A Side of Clyde
James Garner wants you to use his 10-10-9000 number. With his smiling face, he explains in a television commercial that you can find any number you wish. Sugar Ray Leonard says you should use his 10-10 number and John Lithgrow insinuates you're from another planet if you don't use his seven-digit number.
Telephone companies are doing everything they can to steal clients. Why? Because sales of these dial-arounds have soared from $96 million in 1993 to more than $2 billion last year. Next year, the industry expects sales to reach $3 billion.
If you feel overwhelmed by the push for these services, you had better read the small print. They don't tell you about monthly fees, minimum call lengths, and other add-ons in those TV ads.
Long distance companies see the old dial-around process as a new way to lure each other's subscribers, particularly AT&T's most loyal customers. Telephone companies create a lot of ways to relieve subscribers of their money.
Companies like AT&T and MCI WorldCom don't use their own name to market dial-around numbers.
Telecom USA, is the marketer of 10-10-321 and 10-10-220. The directory assistance number 10-10-9000 is owned by MCI WorldCom. 10-10-297 and 10-10-457 are units of Excel Telecommunications, Inc., the nation's fifth largest long-distance company.
Now you have Lucky Dog, aka the industry big dog, AT&T, with 10-10-345.
If you're going to use a dial-around, read the fine print because not all dial-arounds are equal. Some charge a monthly fee plus other fees whether you use the number or not. Some charge per-minute rates, but charge more for short or daytime calls, and some in-state long distance calls cost more than state-to-state calls.
The Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC) provides a report on these communication companies for $6, but all the rate comparisons are available at its Web site, http://www.trac.org.
The ads for dial-arounds often do not fully explain these complex charges. But some companies are downright deceitful. I cite a company in Texas, called, I Don't Care, that is doing quite well.
When the operator asks the caller, "How do you want to pay for this call?" and the caller says, "I don't care," guess who sends the bill? There's even a subsidiary company called The Regular Way and The Usual Way.
I grew up in the 1920s, when the telephone was in a big wooden box hanging on the kitchen wall. Numbers were in three digits, and you shared the line with up to 10 other people. It had a handle you turned to get the operator's attention and the conversations often went like this:
Operator: "Hi there. Who do you want?"
Caller: "Connect me to 431. Thank you."
Operator: "Sorry, Grace. Mert's talking to Millie. When she's through, I'll call you back. How's George? I saw him walking downtown yesterday."
Now that's personal service.
It may be hard to believe, but I'm not just giving you a line.