ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060044
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE service providers, in the wake of telecommunications industry changes, step up the fight over the taking of customers with or without customer permission.
Who's your long-distance carrier? Chances are most people know, but a growing number of consumers are discovering only when they receive a whopping phone bill that their telephone service has been switched.
The practice has grown from minor skirmishes with small long-distance companies to a pitched battle with communications giants like AT&T and MCI.
Slamming is the practice where a person's long-distance carrier is switched without permission. Consumer groups say the problem is likely to spread amid sweeping changes in the telecommunications industry.
Ameritech Corp., the Chicago-based company providing local phone service to the upper Midwest, recently launched an anti-slamming campaign that drew howls of protest from AT&T and MCI.
Ameritech in December sent out forms to its customers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Signing the form authorized Ameritech to prohibit other companies from switching long-distance toll service and local service without the customer notifying Ameritech.
The company says it is protecting customers ``who want to help slam the door on slammers.'' But critics, including some consumer groups, contend the company is trying to protect itself from competition.
``We're concerned that when they contact Ameritech to switch, it gives the monopoly a chance to make a counteroffer to win them back, putting us at a competitive disadvantage,'' said Joan Campion, senior counsel for MCI.
The root of the latest phone battle is a little-publicized decision by the Illinois Commerce Commission that requires Ameritech, as of April 1, to open its toll service to competition. Toll calls are those of more than 15 miles but not considered long-distance.
The company's anti-slamming campaign, which has signed up 1.5 million customers, makes it harder for others to compete in that lucrative area, said Martin Cohen, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board.
``It's important that under the guise of stopping slamming, we don't allow the incumbent monopolists to deter people from switching to competitors,'' Cohen said.
``It's not a dramatic hassle to notify Ameritech if you want to switch, but it would put a bump in the road for the marketing plans of would-be competitors,'' he said.
Consumers soon will have at least four choices of carriers - for local phone service, short-distance toll calls, long-distance and cellular service. That means the problem of slamming is not going to go away soon, industry watchers say.
``It's amazing that slamming, which was never a complaint until a couple of years ago, is now at the very top of our top 10 list,'' said Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan.
Under rules adopted in 1992, the FCC requires companies trying to woo customers by direct mail or other printed materials to obtain an authorization form signed by the customer before service may be switched.
One of the most important changes the states are seeking is for the FCC to make companies carrying out the unauthorized switch liable for long-distance charges - not the consumer.
In November, Illinois joined California, New York and Texas in settling a lawsuit against Sonic Communications Inc. over charges that it switched consumers' long-distance companies without proper permission.
About 44,000 Illinois telephone customers were to split $1.7 million in the state's largest consumer settlement.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP FILE Ameritech Corp. employees check authorizationby CNBforms returned by customers to protect them from ``slamming'' -
unauthorized takeovers of their service. color