Countywide : Charges for Many Toll Calls to Decrease

Most telephone users in Ventura County will save money on toll calls starting Monday with the introduction of Zone Usage Measurement, phone company officials said.

The service will be instituted for customers of both GTE California and Pacific Bell. There will be no additional charge for the service, company officials said Monday.

A five-minute daytime call between Leisure Village in Camarillo and The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks that now costs 74 cents will cost only 16 cents starting Monday, said Gib Poiry, Ventura County district manager for GTE California.

“The idea behind ZUM is to reduce charges to most telephone customers while increasing the costs for certain businesses that use their phones a great deal,” Poiry said.

Pacific Bell spokeswoman Charlene Baldwin said a five-minute daytime call between Ventura and Oxnard that now costs 45 cents will cost only 16 cents.

In another example, she said a five-minute daytime call between Simi Valley and Reseda now costs 60 cents but will be reduced to 26 cents under ZUM.

“In most cases, the cost of calls to nearby areas will go down, but in a few instances, because of changing calling-area boundaries, the charge will go up,” Baldwin said.

ZUM charges are based on three calling areas or zones within a 16-mile radius of the telephone office serving a customer. The charges, based on the time of day, length of call and zone called, generally cost about half the toll-call rate, Baldwin said.

ZUM was introduced in Los Angeles and other metropolitan areas in 1980. Starting Monday, it will be available in Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties and in parts of Los Angeles County where it was not previously offered.