I need an expert on phone companies.

[deedubya3800]

Here at home, our phone service is provided by a local cooperative. They seem to charge for toll calls based on switch location rather than by rate center. According to AT&T, customers on our exchange should be able to dial to a long list of prefixes toll-free, but the local cooperative only lets us dial to a few locally and requires eleven digits and charges for anything else. I've called the cooperative, and they tell me they have to charge based on their cost. I've called AT&T, who provides the long distance service, and while they agree that I should be able to dial all these other prefixes toll-free and with only seven or ten digits, they say there's nothing they can do on their end.

Is there anything I can do to convince this little backyard operator to straighten up and act right?

[Greg G.]

...I've called the cooperative, and they tell me they have to charge based on their cost. I've called AT&T, who provides the long distance service, and while they agree that I should be able to dial all these other prefixes toll-free and with only seven or ten digits, they say there's nothing they can do on their end.

In the days of Ma Bell, that wouldn't have happened.  Quality and service came first, cost was made up for in other areas.

Is there anything I can do to convince this little backyard operator to straighten up and act right?

Yeah, fire your Congressman, then hire one that will help bring back Ma Bell (if that's at all possible now, doubtful).  I know this isn't very helpful, but it's a classic example of what we lost when they killed Ma Bell.

[KeithB]

Check with your state's Public Service Commission, who approves their tariffs.  They are the final arbitrator for concerns like this. 

[LarryInMichigan]

Do any of the competitive companies like Birch Communications or Cavalier offer service in your area.  What about long-distance-only service from one of the other carriers.  Take a look at http://www.connectmyphone.com

Larry

[Adam]

Do you have good broadband internet service?  If so, you can ditch your local phone company totally and go VOIP!  No "local" calling, same extremely low rate everywhere!

There any MANY great VOIP services, the one I use, voip.ms, charges 0.0125 (1 and 1/4 cents) per minute to everywhere in the U.S.  My incoming line (DID) is .99 per month and 0.01 per minute.  E911 costs an additional $1.50 per month.  And that's it!  My typical phone bill is around $10 a month!

-Dave Haber
Massapequa Telephone
C*NET 1-798-7619

[deedubya3800]

Check with your state's Public Service Commission, who approves their tariffs.  They are the final arbitrator for concerns like this. 

I forgot to mention that I did call them once, and they informed me that this cooperative is outside their jurisdiction. I'm not sure how that works.

And as for competition, VOIP, satellite, and mobile are going to be the only competition available at this location. The cooperative does offer cable TV and telephone service, all over the DSL connection, as well.

[john snapp]

Where are you located?  What is the name of the company?

In many states, Rural Telephone Cooperatives are not regulated by the state like AT&T, Qwest and Verizon are.  They typically are still regulated by the FCC and Rural Utilities Services.  There is probably not much you can do though.  Your best bet would be to get cheap VoIP service and either port your number over or simply use it for outgoing calls.  There are quite a few VoIP devices that you can connect to your existing POTS line to receive incoming calls but when you dial out it will go through the VoIP carrier.  You can get good inexpensive outgoing service through VoicePulse.com, Vitelity.com and Voip.ms.  For a low-stress full replacement you can use services such as Vonage or Vitelity.

Just make the jump to Voip!

- john

[Phonesrfun]

I use Vonage, and I am pretty happy with it, generally speaking.  On rare occasions, I get a little flutter and on even rarer occasions, a little echo that seems to be there at the beginning of a call, then goes away within just a few seconds.  I have had it for about 6 years, so I guess I am pretty hooked.

The Vonage router supports rotary dialing.

I also have C*Net, which is great for calling other collectors that also have it.  It is equal to Vonage in voice quality, but of course, I can only call other collectors on it.

[Kenny C]

i need to get a c-net

[deedubya3800]

I may as well look into it. We're paying about $29 a month for POTS, plus $50 for DSL. The DSL is excellent, but the sorry local calling area is seriously bothering me. I've done some research and there is no alternative that would not make us a long-distance call from our neighbors and some of my wife's family because no one can offer us a number with any of the few prefices they let us call.

We do have a wireless plan that goes greatly underused each month, so I may also be interested in one of the Bluetooth devices we've talked about on here, as long as it can at least be adapted to send calls from rotary phones.

[Phonesrfun]

Why not look into Vonage or one of the other Voip services that are out there and mentioned in this thread by some others.  They go right over the DSL. 

I think you can even get routers for Vonage these days at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and I believe Radio Shack.

[Kenny C]

we hav DSL and i love it

[john snapp]

A device such as the Grandstream 503 may be the solution for you.  Here is what you can do with that device.  First I believe the 503 supports pulse dialing.  The 503 has two ports.  You would plug one port into your existing home POTS line and the other port you would plug your home phones into.  You would then plug the ethernet into your DSL modem. The 503 would them be configured (this is the hard part and is a bit advanced for many but I might be able to help or possible Dave Haber).  You would set it up so that all calls to 1+NXX-NXX-XXXX would go over the new voice service.  You can get these from VoicePulse.com or VOIP.MS for under $0.01 a minute and no monthly fee.  Most are pre-pay accounts.  If you were to dial 7 digits it would go out your existing POTS line.  Incoming calls to your POTS number would go through the 503 and would ring all of your internal phones.  Depending on the VoIP carrier you used, you could even set the CallerID of the outgoing 10 digit calls to the same as your pots line.  I do this with VoicePulse.  I am not sure with VOIP.MS.  Also with VOIP.MS you can get additional PSTN numbers, in almost any city around the country, for $0.99 a month and $0.01 or so a minute. 

The best would be if you could port your existing number over to a VoIP carrier such as vonage but my guess is that is not possible for your telco.  ALso the POTS line is good to keep for 9-1-1 purposes.  most VoIP services have E9-1-1 but you need to make sure it is setup correctly.  Even though some may say otherwise, it is always a good idea to call the PSAP on their non-emergency 10 digit number to ask them when and if you can test your 9-1-1 service.  Almost all small area 9-1-1 call centers (PSAPs) are ok with you testing.  That is not always true for LA, NYC, etc.

- john

[Adam]

I might be able to help or possible Dave Haber

I've never hooked up an ATA this way but I'm sure I could figure out a problem if you get stuck and I'm happy to help!

Likewise, if anybody wants info on the C*NET Collector's Telephone Network or needs help in getting connected, I'm always available to help with that was well!

-Dave Haber
Massapequa Telephone
C*NET 1-798-7619

[bellsystemproperty]

You can also try Google Voice. This is a free service that can act like a calling card, where you the GV number and then the number you want to dial. The downside is this is not rotary friendly. You can also have GV call you, so you pick up the phone and it connects with the other caller. I'm not that good at explaining it, but you can check it out yourself at voice.google.com Google Voice does not require a change of service providers because it is using your existing phone line. If you want to be able to dial into GV like a calling card you will need to ensure that your line is sending outgoing caller id.

If you are interested in totally changing your phone company there is http://broadvoice.com/. They charge $18 a month for unlimited US calling. I do not use them, but their prices seem reasonable. If you do have only VoIP, make sure you find a reliable provider. Also know in a blackout the line will fail. Even if you have a UPS, your ISP could still go down rendering the UPS useless. I have a normal landline because I still don't totally trust VoIP for really important things, but I use VoIP for a lot of things like long distance calling and C*NET.

Also, for those that want to join C*NET, my website www.penguintel.com will help you get started. At the moment I am unable to add any more users to my C*NET exchange due to bandwidth constraints, but I can still help you find someone that can.