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Got this data from the FCC, hope you enjoy:

Reference:TSR12, ID# 02360492

The following is the information you requested from the FCC Consumer
Center. Thank you for your inquiry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONSUMER INFORMATION
______________________

Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554
______________________________

CALLS MADE FROM PAYPHONES
_________________________

The Communications Act requires the FCC to take actions to promote
competition among payphone service providers and the widespread
deployment of payphone services to the benefit of the general public.
The Act also requires the FCC to ensure fair compensation to payphone
service providers for each and every call placed from payphones.

A payphone service provider is the person or entity who owns the
payphone instrument, such as the local telephone company; an
independent company; or the owner of the premises where the payphone
is located. Payphone service providers are called "PSPs" in this
brochure.

This brochure explains the actions the FCC has taken to carry out its
responsibilities.
_________________________________________________________________________

Are The Coin Rates For Local Calls From Payphones Regulated?

No. Effective October 7, 1997, the FCC deregulated coin rates for all
local calls made from payphones.

Prior to 1996, most payphones were provided by local telephone companies
and received indirect subsidies through the rates paid by consumers for
other types of services. States regulated the coin rate for a local call.

The resulting artificially low prices tended to discourage new companies
from entering the payphone market and also limited the number of payphones
available for the benefit of the public.

In 1996, Congress required that payphones no longer be subsidized in
order to encourage competition and the greater availability of payphones.

The FCC determined that deregulating local coin rates and allowing the
marketplace to set the price of local payphone calls is one of the essen-
tial steps needed to achieve the goals set by Congress.


Deregulation will allow PSPs to receive fair compensation for their
services and will encourage the widespread placement of payphones. Also,
the FCC anticipates that Americans will have greater access to emergency
and public safety services. States may also choose to place public
interest payphones in areas where payphones are necessary for health and
safety reasons.

The Commission intends to actively monitor the payphone marketplace by
regularly meeting with representatives from the states, PSPs, and consumer
advocates.
_________________________________________________________________________

Must I Pay For An Emergency Call?

No. Calls made to emergency numbers, such as 911, and to the
Telecommunications Relay Service, a service of use to people with
disabilities, will be provided free of charge from payphones. You
can also continue to reach an operator without depositing a coin.
_________________________________________________________________________

Can I Still Make Toll-Free Calls From Payphones Without Depositing A Coin?

Yes. However, the Communications Act requires the FCC to establish a
per-call compensation plan to ensure that all PSPs are fairly compensated
for each and every completed intrastate and interstate call using their
payphone -- except for emergency calls and telecommunications relay
service calls for hearing disabled individuals. Prior to 1996, PSPs often
received no compensation for completed intrastate and interstate calls --
including completed toll-free calls -- no matter how frequently callers
used payphones to originate calls.

The FCC carried out its responsibilities by adopting rules that require
long distance telephone companies to compensate PSPs 28.4 cents for each
call they receive from payphones, except those calls for which the PSPs
already collect compensation under a contractual arrangement. Payphone-
originated calls that are unlikely to be the subject of a contract with
the PSPs include calls to 800 telephone numbers or 10XXX access code calls
which connect callers to long distance telephone companies.

The 24 cents per-call compensation rate is a default rate that can be
reduced or increased at any time through an agreement between the long
distance company and the PSP. The FCC encouraged long distance companies
and PSPs to contract with each other for more economically efficient
compensation rates.

Some long distance companies are advising consumers that the FCC
decided that consumers making calls from payphones should pay a per-call
charge to compensate the PSP. The FCC did not make such a decision.
Long distance companies have significant leeway on how to compensate
PSPs. The FCC left it to each long distance company to determine how
it will recover the cost of compensating PSPs.

_________________________________________________________________________

Tips For Consumers

Companies compete for your payphone business. Use your buying power wisely
and shop around. If you think that the rate for placing a call from a pay-
phone is too high, a less expensive payphone could be around the corner.
Also let the PSP know that the rates are too high. It's in their best
interest to meet the needs of their customers. Contact your preferred long
distance company and ask for instructions for placing calls through that
company from a payphone. Also ask what rates or charges apply to calls
placed from payphones. Let the company know if you believe their rate are
too high. Then call other long distance companies and ask about their rates.
_________________________________________________________________________

INFORMAL COMPLAINTS MAY BE SENT TO:

Federal Communications Commission
Consumer Information Bureau
Common Carrier Complaints
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554

ALL CONSUMER COMPLAINTS MUST BE IN WRITING.
No telephone complaints can be processed by the Bureau.

