The Telephone

Though technology is rapidly changing, the telephone is still the most important means of communication.

 Local Service

Your Local Service Provider provides to all households the dial tone, local telephone books (see below), access to a long distance carrier, and a monthly bill explaining every cent.  In most cases, your local service provider will be different from your long distance company, a confusing aspect of the American telecommunications industry.  Your local phone company will normally offer you either a flat monthly rate, which includes free local calls, or a lower monthly rate which charges you for local calls.  Most states offer a subsidized plan for low-income families.  Your local provider should provide this information.

You may choose whether to have your number listed (published in phone books and public data bases) or unlisted (unpublished and available only to Information). People choose to be unlisted primarily to avoid having their number available to telemarketers – sales people making cold calls to your residence, attempting to sell services or products. Telemarketers generally call in the evenings when people are home from work, and are an annoying but inevitable part of American life.

Extra telephone features are available at an extra cost. These are purchased from your local provider, and may be bought individually or in packages. 

Ø     Call waiting allows you to receive multiple incoming calls simultaneously, using the receiver button as a toggle.  You can speak to only one party at a time. 

Ø     Call forwarding redirects incoming calls to a different number of your choice (such as a mobile phone number) when the feature is activated, freeing you from having to wait by one phone. 

Ø     *69 call return is a feature automatically available to all phone users (you are billed on a per-use basis or can have unlimited usage at a monthly rate).  When used within 30 minutes of an incoming call which you were unable to answer, pressing *69 will automatically dial the number of the caller.  This feature is handy for discovering the identity of hang-ups. 

Ø     Caller ID requires special equipment that displays the number of all incoming callers.  This comes with a monthly charge in addition to the equipment costs.  You have the option of blocking your number so that it does not appear on other people’s caller ID boxes when you call them.  This is a free service that can be ordered through your local service provider. 

Ø     Three-Way Calling allows you to carry on a conversation with multiple parties at once.  There are many other options, which are listed in your White Pages under Custom Calling Features.

The Baby Bells do have competitors for local service, but since they own most of the telephone lines, it is difficult for competitors to beat their rates.  A smart consumer, however, may be able to find a better deal.  The Baby Bells are required to list their competitors in their White Pages.  Keep in mind that local service operates on much lower profit margins than the long distance carriers resulting in many nickel and dime charges.  Beware in going with a little known company just because it is cheap.  You may have to deal with long outages because they do not have an adequate repair staff.

Long Distance Service

The sign of a growing city is when its regions or communities begin to be assigned different area codes (the three digits that precede your seven digit phone number that designate your area).  Long distance service is provided by many companies, including, the big three: MCI www.mci.com, Sprint www.sprint.com and AT&T www.att.com.   In some areas there are hundreds of long distance carriers.  They are highly competitive with one another, which is to our advantage.  Before choosing a carrier, obtain rate quotes from several, and compare them. Once you have selected one, stay abreast of what they are charging you. They have a tendency to sneak the rates up without notice. You can switch carriers through your local phone provider and you will have your old carrier at your feet, begging to win you back with an even better rate!

Your local or long distance carrier will also issue you a calling card  to be used when making toll calls from phones other than your own. It amounts to a numbered code which connects your call through your carrier, using your account number. They are very handy for use when travelling because collect calls and pay phone calls are more expensive. Your carrier will give you rates on calling cards, which are usually more than regular calls and may have a per use charge.  Charges will appear on your monthly statement. 

Answering services allow callers to leave a recorded voice message when you are unavailable to answer your own phone.  They are a very common and convenient feature. The 2 main answering service methods are voice mail – you pay an automated service to receive and record your messages when your line is busy or when you don’t answer your phone, which you retrieve by calling a special number; and answering machines – electronic devices, usually built into a telephone, which utilize either a mini-cassette or a digital disk to record messages which you retrieve either manually or electronically by phone.

Special Numbers

Operator – dial 0 to reach a local operator who can assist you with any sort of connection. 

Information– dial 411 to connect with an operator, who can search for any listed phone number by city and name, locally and nationwide.  You are allotted a certain number of free calls per month, and will be charged for additional calls.  You can also have them dial the number for you.  They are required to quote the rates to you.

Emergency – dial 911 to connect with your local Police/Fire Dept. dispatcher for Emergency use only.  For non-emergencies, dial your operator, or find the number for the police or fire departments in the White Pages.

