Bad news for Verizon customers now and probably all cellular customers soon.

[wyldekard]

It looks like very soon we will all be digging deeper in our pockets when the cell bills arrives. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

<FONT face="Courier New">New Fees For Verizon Customers

Verizon customers may soon find a new charge on their bills. Over
the next six months, Verizon Communications will begin charging for
previously free landline calls to tens of thousands of mobile
phones. Customers can expect to pay toll rates, averaging 5 to 8
cents per minute â?? for calls to wireless phones in areas where
they would typically pay toll rates for landline calls. The change
in billing offsets the costs of handling the more complicated
billing systems that may result from the FCCâ??s decision regarding
number portability. Verizon and other wireless carriers say they
will allow subscribers to switch mobile numbers to a different
"rate center" at no charge, so that people who frequently call them
can avoid paying tolls. The change affects only the bills of those
making calls from wireline phones to wireless phones.
Source:
Boston Globe </FONT>

[AnthroMatt]

So doesn't this qualify as a modification of contract, thus allowing customers to void their contracts and cancel their service without an ETF if they don't want to pay the new fees?

[Kenster]

Am I understanding and reading this incorrectly? I had also read through a similar article recently.

My understanding is that this has to do with your landline bill, not your cellphone bill. Cellphone companies are offering free long distance calls and so why would cellphone users be concerned with toll charges?

They are referring to LANDLINE customers who are calling mobile users -- the LANDLINE customer (Verizon in this case) will be hit with new toll charges.

[AnthroMatt]

Oh yeah Kenster, I think you are right...I remember reading something else about it too...it was for Verizon landline customers calling out to cell numbers.

[bobolito]

Cingular already announced something similar. I believe all carriers are "adjusting their seatbelts" for what's coming with number portability.

Beginning with your April bill, Cingular will impose a variable monthly Regulatory Cost
Recovery Fee between $.32 and $1.25 to help defray costs incurred in complying with
obligations and charges imposed by State and Federal telecom regulation, including the
Telecommunications Relay Service Fund, wireless number pooling and portability, Enhanced
911 services, and the federal regulatory fee. Costs may be incurred and charged prior to
initiation of any of the respective services. To learn more, log on to
www.cingular.com/reg or call 1-866-246-4852.

[Airb330]

Ok, let me get this straight. I have a Verizon 382 number that is from Dover. I am in Smyrna, and Dover is 10 miles south of here. When I call a Dover cell (382, etc) or landline, it is a local call. This can't affect me right, people are only calling 10 mi south of here. Now, lets say I had a cell number from up north, then yes I would be charged cuz thats long distance. They aren't trying to make the US Europe are they, they have to pay extra to all cell companies.

[loyal2vzw]

Unfortnantly this is true but it's a FCC mandate not related to LNP it's becuase of LATA lines essentialy. Do not blame the carriers!

[Airb330]

I think this has been in effect for a long time in Delaware. If I call a Verizon number up north it costs the landline bill, just as if I was calling a landline. I suppose its no big deal for me then.

[lady51]

This is nothing new in the New York city area. I've had four different cell phones over the past seven years and each one of them was assigned a number with an exchange which was out of my local calling area on the standard telephone system. I live in Northern Westchester which is one local area. The first cell phone I had received a Rockland County telephone number, which made it a regional toll call from my home phone. The other three were assigned White Plains exchanges, also regional toll calls. It's my conclusion (which could be totally wrong) that the telephone company in this area deliberately assigns numbers to wireless accounts which are "opposite" to the owner's home billing address, perhaps to identify them as wireless accounts, perhaps to make that much more money.

[t720]

Great...that could only mean more money to our landline bills [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]...

[AnthroMatt]

All the more reason to go fully wireless I guess.

[bobolito]

If your local (toll free) area for your home phone does not have any interchange switches for wireless services, then there's no way the wireless carrier can give you a number that's local to your home phone. It depends where you live. In my area only AT&T has numbers that are local calls to home landlines. Unlike landline services, wireless services have only very few exchange centers in selected locations where all numbers are given out. Any surrounding towns are given these numbers so only those landlines that are very close to the interchange switch can make free calls to the wireless phones. It would be too expensive to have exchanges for every town and city in the US so unfortunately, some towns are left out and they have to pay toll. What Verizon should do is expand the miserable local area for landlines.

[CaliforniaJay]

I don't understand...

I have always been under the impression that my wireless phone was a local call to my landline phone...just as calling to someone a mile or so away on his landline would also be a local call.

Am I to understand that this has not been the case...and that the only reason I have not yet incurred any additional charges when dialing from my landline to my cell is because the landline company just doesn't do so for cell phones unless they are not in the local area...but that the FCC now wants to impose a fee for these calls? If so, will this fee be on my bill whether or not I even MAKE calls to a cell phone?

[bobolito]

Rates on your cellphone depend on your plan. Most plans nowadays include nationwide long distance so you won't be charged LD for calling your from your cell to your landline. But this is not the case here. What we're talking about is calling from your landline to nearby areas regardless if you are calling a cellphone or landline.

If you don't get charges calling from your landline to your cellphone is because your cell number is using an exchange (which is the 3 digit number after the area code) that belongs to a town that is local to your landline. Unlike Europe and many other countries, landlines do not care what type of phone you are calling (landline or wireless). What matters is the exchange number you are calling. The toll rate is based on that.

The FCC is imposing new regulations on carriers, so naturally, we end up paying for it because carriers pass on the costs to the customers.