Telecom Tips

• Don't Get Slammed
• Avoid Directory Assistance
• Avoid the Unlisted Number Charge
• Avoid Operator Assistance
• Beware of Comparison Sites

Don't Get Slammed

Call your local telephone company and ask for a PIC Freeze for both regional (intraLATA) and long distance (interLATA) service. This will prevent your presubscriptions from being changed without your written consent. If you have been slammed, the FCC has important information here.

1. The first thing you should do if you were slammed is call your local telco and tell them you were slammed and that you want to be switched back to your prior provider. This would be a good time to ask for the PIC freeze.
2. Then, do NOT pay any bill from the company that slammed you. You can simply write on the bill "You aren't my authorized carrier and I'm not obligated to pay for these services".
3. If the slammer persists, file a complaint with the FCC or your state PUC (the procedure varies by state, start here). The slammer could be fined $105K per incident.

Avoid/Reduce Directory Assistance Costs

By using a web-based Directory Assistance service, you can avoid the Directory Assistance charge. Here are some popular Web-based Directory Assistance services:

• anywho.com
• bigbook.com
• people.yahoo.com
• yp.yahoo.com
• switchboard.com
• whowhere.lycos.com
• worldpages.com
• zip2.com

When you do need to dial Directory Assistance, request two numbers, it's the same cost as one request, if made on the same call.

Avoid the Unlisted Number Charge

Many local telephone companies publish a telephone directory and they charge you a monthly fee to keep your name and telephone number out of the directory. For example, U.S. West charges over $25.00 per year to keep a telephone number out of their telephone directory. The charge can be avoided by listing your telephone number under your other name. This, in effect, will hide your listing in the telephone directory.

The telephone company makes a distinction between a "billing name" and a "listing name". The billing name is the name of the person responsible for paying for services. The listing name is the name the telephone number is listed under. Most people will use their billing name as their listing name, however, these names may be different. Also, you are not required to list your street address. Street addresses are only listed to help users of the telephone directory to distinguish one directory entry from another when the names are the same.

Since there are over 740,000 "Smith"s listed in the telephone books across the U.S., you can hide your telephone number in the telephone directory by listing your entry under your other name of "Smith" with the initial of your first name and no street address. To do this, call Subscriber Services at your local telephone company and tell them you want to "list" or "change your listing" to "Smith" for your telephone number. Subscriber Services may object, but don't let them talk you out of it and don't let them call it an alias, since they charge for alias entries in the telephone directory. If they ask why, provide one or more of the following reasons:

1. "Smith" is the name by which everyone knows you (e.g. a maiden name);
2. "Smith" is the name of the primary user of the telephone in the household.

Here are some of the advantages:

1. Telemarketers who do use the telephone directories will be also be using the listed names associated with the telephone numbers. When they call you, they generally will be saying "Good evening Mr./Mrs. Smith". You will immediately recognize this as a telemarketing call. However, many telemarketers sequentially dial all the telephone numbers in a given area rather than using the telephone directory so that they can reach more people. So, a virtually unlisted number will not eliminate these calls.
2. You can still be found in the telephone directory by telling your friends and family to find your telephone number under "Smith". Of course, they will need to remember some part of your telephone number so that they can distinguish your number from the others.
3. With the $25.00 in savings, you can call state-to-state and talk for 500+ minutes as an FinalTel customer.

If you are already listed under the name Smith, follow the procedure above, or use the name "Brown".

Don't Make Unnecessary Operator Assisted Calls

Use operator assistance only for person-to-person or collect calls. Other operator assisted calls are NOT recommended because the rates are higher. Some operator assisted calls are extremely high priced (over $9 to connect and over $2 per minute where FinalTel would charge under 9 cents per minute).

As a rule of thumb, if you hear an operator or voice prompt, hang up and redial direct. If you don't want to hang up, ask the operator who is providing the service; if you hear US Long Distance (USLD) or Zero Plus Dialing (ZPDI), hang up. If you still don't want to hang up, ask the operator what the rates are. Do not allow the call to complete unless you know what you are paying!

Beware of Comparison Sites

There are many sites that offer to find the best plan for your needs. While most of these sites appear to provide a reasonable comparison, they all seem to suffer from two subtle flaws:

1. Only a limited number of plans are listed, usually the higher cost plans from the big three and one or two of their "favorites".
2. Many of the plans that are listed can't be found elsewhere on the web. These are special plans that are tough to verify.

These sites make their money on people who sign-up at their site by getting a commission from the plan provider. While that is perfectly reasonable, the result is that the lower priced plans are excluded because they don't offer the higher commissions and would hurt their profitability by comparing favorably. Therefore, while the actual comparisons may be objective and reasonably accurrate, the bottom line is flawed by tacitly ommitting better plans.