*****NO ALPINE OR TIGER CONTENT*****
I believe the charge you are referring to is most likely called the "access
line charge." This charge has it's roots (Rootes?) in the original
break-up of AT&T back in 1984; at least, that is what got the ball rolling
on what we have today. The next big change came along when the Federal
Govt. passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In a nutshell, the fed
gave the FCC free license to revamp the way that telecommunications as an
industry is handled. Due to the rapid technological advances in the field
of telecommunications, as well as the introduction of competition on a
local and long distance basis, the FCC promulgated programs that were
designed to "level the playing field," so to speak, between rural, less
affluent areas and metropolitan areas where the vast majority of high
technology is concentrated.
This lead to the introduction of the "Universal Service Fund." I don't
have all my papers and notes in front of me here as I am writing this from
my home (I work for my state's Public Utilities Commission), but in a
nutshell, this fund provides rural hospitals, schools, libraries, etc. with
a source of money to dip into to help keep them current in the field of
telecommunications, thereby keeping rural/less affluent areas of the
country up to date with the rest of the world. The FCC requires that every
long distance company doing interlata business in the U.S. pay into this
fund. I believe the wording is they "may" pass this cost along to the
consumer, or they can foot all or a portion of it themselves. Naturally,
given the option, guess who is paying for it? They did not stop there.
They also mandated the states to set up their own universal service funds,
which you see on the local portion of your bill. It is the same type of
fund; however, your local phone co charges you your state's universal
service fund charge based strictly on your local service, while the federal
universal service fund charge is strictly on the long distance portion of
your bill.
Here's where the answer to your question comes in. With the advent of all
the "long distance access codes" that are available now (such as John
Lithgow's 10-10-321), a caller may have access to as many long distance
carriers as there are access codes. Even though you may have a registered
long distance company that you have chosen to handle your long distance
(sort of on a default basis), you may also place calls with other companies
by using their access codes without having to change your long distance
carrier. The FCC, seeing that this could backfire by people just choosing
to drop their long distance carrier, decided to let all long distance
companies charge an access line charge, which is rationalized by the fact
that you have access to the long distance network, whether or not you use
it. If you do not have a registered long distance carrier and place no
calls during a particular month, you will see this same charge appearing on
your local phone bill. Your local company may call it something else but
it is really a charge for not having a long distance company and yet having
access to the long distance network via access codes.
One other thing that you might want to be aware of. If you frequently use
different long distance access codes, thereby placing long distance calls
with multiple carriers, you may be subjecting yourself to these charges
(such as the universal service fund charge) by every company you access.
That is something the ads on TV don't tell you.
The best advice that I can give you on phone billing problems is to READ
YOUR PHONE BILL CAREFULLY every month. If you find irregularities on it,
do not hesitate to contact the companies involved and/or your local public
utilities commission regarding the problem. That is what we are there for.
I will be the first to admit that, since the telecommunications industry
is among the fastest changing industries in the world, these types of
things are very difficult to keep up with. Even the personnel in our
office has difficulty keeping up with it. Don't feel bad about calling
them if you spot what you consider to be a problem. I'm sorry about the
length of this post but I just couldn't put off posting this any longer
after reading some of the earlier posts on this subject.
Happy 'Beaming and Merry Christmas,
Andy Walker
B382001600
B395006675
----------
> From: louabbot <louabbot@mail.ameritel.net>
> To: Steve Laifman <laifman@flash.net>; Tiger's Den
<tigers@autox.team.net>; 'Alpine's Peak' <alpines@autox.team.net>
> Subject: Re: No Tiger Content - Your Phone Bill
> Date: Saturday, December 19, 1998 9:46 PM
>
> My question is this...I own a business and have refused/cancelled my long
> distance service entirely, but an STILL charged a monthly fee plus a land
> line charge. Any ideas? I am getting nowhere with the Bell Atlantic folks
> nor "US Biling Services". How can I be forced to pay for something I
don't
> want? Get gas for your Tiger, but you don't need air in the tires, but
you
> pay for the availability of it anyway???
> Lou
>
> ----------
> > From: Steve Laifman <laifman@flash.net>
> > To: Tiger's Den <tigers@autox.team.net>; 'Alpine's Peak'
> <alpines@autox.team.net>
> > Subject: No Tiger Content - Your Phone Bill
> > Date: Thursday, December 17, 1998 7:06 PM
> >
> > Just received my long distance and local phone bill, and was
> > amazed that I owed $5.51 for one 25 cent phone call. The
> > long distance carrier gave me a bunch of lies about those
> > charges, and the local service was no help at all.
> >
> > I called the FCC and they e-mailed me about 5 explanatory
> > messages about what the charges are, should be, and what to
> > do about it.
> >
> > Turns out I was being overcharged and lied to about fees,
> > taxes, surcharges, minimums, and all the promises they made
> > to sign me up ('the contract') were being arbitrarily
> > changed.
> >
> > If anyone wants a copy of the FCC replies, I'll forward
> > them, or bundle them and put them on the list (labeled NO
> > TIGER CONTENT).
> >
> > They total 87K of info, so they aren't huge.
> >
> > Your desires?
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > --
> > Steve Laifman < One first kiss, >
> > B9472289 < one first love, and >
> > < one first win, is all >
> > < you get in this life. >
> >
> >
> > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> > _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/
> > _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/
> > _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
> > _/_/_/_/_/__/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> > _/
> > _/_/_/
> >
> >
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