
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994                   TAG: 9408110087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Short

AT&T WON'T LET SEX LINES USE 800 NUMBERS

Consumers who've gotten big bills from ``toll-free'' sex and psychic lines have gotten fighting mad. And the company that invented toll-free telephone service has gotten the message.

AT&T said Wednesday that it will no longer allow its 800-number network to be used by companies that charge customers for the so-called ``infotainment'' calls.

AT&T spokesman Monty Hoyt said the company decided to act after receiving many complaints from customers who were being billed for sex-line calls they hadn't made. ``We want to make sure that public confidence is being restored in 800 service being toll-free,'' Hoyt said.

The AT&T decision is the latest blow to infotainment providers. Four regional telephone companies - GTE, BellSouth, Bell Atlantic and Nynex - already have said that they will not bill their customers for calls to such 800 numbers.

- Knight-Ridder/Tribune

by CNB