Toll-free numbers include all 800, 888, 877, 866 numbers, and are used primarily by companies to handle customer service calls.  There is no cost to you to call such numbers.

900 numbers are for Information services.  They are run by companies who make their profit by charging you for the call.  Be careful, because some of their rates can be very high.

976 numbers are for Entertainment calls, and they also carry substantial charges.  The charges can be avoided by blocking your service's access to such numbers with your phone company.  

Collect Calls:  A collect call is when the person who receives the call is charged, rather than the caller.  The strange thing about collect calls is that it is the caller who decides which company charges you.  By dialing “0”, it is charged to your local phone company, by dialing 1-800-CALL ATT it is charged to AT&T, etc.

Telephone Books

Your local phone service will provide you with a minimum of 2 phone books that can prove to be your key to the city.  The White Pages list all Government, local businesses and residents, alphabetically by name. They also contain reference information such as emergency numbers, local and national area codes, International calling codes, and general telephone information.  The Yellow Pages list all businesses within your county, alphabetically by service. They also contain local maps, zip codes, and community service information and numbers.  To search for phone books nationwide, visit www.infospace.com/yptw.

Your city will publish its own daily newspaper(s), in addition to a variety of free weekly publications such as entertainment magazines, real estate ads, apartment rental guides, employment classifieds, and retail classifieds.  Such publications are usually available at grocery stores, coffee shops and bars.  Subscriptions and home delivery of popular newspapers such as 'The Wall Street Journal' (interactive.wsj.com/home.html) or the 'New York Times' (www.nytimes.com) can easily be obtained, or simply check out their web sites. Visit your local library to find copies of dated publications.

Weekly/monthly magazines are also available in stores or by subscription.   We suggest 'U.S. News' (www.usnews.com) for newcomers.  Special interest magazines exist for every hobby imaginable. Inexpensive magazine subscriptions may be obtained online at www.bookspring.com, www.discountmagazines.com or win-edge.com/magazines.shtml.

You can now choose to get your news over the Internet, either by accessing Associated Press or Reuters, or by subscribing to a newspaper’s web site.  Get the same paper on the Internet instead of your doorstep.  Plus, it is frequently updated.

The Mail

The U.S. Postal Service (www.usps.gov) picks up and delivers letters and packages to your home and business every day of the week except on Sundays and major holidays. The price of stamps increases slightly every few years. However, as in most things, the mail has become overrun with marketing ploys and advertising. Along with your newly established address and mailbox will come the inevitable blitz of junk mail – advertisements from local and national businesses in the form of letters, flyers, menus and publications. Contact the Direct Marketing Association (www.dma.org.uk) for information on how to be removed from such mailing lists.

Post Offices are U.S. government facilities that distribute mail to and from zip coded areas within a city. Post offices also offer vital services to communities such as selling stamps, packaging materials and money orders, rental of P.O. boxes (if you need a temporary or alternate address), and delivery of packages. Outgoing packages must be weighed and priced with a postal meter according to their destination. Packages too large for your mailbox will be held for you at your post office.

Post offices also provide important government forms such as change-of-address forms, stamps-by-mail order forms, hold-mail forms, customs forms for international mailing, and tax forms. Many of the above services are now becoming available on the Internet. Stamps, for example, are now also available online at www.stamps.com. Express mail and priority mail are offered by the U.S.P.S

Couriers – A handful of courier companies deliver packages and documents more quickly, conveniently and more expensively than the U.S.P.S. You simply choose how quickly you would like your package to arrive, and they guarantee delivery. UPS (www.ups.com) specializes in ground transportation deliveries.  Fed Ex (www.fedex.com) and Airborne Express specialize in airborne and international deliveries. Couriers are particularly convenient because they allow anyone with the package's airbill number to track the package's progress along each leg of its journey. Visit www.smartship.com to compare the costs of shipping packages via courier versus the post office.  The post office will often be significantly less expensive.

“Private Post-Offices”– A variety of nationwide franchises have become private post offices for many customers. Companies such as Mail Boxes Etc. (www.mbe.com ), Mail Plus and Postal Annex offer supreme convenience at a high cost. Not only will they meter and mail your packages (they simply hand them over to a courier of your choice, at a higher cost to you), they will also wrap, package and label your items for you. Packaging material may be obtained less expensively at department stores. Franchises also rent out P.O. boxes, sell mailing and office supplies, and provide copying and printing services.