Re: [PLUG] DSL w/o local phone

["William H. Magill" <magill@mcgillsociety.org>]

On 15 Jul, 2004, at 15:33, Paul wrote:

> William H. Magill wrote:
>
> > I happen to have a Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) line that costs me $14 
> > a  month for what I think they call "life line" service. No frills, 
> > no  Long Distance, no message units, etc. The line actually costs 
> > more in  so-called "taxes" than it costs for the line! ($4.88 for the 
> > phone line  and $1.75 for an unlisted number -- the rest is all 
> > "taxes!" $6.10 for  "Federal Line cost charge," $.54 for "Federal 
> > Universal Service Fund  surcharge," $1.00 for the "911 fee" and $ .08 
> >  for the PA Relay  service, plus $.40 Federal Tax.)
> Does that line also do local calling?
>
> I guess regional calling is pushing it.  I don't need long distance 
> because my Lingo VoIP box is scheduled for delivery today.  (This is 
> going to be fun.)

"It's a dial-tone line!" -- You can call anywhere you want with it, 
even long distance. You just have to pay for the calls, on a per-call 
basis. (It's not blocked from dialing-9 like a PBX line.)

"Local Calling" and "Regional Calling" are simply "tariffs" ... how you 
pay for the calls. As soon as you start adding "calling plans" your 
costs go up. I forget for certain, but Phila used to have 5 zones 
covering the local area radiating outwards from center city. Land Line 
tariffs are not significantly different than those for cell phones. 
(Guess where the Cell phone companies got the idea from.)

The "life line" service has a $.25 credit toward message units. (I 
forget how long/much a message unit is.)

All this is, or used to be, defined in the front of the phone book.


T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
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magill@mcgillsociety.org
magill@acm.org
magill@mac.com

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