Avoid long-distance fees for Internet use
Are you needlessly accumulating long-distance charges from your phone company when you connect to the Internet? According to Sprint, an increasing number of their customers have complained recently about excessively high phone bills, some totaling hundreds of dollars, resulting from Internet use. When you dial a long distance number for Internet access, the your long distance carrier bills for every minute spent online.
Some Internet service providers, or ISPs, don't offer local access for certain communities, especially in mostly rural regions. However, except for a few areas, West Florida Electric Cooperative offers local access throughout its service area in Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson and Washington Counties. When you subscribe to an Internet service, your local phone company can verify whether the dial-up number you'll be using will be a local one. For instance, WFEC provides dial-up numbers for Bonifay, Chipley, Graceville and Marianna, but cannot verify whether these numbers will be billed as local calls because that depends on your phone company.
When several dial-up numbers are available, selecting the wrong one also can cause high phone bills. One or more of the four dial-up numbers WFEC provides might be local for you while others among the four are not. Be sure to select a local number so you won't be stuck with an expensive long distance bill at the end of the month.
Long distance carriers normally stand firm on these charges because the customer has legitimately made the calls and is responsible for all associated tolls. That is why you should ask your phone company to confirm whether your Internet dial-up number is local or your Internet access will incur some long distance fees.
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