PICK YOUR LD CARRIER ON THE FLY

If you have the new "Equal Access" (your choice of LD carriers) telephone system you have the right and opportunity to use any Long Distance carrier when you make a call, not just the carrier you signed up for. Below are the codes to access the LD carriers.

When you place calls on an LD carrier different from your regular one, the bill will be part of your -local- phone bill rather than your LD carrier bill.

Using the EqualAccess system you can take advantage of EVERY LD carrier's best rates. Some have better deals calling overseas than others or calling into certain countries, some have better deals calling small towns, etc. You can gather the rate information from the carriers and do what's best for you.

Even if you don't have the rate information this could be a handy list. If you ever tried to call LD over Xmas or Thanksgiving you know how difficult it can be to get through on holidays. Using the list below means that when it's busy on one carrier's lines you can shift to another carrier and try there.

Every carrier code begins with a 10.

Two companies have made it relatively easy to remember them:
AT&T is 10 ATT (288) and Sprint is 10 SPR (777).

But remember, these "10 Triple XXX" codes don't work unless the phone you're calling from is tied to the "Equal-Access" system.

Telephone booths?

As we know there are many "telephone companies" formed specifically to prey on people using unfamiliar phones. They target the collect-call business at telephone booths and ALL the phone services in hospital rooms, hotels/motels, and other places where we make calls in new surroundings.

Callers assume they are using a major phone carrier and discover when the bill comes that each local call was $5 and the five minute LD call back to the office was $20.

The gal with a broken leg who continues her telephone solicitation for the United Way from her hospital bed gets home and receives an $800 phone bill not covered by any insurance.

And at no time was she advised that her hospital phone service was being provided -- not by AT&T -- but by Predator Telco, Inc.