Small Break for Pay-Phone Callers

Pay phone charges in today’s deregulated market can vary all too widely, especially when it comes to interstate calls made from airports, hospitals, schools and the like. The same problem applies to operator-assisted calls from hotel rooms, and consumers rightly have cried foul.

One bewildered customer complained to the Federal Communications Commission of being charged $9.58 for a two-minute call. Another had to pay $63 for a 40-minute call. More than 5,000 complaints about this have prompted the FCC to require that callers be told how much their call will cost.

The price gouging typically occurs when callers are unaware they can access the long-distance company of their choice by dialing a five-digit access code or special toll-free number. So they make operator-assisted long-distance calls the old way, by dialing 0, then the area code and phone number. If the caller wants to know the cost of the call, he or she has to hang up and dial a separate 800 number to get the rate. Instructions are required to be posted beside the phone, but most callers just stay on the line and charge the call, perhaps to a home phone. A month later, a nightmare number arrives in the telephone bill.

Now, and it’s high time, things are changing. Pay phone operators and hotel systems have to tell the caller the cost before the connection is made. At least callers can think twice about the cost. Say a traveler killing time at an airport decides to call home. The cost may make a postcard sound like a hugely better deal. Or a potential caller at a hospital who needs to contact out-of-state relatives may choose to make the calls from home instead. Disclosure may even help bring down rates.

The new rules, which apply only to interstate calls, put the onus on phone service providers to inform consumers upfront. The regulators are right to give the caller a break.