Metroliner telephone article 4138

I asked for information on the tarriff and Bell refused to give me the info, so I'm pretty sure there's nothing that allows the fee (and, the way things work here, at least, anything that is not explicitly allowed is forbidden).

All I was able to find was a tarriff that allowed them to charge a $5 fee any month that I tried to make a LD call and didn't have a carrier selected, which boots you to the operator (unless you use a 101-loveX code). Since I don't make LD calls on that line -- there's no phone attached -- I run no risk of incurring that fee.

Oh yeah. The Texas PUC views buttessing fines against utilities as a revenue source for the state. They'll rip whatever utility you have a complaint with a new hole if you can prove your case -- and they'll do most of the legwork for you if it sounds like you're right. The various utilities will do nearly anything to make you shut up rather than deal with a PUC investigation -- even if you're wrong.

I'll only bother if I can't get that fee waived in the future.

Bell does charge a fee for including the LD carrier's bill in their own bill, and most of the LD companies immediately switched to sending their own bills when that was introduced. I don't know if there's a fee for simply providing service, but I wouldn't doubt it.

S

-- Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

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