THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280523
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
There's no heavy breathing, no dirty talk, but at least one Manteo businessman thinks Carolina Telephone's latest ballots on Extended Area Calling Plan for the Outer Banks are as offensive as an obscene phone call.
Restaurant owner Richard Brown calls the language that upsets him ``Lawyer-ese.''
``I just want somebody to tell me what this means,'' Brown said, referring to a recent calling option plan that was mailed to Dare County residents this month. ``It looks to me like this is going to cost us more money.''
According to phone company representatives, however, the new calling plan will save customers money.
It offers residents and business owners three options to call outlying communities, including Coinjock, Columbia and Elizabeth City, at reduced rates.
The new calling plan will not effect the Extended Area Service plan that went into effect in Dare County April 1. That plan made telephone calls to and from Hatteras Island toll free.
The new calling options also will not affect a proposal to provide toll-free calling between Dare County and the Currituck County communities of Corolla and Coinjock. That plan is currently before the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
``This isn't going to affect any of the local service that's in effect right now,'' Carolina Telephone spokesman Dick Denton said this week from his Manteo office. ``This is going to save people money.''
Under the ``Expanded Local Calling Service Options'' that go into effect June 1, residential customers can select a Value Caller plan, Community Caller plan or Basic Caller plan. Business owners can choose from the last two options only.
Value Caller allows residents to pay an additional $15 to $20 per month in exchange for receiving toll-free service to communities within 40 miles of their hometown. Residential customers in Kill Devil Hills, for example, would pay a $26.49 monthly fee. All calls to Mamie, Coinjock, Columbia, Elizabeth City, Englehard, Moyock, Shiloh and Weeksville would be free.
Community Caller allows residents and business owners to maintain the current basic monthly rate and call outlying communities for about half the current long-distance rate. For example, residential customers in Kill Devil Hills would pay $9.49 each month and get half-priced calls to all of the aforementioned areas. Kill Devil Hills business owners would pay $22.97 per month in exchange for the same service.
Basic Caller cuts customers' monthly rates in half. But every call - including local calls - would be billed under this option. Local calls would cost three cents per minute, calls to nearby communities would cost four cents each minute, and calls to the outlying areas would be billed at about half of the current long-distance rate. In Kill Devil Hills, Basic Caller residential customers would pay $4.75 each month. Business owners would be assessed $11.49 monthly.
Special calling plans also are available for Buxton residents who make frequent calls to Ocracoke Island and Engelhard, and for calls between Engelhard and Waves.
``Expanded Local Calling offers customers a greater local area without affecting neighboring customers who don't need it,'' Denton said.
As a result of the new calling plans, customers in Buxton, Waves, Kill Devil Hills and Manteo will not have to dial ``1'' to access communities outside Dare County that are included in the plan.
Customers must respond to the telephone survey by May 5, or they will be assigned the Community Caller Option.
However, Denton said, customers will have 90 days to change their calling plan. by CNB