ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 TAG: 9703260044
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER THE ROANOKE TIMES
New flat rate was approved last fall by the State Corporation Commission.
Christiansburg callers will be able to dial Roanoke and Salem directly for a small monthly charge beginning April 1 - making life easier and potentially much cheaper for businesses and residents in Christiansburg.
The new flat rate was actually approved last fall by the State Corporation Commission, but couldn't be implemented until now because Bell Atlantic-Virginia was in the middle of a statewide billing system change.
With the change, the Christiansburg exchanges will be the only ones in the New River Valley to have Roanoke and Salem as part of its toll-free calling zone, said Paul Miller, a Bell-Atlantic spokesman. In neighboring Blacksburg, people are able to dial Salem as a local call, but must pay a long-distance toll to dial Roanoke.
All Christiansburg residential customers with exchanges 381 and 382 will pay $2.79 more per month per line. Business customers in Christiansburg will pay $11.55 more per month per line.
The expanded flat-rate calling zone will work both ways: Roanoke and Salem residents and businesses must also pay an additional charge because their local areas have been expanded to include Christiansburg. Per line, all residential customers in Salem will pay an extra 33 cents, Salem business customers will pay $1.20 per month for service. Roanoke exchange customers' monthly bills will go up 20 cents for residential users per line, 72 cents per line for business customers.
One local businessman, Larry Maccherone, estimates the new rate will save him thousands of dollars each month.
Maccherone runs Comprehensive Computer Solutions, a Christiansburg firm that sets up business computer systems and helps teach employees how to use them. About 75 percent of his customers are in Roanoke, so his savings will likely be more than most. Still, he estimates the new rate will cut the phone bills of most local businesses.
Maccherone was on the Christiansburg-Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce task force that started the effort for a direct link in 1994.
The chamber led a petition drive to change the town's toll-free calling zone and collected more than 700 signatures. It petitioned the SCC, which regulates phone companies, in March 1995 for local calling to Roanoke and Salem.
In 1996, Christiansburg customers were polled about their interest in an expanded toll-free calling zone, and a majority were in favor, said Kathy Mantz, executive director of the Christiansburg-Montgomery Chamber of Commerce.
"The chamber is interested in providing discounted services for our members and fellow citizens and reducing the cost of doing business in any way we can," Mantz said.
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