February 5th, 2009
I’ve had a bunch of requests for tax rates from people interested in signing up for Pioneer Telephone’s long distance service lately, so I thought I’d just post them here so everyone can see them.
Pioneer’s Universal Service Fund fee is currently 11.3% of the customer’s state to state and international calling. Their TIF, or access fee, is currently 6%.
Pioneer doesn’t have a monthly fee for accounts that use electronic billing, but customers who want a paper bill in the mail, and are using less than $15.00 worth of service in a month, will be charged 99 cents for it.
Pioneer’s PIC-C fee for businesses is $4.21 per line. They do this a little different from most of the other discount telecoms, in that Pioneer charges a business for all of their lines if they have more than one, but Pioneer doesn’t charge them the PIC-C fee if they have only one line.
There is a 99 cent charge per month for each toll free number, and if someone calls your toll free number from a payphone, you will be charged an additional 69 cents for that call, which goes to the owner of the payphone.
Pioneer Telephone is a good company, with good service, if you are looking for a new long distance carrier, try Pioneer Telephone today!
Tags: Fees, long distance, Pioneer Telephone, Taxes
Posted in Pioneer Telephone | No Comments »
January 24th, 2009
1-700-555-4141 is a number that tells you who your long distance provider is, and that’s all it does. Actually, it tells you which company carries your long distance service over their wires, but they could be doing it for a third party.
For example, discount long distance carriers usually don’t have their own network, so they pay another carrier to carry their long distance traffic. So when you dial 1-700-555-4141, it might say Willtel, Qwest, Verizon or MCI, even though you send your monthly payment to Powernet Global or Opex.
It’s actually a good idea to call 1-700-555-4141 every once in awhile, just to make sure you are still with the long distance carrier that you chose. Sometimes, companies will slam customers, which is moving them to another carrier without their OK, and that can cost a bunch of extra money. If you catch them at it, and turn them in to your old carrier, then they have to pay the old carrier 150% of what they billed you and collected, and then your old carrier will give you the extra 50% for your trouble.
Tags: 1-700-555-4141, Slamming
Posted in General Telecom Q & A | No Comments »
January 24th, 2009
Primus Telecom obviously uses some shady tactics when signing new customers up for service. According to the story over at MyDreamWedding.ca Primus is crooked and will cheat you by recording your voice saying you agree to something, then using that recording as verification for switching your long distance service to them; at very high rates.
Tags: Angry Telecom Customers, Primus long distance
Posted in Angry Telecom Customers | No Comments »
January 23rd, 2009
Hi Jane,
The USF fee is seperate and different from the federal 3% telecom tax. The USF fee is billed on out of state long distance calls, not instate long distance calls.
PICC fees are fees that are charged to business accounts only. The first phone line is free, but every phone line after the first is charged a monthly fee. Opex charges $3.25 per line for this fee. The FCC lets companies charge up to $5.50 per line for this fee.
I don’t know what a credit switching fee is, but Opex will credit the switching fee if your local company charges you to change your long distance carrier.
The tollfree numbers you quoted are right, but the state to state rate is 3.9 cents per minute instead of 2.7 cents per minute because of the part of Florida you live in.
The changover will be sealmless and you shouldn’t have any downtimes at all. Opex will send the switch request to your local carrier, they will switch your service and send a noticve to your old company.
When you sign up for service, you will need to fax in a RespOrg for your toll free number, and that will be printed on the page you need to fill out and send it. The website will give you that form during the signup process.
Opex does most of their presales suport via email to keep costs down. Once you sign up for service, you will get an email with all of their customer service info, including toll free numbers. If you sign up and decide you don’t want the service, then you can just cancel it, since here are no contracts.
Opex: http://opex.riveroffers.com/?crid=13524 or http://www.opex-ld.com/
Tags: long distance, Opex, rates
Posted in Opex Q & A | No Comments »
January 23rd, 2009
Your website mentioned a 11.4% USF Fee. Is that in addition to the 3% federal tax you mention below? It also showed a credit switching fee. What is that and the cost? The last fee it mentions is a Biz Line PIC Charge for a second line. First line is no charge. What is that one?
I am interested in switching our 2 office lines LD and taking 1 toll free number with us. We make well over $20 per month in LD charges. I understand from your website that toll free charges are (per minute); 5cents Alaska and Hawaii, 3.9 cents Canada and 10 cents for Puerto Rico. Could you verify that?
I have seen 2 prices for state to state LD of 2.95 and 2.7 cents per minute. Please clear that up for me.
Should I expect down time on our phones lines or long distance abilities due to changing providers?
Thanks,
Jane
Tags: long distance, Opex, phone service
Posted in Opex Q & A | No Comments »
January 21st, 2009
Pioneer Telephone has two basic rate plans in place. The first plan is called the RateBuster Plan and is 2.7 cents per minute for state to state calls in the lower 48 states, and is billed in full minute increments.
Their second plan is called Talk Cents and is billed at 3.25 cents per minute for state to state long distance calls in the lower 48 states, with the calls being billed in 6 second increments with an 18 second minimum. Both plans offer state to state tier “A” calling between Pioneer customers for the low rate of 1.9 cents per minute.
Visit Pioneer Telephone for more information, or to sign up for service with one of their plans.
Tags: long distance, Pioneer Telephone, rates
Posted in Pioneer Q & A | No Comments »
January 15th, 2009
I’m getting a ton of emails from customers of Powernet Global right now. It seems that Qwest raised PNG’s rates, so PNG decided to switch carriers. So, they sent a letter out to all of the customers who needed to be moved to a new carrier, and all hell broke loose.
From what I can gather, customers are being asked to PICC themselves over to Verizon at 0555 or WilTel at 5102. Then, they are being asked to call 1-700-555-4141 to confirm that the switch has taken place. Well, that number isn’t working, and customers are calling PNG and waiting on hold for 3 days before passing out from hunger and lack of water….
So, who’s to blame here? Is it that the letter was either a little ambiguous, or is it that the customers didn’t read the letter all the way through, or is it just that everyone involved is an ID 10 Tango (Police Parlance for Idiot…)?
Maybe someone ought to drop me a line that with a copy of the letter so that I know who to make fun of and who to leave alone in this fiasco. LOL
Tags: long distance, phone service, PNG, Powernet Global, Qwest
Posted in Long Distance News | 2 Comments »
January 10th, 2009
I get a ton of questions from customer who want to switch their long distance service to a cheaper company, or one with better customer service, but they have a reservation or two about doing it online. I’m going to start posting some of those questions and answers here, just to make it easier for customers to find answers to their questions. I will eventually set up a category for each long distance company that I’m repping for.
If you have questions about long distance service, please feel free to post them here, and I will answer them ASAP.
Tags: long distance, phone service
Posted in Long Distance | 2 Comments »
January 7th, 2009
One of the most offten asked questions, pertains to all long distance companies. Most long distance companies post a rate for toll free long distance service on their websites, then when a customer comes to sign up for service, they think that they will be charged for calling toll free numbers.
Let me put this myth to rest forever. “If you call a toll free number, you will never be charged for the call, the company who owns the toll free number pays for the call, not you”! There, do you feel better? I know I do. LOL
So, remember, if you are just ordering long distance service, and don’t have your own toll free 800 number, then the toll free charges that the website talks about does not apply to you. Go ahead, sign up, it’ll be OK. I promise.
Tags: 800 numbers, costs, rates, Toll Free
Posted in Toll Free Service | No Comments »
