Washington DC -- "It's Time for A Long Distance Check-Up," said Samuel A. Simon, Chairman of TRAC, the Telecommunications Research and Action Center, in the wake of the annual July 1st Federal Communications Commission mandated adjustments in fees and rates charged by local phone companies to long distance companies.

Each July 1st the amount of money local phone companies charge the long distance companies for use of the local telephone network is adjusted down pursuant to rules in place at the Federal Communications Commission. As a result, long distance rates are changed. The new universal service charges and PIC-C or Carrier Line Charges also change.

These changes mean its time to review your service and compare rates to see if you are still on the best plan for you. Here are some tips and resources for doing your check-up:

1. TeleTips(tm). TRAC's popular TeleTips(tm) is being updated to reflect the changes. Order a new chart now for $5.00 and stamp self-addressed envelope to TRAC, PO Box 27279, Washington, DC 20005. Or join TRAC for $25.00 and automatically get a copy of TeleTips(tm) each time it is published. You can join online at: http://www.trac.org/about/index.html.TeleTips(tm) is the only source of rate comparison information for the major carriers. It uses a shopping basket approach so you can compare companies and plans based on the shopping-basket of services that most reflects your own activities.

2. WebPricer. WebPricer is a call cost calculator found at http://www.trac.org/webpricer/index.html. It lets you enter your calls from your phone bill and compares the cost of those calls among the major carriers. It doesn't include monthly minimums or fees (it provides the information and you must calculate it) and it doesn't have information about surcharges. It is, nonetheless, an excellent resource to point you in the right direction. It is free to use and it is updated frequently.

3. CHECK OUT THE CARRIER WEB PAGES. All of the major long distance carriers are putting more information on their web sites about rates and services. This is in response to TRAC's successful campaign to convince the FCC to order that rates be made available on the Internet. If you want to do some of the research yourself on line, here are the links and some brief comments about each site:

• ATT. ATT has added http://www.att.com/rate_info/ to its web site. You can go there now to see the announcement of its July 1st rate adjustments. It is increasing its carrier line charge to $1.51 a month. Its universal service charge is being increased to $.99 a month. Also on July 1, ATT's minimum fee of $3.00 a month also takes effect for all of its customers. In other words, it will now cost $5.00 a month to be a customer of ATT and make NO calls. Basic rates for ATT are being decreased from$.28 a minute (daytime) to $.26 a minute. There is also a promotional weekend rate of $.11 a minute for all basic rate customers. TRAC applauds ATT's rate disclosure practice. It is the only carrier that has published on their web site detailed information about rate and fee changes taking effect on July 1st.
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• MCI/WORLDCOM. http://www.wcom.com/services_for_home/ MCI has information about its most popular plans, but has no separate area that describes rates, fees or minimums. There is nothing TRAC could find on the web site as of 10 a.m., July 1st concerning any rate changes as the result of the FCC actions. However, this doesn't mean that rates haven't changed, only that they have not been posted.
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• SPRINT. http://csg.sprint.com/home/longdist.html This is Sprint's home page for its products and services. There is nothing TRAC could find on the web site as of 10 a.m. July 1st concerning any rate changes as the result of the FCC actions. However, this doesn't mean that rates haven't changed, only that the changes haven't been posted. Indeed, a Sprint operator indicated the pre-subscribed line charge is increasing from $.85 to $1.70 per account per month.
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• QWEST. http://www.qhome.net/ld/offer.jhtml This is Qwest's home page for its long distance services. There is nothing TRAC could find on the web site as of 10 a.m. July1st concerning any rate changes as the result of the FCC actions. However, this doesn't mean that rates haven't changed, only that they have not been posted. According to a Qwest operator the pre-subscribed line charge has increased from $1.00 a month per-account to $1.50 and the universal service charge is increasing from $.93 per month to $1.50 per month.
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• FRONTIER. http://www.frontiercorp.com/products/ This is Frontier's home page for products and services. There is nothing TRAC could find on the web site as of 10 a.m. July 1st concerning any rate changes as the result of the FCC actions. However, this doesn't mean that rates haven't changed, only that the changes haven't been posted.
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• EXCEL. http://www.excel.com/publicpages/whatsnew/whatsnew-frame.htm This is Excel's product page. There is nothing TRAC could find on the web site as of 10 a.m. July 1st concerning any rate changes as the result of the FCC actions. However, this doesn't mean that rates haven't changed, only that the changes haven't been posted.
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• MATRIX. http://www.matrixtele.com/html/rate_info.htmlMatrix web page has detailed rate information. There is nothing TRAC could find on the web site as of 10 a.m. July 1st concerning any rate changes as the result of the FCC action. However, this doesn't mean that rates haven't changed, only that the changes haven't been posted.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

John Breyault, TRAC, johnb@trac.org, 202-263-2943

ABOUT TRAC:

The Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC), founded in 1983, is a non-profit membership organization based in Washington, DC that promotes the interests of residential telecommunications customers. TRAC staff researches telecommunications issues and publishes rate comparisons to help consumers make informed decisions regarding their long distance and local phone service options. TRAC can be found on the web at http://www.trac.org.