Making Sense of Your Phone Bill
As recently cited on CBS's 60-Minutes, many long distance carriers are billing
you for MORE than the rate they quote you. How so? The are not only billing
you for the metered rate per minute, but they are also adding fees, surcharges,
and in some cases, even marking up FCC charges above and beyond the government's
mandates. Heck, sometimes, carriers even MAKE FEES UP and charge them to you.
Most people just pay their bill rather than scrutinize it. This common
practice is making telecom companies extra millions of dollars. Don't
become one of these people. Research your bill and see EXACTLY what you
are paying. Below we provide you with an brief explanation of many
common taxes and surcharges that appear on long distance phone bills.
Municipal charge: This fee is charged by your local municipality to
defray the costs of community services such as the local Emergency Services
(911) operation.
Number portability service charge: A Federal Communications Commission
(FCC)-approved charge that pays for the administrative costs incurred by your
local phone company in allowing you to switch long distance carriers.
Universal Service Charge or USF: This fee is put into the Universal
Service Fund, which helps make telephone service available to everyone,
including low-income customers, customers in high cost rural areas and to serve
customers with disabilities. More recently this fund has been used to wire
schools, libraries and hospitals for access to the Internet.
Presubscribed interexchange carrier charge (PICC): Long distance
companies pay these charges to local telephone companies for access to their
local phone networks. The FCC regulates the price but does not require that long
distance companies pass the charges on to customers. As a result, some long
distance companies pass this cost directly onto their customers while others
include it in the per-minute charges.
Subscriber line charge (SLC): A charge similar to the PICC, the SLC is
billed to you by your local phone company instead of your long distance carrier.
Are there still charges on your bill that you do not recognize? Send your
question in an email to care@CheapRates.com
and we'll do our best to help you.
