uses the long distance provider to make a call.

 

If you ever decide to own a payphone, here are a couple of things to remember:  If you have a Smart Phone, program all of the available blocks that you can.  Get every block that you can through the local phone company.  This includes  international, collect, third party, 900/976, 1+, and if possible, 10-10.  Save a copy of the request order for the blocks.  Try to get a written confirmation showing what blocks were added as of what date.  All local providers are required by the FCC to offer 10-10 block, but most don't.  Even if you know they don't put it in your request order.  Keep the orders and confirmations in a file.  Why do all of this?  If you have a payphone, more than likely you will experience some type of fraud on it.  You need to take every precaution that you can on your end to prevent it.  Then, the cause of the fraud will not be on your hands.  For instance, if you have a 900 block through the local phone company, but a 900 call goes through, this is a block failure of the local phone company and they should be liable for the charges.  (Don't tell them this.)  If you have fraudulent calls, get your file out and call the long distance provider.  If you don't have the file, call the local phone company and try to get a rep to confirm that you had the block in place.  Get all of this rep's info - name, contact number, etc.   By the way, if you don't have the block, you will not get the credit.

Conclusion

Maybe you are thinking that you don't know to know all of this to own a phone.  Well, I have seen individuals and companies get stuck large bills that they are legally obligated to pay.  I have seen charged that would not be taken off a customer's bill from a $10 collect call to millions of dollars in access code dialed calls (those were businesses).  Just make sure you talk to both you local and long distance carriers about your service/plans and keep in the back of your mind the number of people who are out there committing phone fraud every day.

If you have any questions about phone service, feel free to email me.