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.
Release of the full text of a Commission order
constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385
(D.C. Circ 1974).

Report No. CC 99-2 COMMON CARRIER ACTION January 28, 1999

COMMISSION RESOLVES PAYPHONE COMPENSATION ISSUES ON REMAND
(CC Docket 96-128)

The Federal Communications Commission today adopted an order
addressing payphone compensation issues remanded by the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit (D.C. Circuit). In today's order, the Commission
resolved compensation issues for so-called "dial-around"
calls, which allow a consumer to use a long distance carrier
other than the payphone's presubscribed carrier. Dial-around
calls include long distance access code calls, such as those
using familiar 10-10-NXX codes, as well as calls to toll free
numbers. Today's order sets a rate of $.24 per call that
long distance companies must pay to owners of payphones for
delivery of these calls. Prior to the 1996 Act, payphone
owners received little or no compensation for these calls
even though they were required by other provisions of the Act
to allow consumers to access these services.

In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress directed the
Commission to establish rules that benefit the public by
promoting the widespread deployment of payphones in a
competitive marketplace. While the Commission in prior
orders largely has achieved the goals of the 1996 Act, the
D.C. Circuit remanded the Commission's rules governing one
payphone issue. The 1996 Act specifically requires the
Commission to establish a per-call compensation plan to
provide fair compensation for all calls made from payphones.
The D.C. Circuit ordered the Commission to provide a better
explanation of its per-call compensation plan.

In today's Order, the Commission reaffirmed that payphone
compensation issues are best addressed in the marketplace by
negotiations between long distance companies and payphone
owners. In the absence of such a negotiated rate, however,
the Commission established a default rate of $.24 per call.
Although this rate represents a reduction from the $.284 rate
remanded by the D.C. Circuit, the Commission explained that
this reduction resulted primarily from the use of more
up-to-date information concerning the costs of providing
payphone service. The Commission emphasized that its
decision would ensure that payphone owners are fairly
compensated while satisfying Congress's mandate to promote
the widespread deployment of payphone services to the benefit
of the public.

In previous orders, the Commission calculated the cost of
providing payphone service using a "top-down" method that
subtracted certain costs from the prevalent price of a local
payphone call. On appeal, the D.C. Circuit questioned this
approach and found that the Commission had not adequately
explained its reasoning in this area. In this order, the
Commission decided to use a "bottom-up" method, in which the
costs of providing payphone service are added together to
calculate a fair compensation amount.

In previous Orders, the Commission already has taken steps to
increase competition in the payphone industry. In those
orders, for example, the Commission eliminated implicit
subsidies that local telephone companies historically
provided to their own payphones because these subsidies gave
local telephone companies an unfair advantage over other
payphone providers. The Commission also established
non-structural safeguards to prevent Bell Operating Companies
from discriminating in favor of their own payphones in the
provision of local service, as well as other measures
designed to place all providers of payphone services
on an equal competitive footing. The Commission also
deregulated the local coin rate for payphone calls to allow
the competitive marketplace to determine the cost for such
calls.

Action by the Commission January 28, 1999, by Third Report
and Order and Order on Reconsideration of Second Report and
Order (FCC 99-7) Chairman Kennard, Commissioners Ness,
Furchtgott-Roth, Powell, and Tristani.

-FCC-

Common Carrier Bureau contact: Glenn Reynolds at (202) 418-0960.
News media contact: Emily Hoffnar at (202) 418-0253.
TTY: (202) 418-0485.


"Remember how much fun you had shooting spitwads at the teacher in seventh grade? Imagine applying that kind of attitude to actually [censored] with Mitsubishi!"
- Jello Biafra
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****! SOO MUCH TO READ!

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seph, stop with the ****in useless posts.

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As far as the calls not being free, they still remain so to the consumer, regardless of what the LD companies want you to believe. I can understand the argument; PSPs get no compensation when you use their equipment to dial an 800 or 101XXXX number. But this assumes that by using the phone you're somehow "wearing it down" and need to pay for that. This of course, is all theoretical, considering the LD companies have no problem servicing an 800# or 101XXXX number placed from your home. With a payphone the LD companies and PSPs receive money for regular calls that are placed, why the assume they deserve extra for free calls (that the opposite side pays for I might add) is beyond me. Apparently they believe that they have a right to make as much money as possible, regardless of how much they charge the consumer.

