Newsgroups: comp.dcom.isdn
Subject: Re: FCC-mandated PICC charges
From: fgoldstein@bbn.NO$LUNCHMEAT.com (Fred R. Goldstein)
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 15:41:33 GMT

In article <35153773.5279381@news.flash.net>, see_sig@msg.bottom says...

>This is getting very confusing. Is the CALC charge what is called an
>Interstate subscriber line chg by GTE? GTE charges me a $3.50 Interstate
>subscriber line chg for my analog line and a $5.00 ISDN BRI interstate
>access chg on the ISDN line (I also get charged a $2.03 Interstate line
>port charge on the ISDN line). I assume that no matter how I setup
>things I am stuck with these charges?

Yes, that "Customer Access Line Charge" is also called the "Sbuscriber Line
Charge" or "End User Common Line" charge.  CALC=EUCL=SLC.  It's $3.50 for a
primary analog line, up to $5 for a secondary analog or any ISDN line.
Business rates are capped at $9/line, but average less.  This covers part of
the interstate-jurisdictional cost of the line (loop) itself, and has nothing
to do with long distance calls or carriers.  "Line port charge" is an ISDN
BRI-specific surcharge, same idea.  The FCC sets these, or more precisely,
dictates detailed rules that ILECs must follow to set them.  I
think acilities-based CLECs are allowed to waive them, at least in part.

>Long Distance Savers is charging me $0.53 PICC charge for the analog
>line and a $3.00 (qty 2) PICC charge for the ISDN line. I contend they
>should charge me $0.53 + $1.50 for the ISDN line. I have complained, but
>am not making very much progress. Do you have a FCC cite that I can give
>them (not that they would understand it probably)?

I think the 0.53 was last year's rate, which was raised to $1.50, and should
apply equally per analog OR BRI line, regardless of the number of DNs or
SPIDs.  See the FCC Report and Order on Access Charges from last summer or
so, probably on the FCC web site.  Warning:  Not easy reading!

That's what is hard for the IXCs to get right.  The ILEC passes along to them
a charge per line, but gives them lists of SPIDs, and there are more SPIDs
than lines, so they may not even know that the two SPIDs are one line.  Uncle
Charlie really screwed up this one.

>Finally, I have 2 Sprint cell phones (with Sprint as the long distance
>carrier) and neither of those numbers are being charged a PICC or an
>Interstate subscriber line charge. However, I do have airtime time
>charges, so maybe it is buried in there somewhere?

No, they're not wireline phones, so they're subject to entirely different
rules.  No local loop means no loop charges!  (You already pay enough.)

>Lets see, if one were to picc each ANI to a different IXC the cost would
>be 3 x $0.53 ($1.59) rather than the $3.53 I am being charged now. Yes,
>a lot of trouble to save a couple of bucks, but it seems as though the
>costs of owning a phone just keeping going up and up (so much for
>deregulation bringing the prices down).

No, you probably can't PIC each SPID separately, but even if you could, the
rules would not handle it right.  The PICC is not on ANIs or SPIDs but on
lines.  It's owed to the ILECs from the IXCs, and Uncle Charlie thought that
the IXCs would be so happy to have PIC'd subscribers that they'd eat the
bigger new PICC, the way most ate the old $.53 PICC.  Oops.  The FCC's web
site has a really lame Q&A on this.

>Can one not picc and avoid these charges? Can I tell GTE that I do not
>want any of my lines picc'd? If so, will they charge me for that?  E.g.,
>instead of having the lines picc'd, use an access code for long
>distance?

Yes, you can no-PIC, in which case GTE must charge *you* the PICC (again, per
LINE, not per SPID).  Trouble is, the "big four" LD carriers now surcharge
casual (no-PIC) callers something fierce.  You can do okay on voice calls
using a "dial-around" carrier like Telco (10297), but I don't think any of
them do data bearers, if you care about them.

--
Fred R. Goldstein   k1io    fgoldstein"at"bbn.com
GTE Internetworking - BBN Technologies, Cambridge MA USA  +1 617 873 3850
Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission.

Newsgroups: comp.dcom.isdn
Subject: Re: FCC-mandated PICC charges
From: fgoldstein@bbn.NO$LUNCHMEAT.com (Fred R. Goldstein)
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 20:03:22 GMT

In article <okiup55isx.fsf@panzer.mass.usr.com>, eje_usenet@yahoo.com says...

>I had a lengthy conversion with a BA rep on this very point, and his
>response was, yes, BA will charge me if I decide to "un-PICC" the line.

That much is true.

>Damned if you do, damned if you don't -- you can't escape being charged.
>His explanation was that any exception to regular service costs them
>extra money and effort; i.e., in order to un-PICC your line, they have to
>treat your line as a special, unusual case and so they charge more.

That's his job preservation: Under BA's mandatory-mendacity policy, an
employee can be fired for telling the truth, so he made up a whopper to go
along with what had been true!

Quite simply, the FCC sez that the telco gets one PICC per line, and if
there's no PIC to pass it to, then the subscriber pays.  Period.

After all, it *is* a subscriber line charge.  The FCC is playing BA's game
too here.
--
Fred R. Goldstein   k1io    fgoldstein"at"bbn.com
GTE Internetworking - BBN Technologies, Cambridge MA USA  +1 617 873 3850
Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission.