Phone Owners to Get Choice on 976 Access

The California Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday ordered telephone companies to allow customers to block their access to telephone numbers with a 976 prefix--those calls to Santa, dial-a-joke or other prerecorded messages that add charges to a customer’s bill.

But the commission delayed implementation until next January to allow more hearings on the economic and technical feasibility of various ways to limit access to the so-called 976 information access services. Such telephone numbers usually carry a 976 prefix and cost between 50 cents and $2 plus any toll charges.

The commission also ordered a one-time refund per household for all past, pending and future cases where customers contend that they did not know they would be billed for 976 calls or if children or other unauthorized people made calls to 976 numbers. The refunds go into effect immediately.

Available Since 1983

The 976 telephone numbers, which have been available in California since 1983, have been controversial because of what critics have called misleading advertising by some providers and the proliferation of sexually explicit messages. Telephone companies lease 976-prefix lines to independent firms that provide callers with taped services ranging from sports information to horoscopes.

In ordering blocking, the PUC was complying with a bill passed by the state Legislature in 1985 that was intended to shield parents from high phone charges run up by their children and to protect youngsters from calling “dial-a-porn” messages. But Elizabeth Gnagno, a PUC spokeswoman, said hearings turned up several technical problems with the methods of limiting access to 976 services, she said.

Wednesday’s order “still directs the companies to provide blocking but gives them a year to come up with ways to do it,” she said. Hearings will begin Feb. 23 on the alternatives for limiting calls to 976, including blocking calls from the telephone company’s office, installing devices in customers’ homes at a cost of no more than $5 each as mandated by the Legislature and requiring personal identification numbers to authorize 976 calls.

Robert Gnaizda of Public Advocates, a public-interest law firm in San Francisco that has filed suits against Pacific Bell and General Telephone over 976 telephone services, said the commission’s decision was “certainly a step in the right direction, but it’s inadequate.”

Gnaizda said he would like to see 976 access become an option that customers can choose much as they can choose to subscribe to certain pay television services.