In response to the article's notion that "a cheaper payphone might be right around the corner," let me remind you that "around the corner" is probably another calling area. If you've been to NYC lately, you have cocots, and you have Verizon...choose. The same with most other parts of the country, you rarely see a different type of payphone right around the corner, at least not when one company owns virtually all of them.

Bottom line, free calls are free calls. In any other business it's up to the company to meet the demands of the consumer, NOT the other way around.

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Well Rane, this really isn't much of an article, this was from the FCC, word for word. Now True, phone companys should be meeting the demands of the customers, do they have to no. They know that competition is fairly limited in many aspects and convienence matters. I mean if you have to make a call using a 1-800 number, and your out somewhere, you are going to have to use a payphone, and if they feel the ugre to charge you they will.

"Toll-Free" calls have to be payed for, if you use one of those phone cards you buy at the store, you get charged 25� to make the call to use it, and they make that perfectly clear, and why you might ask, well if its an AT&T Phone and the card is from PHONEMIN+ (fictional company) who is the one making money, Phonemin, and AT&T might not see a dime from that call (unless AT&T and Phonemin+ made an agreement), so they feel they should have the right to charge you because you are using their equipment.

Companies aren't ment to serve the public good, Companies are all about $$. Payphones break down and where will they get the money to fix them if they aren't making money of 1-800 calls, they would raise rates across the board, so everyone else gets screwed.


"Remember how much fun you had shooting spitwads at the teacher in seventh grade? Imagine applying that kind of attitude to actually [censored] with Mitsubishi!"
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Oh believe me, I'm well aware of their logic. My only question is why we need to put new charges into place for something that doesn't benefit the customer any more than usual. If I make a call to an 800#, the person I'm calling fronts the bill (which is why so many companies can get screwed by wardialers that do nothing but call their 800# repeatedly). Granted, if the person buys the number from MCI and you use AT&T to make the call, AT&T isn't getting money...but do they ever? If I call that 800# from home, should I pay extra to cover their switch/line maintenance? Now they're telling me (or at least in that FCC article/memo/thing) I should have to pay from a payphone? Where's the sense in that? The call IS being paid for, albeit by the called party. I get no further benefits, and therefore see no reason to pay more. The notion of using an equal access provider or phone card is a bit more clear, you must pay to use the phone companies equipment...but with regular calls already costing 50+ cents in most areas (so high because their customers have moved to cell phones...they neglect to mention that they too are most likely in the cell phone market, and have not seen any loss, their profits have only moved to a new location) I can't help but wonder why charges still must be paid for these services.

Of course, you're absolutely right, a business is designed to make money. My argument isn't with you Defcon, it's with the way these companies go about obtaining that money.

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Yeah I can understand your frustration with how they get the money. Its a weird law, but hey its what was felt to be in the best interest for everyone.

I do have something to say about a point you brought up:
Quote:
If I call that 800# from home, should I pay extra to cover their switch/line maintenance?


From what I know switch and line maintenance is already covered by the money you pay every month for local service, so thats taken care of. Now when you use a payfone its different because you wouldn't be paying the fone company anything to use that 1-800 Number.


"Remember how much fun you had shooting spitwads at the teacher in seventh grade? Imagine applying that kind of attitude to actually [censored] with Mitsubishi!"
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Personally I like to think they get enough money to cover that by charging people 4 dollars to call the next state smile

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Yeah, but you gotta deal with the **** Wanna Be Phreakers tearing open every line they see and abuse telcom, its safe to say that we're paying for everything the dumbasses do.


"Remember how much fun you had shooting spitwads at the teacher in seventh grade? Imagine applying that kind of attitude to actually [censored] with Mitsubishi!"
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hey, i resent that frown and i pefer to beige from a can thank you very much :x


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lmao at gizmo, Hey does anyone know how old a payphone should be for the tone generators to work to get free calls? Because some of the new ones dont work with it. frown

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Neo, the Payphone has nothing to do with it at all. Its the line, switch, and switching system used to service the phone.


"Remember how much fun you had shooting spitwads at the teacher in seventh grade? Imagine applying that kind of attitude to actually [censored] with Mitsubishi!"
- Jello Biafra

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