Alert: Dial-Around Long-Distance Telephone Service
Over the last couple of years, several companies have been promoting
accessing their long-distance telephone services by using the "10xxx"
access code mechanism.
Although most long-distance companies can be accessed through this
technique, these particular companies are referred to in the
industry as dial-around services because they encourage you
to "dial around" the carrier you have designated to your local
phone company as your primary inter-exchange carrier or PIC.
The good news about these services is that, like other long-distance
companies that can be accessed with a "10xxx" access code, you can
use the service without being charged a "switching fee" by your local
phone company.
The bad news is that the rates offered by these companies may not be
as attractive as they first appear.
What to watch out for
-
The rates advertised are usually for residential customers only.
If your phone line is designated as a business line, the charges
may be substantially higher.
-
Frequently these companies will have a monthly access fee of about $5, which
is incurred on the first call placed through their service during the month
(this is usually based on a calendar month, but you should check with the
carrier to be sure).
When comparing rates to those charged by other companies, you should add the
average cost per minute of this fee to the base rate advertised by the long-distance
company.
For instance, if you expect to make two hours of calls through the dial-around
company during the month, and their monthly fee is $5, you would add 4.2 cents
to their "per minute" rate.
-
These companies sometimes impose a minimum time period for charging purposes
for all calls completed, typically 3 minutes.
If you find that many of your calls are less than this minimum time period
(which might be likely if you often reach an answering machine), that will
add to your effective "per minute" rate.
To calculate the amount by which this will increase your per-minute rate,
determine how much additional time you will be billed for and how much that
will cost at the advertised per minute rate, then divide this by the
total amount of calling you expect to do through the dial-around company.
For instance, if you expect to have 6 1-minute calls during the month, each
of which will be bumped up to 3-minute billings, and the advertised per-minute
rate is 10 cents, that would be an additional $1.20.
If you expect to place two hours of calls through the dial-around carrier,
you should add another 1 cent per minute to their advertised per-minute rate.
-
Although these rates may beat the rates advertised by other long-distance
carriers for interstate calls, they may not be the best deal for calls within
your state or for toll calls within your LATA (which are usually carried
by your local phone company if you do not use a carrier access code).
-
But there are a number of different pricing structures.
In one variation, U S Telecom
promises 50% discounts on calls that are at least 20 minutes long.
The catch is that you get no discount on calls under 20 minutes.
If you find that you have many calls that are 10 to 20 minutes in length,
you might be annoyed that these shorter calls actually cost more than longer
calls which are eligible for the discount.
By the way, who is U S Telecom?
It's another name for MCI, the company that advertises
rates always lower than AT&T's, consistently $0.0001 per minute less
than AT&T.
Related links:
Cagey Consumer home page
telecom information
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