Getting wired in the US

Glossary of telecom terms Long distance call: Calls you are making to some other area code within US. International calls: Call outside the US. Pre Paid cards: Calling cards available on the stores with some pre paid amount. Connection fee: Per call fixed connection charge by telecom company. Caller ID: Telephone number of the incoming call. Voice mail box: A facility offered by the telephone company, at a nominal monthly fee, to record and store voice messages of calls missed by you. Call forwarding: To forward a call automatically to some other number. Call waiting: This facility enables you to attend to an incoming call while engaged on another call. Toll free number: Numbers starting with area code 800, 888 etc. are toll free numbers, as these numbers are not billed to the caller. Owner of this number is responsible for its billing. White Pages: The directory list the home addresses of individuals and businesses alphabetically. Yellow Pages: The directory list only businesses and organisations according to the service they provide or product. Blue Section in some directories that cover local, State and national government numbers in your area. You will find immigration services in this section.

or a large number of temporary immigrants, the telephone is an indispensable aid in bridging physical distance. The first few weeks in alien surroundings can be rather daunting and before you begin to feel nostalgic and ache for home, get hooked to your friends and family, a fairly simple process in the US. Most telephone companies provide service within two to three days of being contacted. However, unlike India, there are various telephone service providers in the US, who offer an array of options and services, charged at significantly different prices. Therefore, it is important to shop around for the best bargain.

There are two primary components to telephone service: local and long-distance service. For regular local phone service, you will most likely have to contact the major local phone service provider for your area. There are six such companies Sprint, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, SBC Communications, GTE and US West: The three major long distance providers are Sprint, AT&T and MCI. Before applying for a telephone connection, make inquiries from co-workers about the kind of service you will need at the names of different plans. In addition, visit the web sites of various companies to gather more information.

Once you have made initial inquiries, contact your local phone provider. You can expect the following questions from the local service provider:

• Have you had prior service with the company? 

• What is your social security number? (If you don't have one, give them the type of identification you are using and they will ask for those numbers}

• Where are you employed?

• Who will be providing your long-distance service? It is best to have an idea before calling them, but you do not have to know for certain. Once you decide on a long-distance provider, you must call the local phone company and let them know who it is.

• Do you want the number listed in the White Pages?

• Is there a phone number where the company can contact you?

• Name, address and other details of a close family member in your home country.

The company will also check your credit history. As a newcomer, with no record of credit history, in the US, you will be asked to pay a security deposit. The company will repay the amount deposited within a year (sometimes with interest), provided you pay your bills regularly.

Local telephone services offer a slew of competitively priced options to subscribers. You can opt for the measured-rate or the flat rate. The measured rate costs approximately between $10 and 20 per month and this allows you to make 50 local calls each month. The flat rate costs approximately between $20 and 30 per month for 400 local calls. If you make more than two local calls every day, or are sharing the phone line with a roommate, it would be better to opt for the flat rate. If you exceed the permissible limit, the company will charge you for every additional call.

In addition to the flat and measured rates, companies offer subscribers a host of services. Services differ on options like caller id, which records the telephone number of the incoming call, voice mail, which allows callers to leave a message while one is away, call waiting which allows the subscriber to take incoming calls while already on the phone, call forwarding, wherein the company forwards a call automatically to another number, call scanning and other features. These services are not inclusive of the monthly telephone bill. Do not, therefore, blindly sign for these options without confirming the specific rates the company will charge for specific services. Once you have signed for the service, the company representative will ask whether you want your phone number listed in the White Pages. If you decide against this, the company will ask you to pay a small additional charge.

In the US, remember, telephone companies provide service only. Once you have decided the kind of service you must either purchase or rent a phone. It is usually cheaper to buy a phone. The instrument can brought from the local drug or department store and will generally cost between $15 and 50. Should you choose to rent a telephone, you can order an instrument from the local Phone Company. This is a more expensive option and therefore avoidable for the budget conscious, Besides the cost of the telephone, you will have to pay installation fee, monthly fee for using the service, and naturally, additional fees for long distance or international calls.

The biggest long distance service providers in the US are AT&T, MCI, and Sprint. Long distance carriers provide two kinds of services: out of State calls and international calls. Out of State calls, (also known as domestic calls) are generally cheaper in the evenings and weekends, when traffic for business to business calls is low. Some plans offer a flat rate for all domestic calls made anytime. You can compare domestic plans at the company's web sites. In order too woo more subscribers to the company, long distance service providers offer international calling plans (i.e., plans that offer discount-calling rates to a particular country during certain hours of the day or on weekends). The cost of calling some countries can differ greatly between plans, while rates for other countries can be almost the same between plans. Compare a variety of calling plans before deciding in favour of one. Refrain from opting for international call service without taking part in some sort of international calling plan, as you will invariably have to pay more.

Make certain that you ask the long distance company to send a written confirmation of the calling plan you have requested, describing the long distance rates you will pay. You can change your long distance carrier or cancel your calling plan at any time, for any reason. Sometimes the plans expire after a couple of months. Remember to ask the duration of the plan and switch to a new plan once the original expires.

The international service is not the only way to stay connected with your friends and family. If you do not wish to opt for international service, you can purchase prepaid phone cards from convenience stores, newsstands and online. The phone card can bought for $5, $10 or $20 and allows you to make local, national or international calls from any telephone in the US. The charges for the call are directly deducted from the card's value. An advantage of prepaid calling cards is that it helps you keep a close tab on your phone bills. However, every time you use a prepaid card, you will have to pay a connection fee, which can raise your bill substantially. Companies that sell prepaid cards are Union Telecard and Connexus.

Regardless of the service or the carrier provider you opt for, there are certain privileges you are entitled to as a phone subscriber. Most phone companies provide subscribers a telephone directory. Usually the pages to these books are colour coded. White Pages list residential and business numbers in alphabetical order. The Yellow Pages have business listings by category. Some phone books have Blue Pages, which list local, State and federal government office numbers. You must also know that local numbers in the US contain seven digits while long-distance numbers have 11 digits beginning with "1." Some 11 digit numbers, however, are toll free, which means that the receiver will be billed for these calls. These numbers have the prefixes 800, 888 or 877. Eleven digit numbers that begin with the prefixes 700 or 900 usually charge high per minute fees and should be avoided. You can ask your local phone company to block access to these numbers. In order to call outside the country, you must learn your country's international access code. You can find the code in the Telecom Guide section of the phone book, or by calling your long distance carrier. You have to dial 011 before the international access code, but refer to the phone book for more details. India's country code is 91.

Useful sites:
Sprint - www.sprint.com
At&T - www.att.com
MCI - www.worldcom.com
Bell South - www.bellsouth.com
Bell Atlantic - www.bellatlantic.com
SBC Communications - www.sbc.com
GTE - www.gte.com
US West - www.uswest.com
Connexus - www.connexus.com
Union Telecard - www.uniontelecard.com/ratesorder/
Long-distance area codes Finder - www.555-1212.com/areacodes.cfm
 

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