# Is long distance now cheaper? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 1999, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635 "1999-11-10T03:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/21 "1999-11-11T00:29:00Z")
About the 10 10 company that charges 99c. for the first 20 minutes. Do they also charge 99c. for a two or three min. call? I assume so. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/22 "1999-11-11T00:44:00Z")
## Jeez, you work 20 minutes to crank out a thoughtful, simple and accurate answer, and the questioner wants to know how to do the “rotating smiley thing”… :: Sigh :: [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000170.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000170.html) It’s at the end of the thread. Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/23 "1999-11-11T01:15:00Z")
Aww, sorry, of course i appreciated the dedication to provide information. But you have to get your priorities right…looking cool is far more important :). ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/24 "1999-11-11T01:26:00Z")
Well, then where’s your smiley? [http://thematrix.acmecity.com/digital/237/smile.gif](http://thematrix.acmecity.com/digital/237/smile.gif) (In fairness, one shouldn’t use it too often. It steals bandwidth from another site, which is poor form.) * * * Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/25 "1999-11-11T01:29:00Z")
tried in in 'about this…etc…didn’t work ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/26 "1999-11-11T01:30:00Z")
Tried here [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000296.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000296.html) no joy am i dumb? ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/27 "1999-11-11T01:35:00Z")
Sorry Nickrz, shouldda taken this elsewhere…delete extras at will. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/28 "1999-11-11T02:31:00Z")
On a related note, I got my regular phone bill and it had a $17 charge from ATT, the default Long Distance carrier I signed up with when I hooked up my phone. I say default because I figured I’d just get a long distance carrier later, when I got to research my options, and I did a couple of days later. I don’t think I made a single ATT call at all. Anyway, I call ATT about this charge, and the lady on the phone tells me it’s a “non-usage fee.” I’m like, “Are you telling me I am being charged for NOT using ATT?” She explained that I was. I asked why, when I had another long distance carrier? She asked if I used one of those dial-up thingies (10-10-yadda, yadda) and I said, nope. Always dialed direct. Always got a seperate bill for my long distance calls. “Well, I don’t know what happened,” she said, not as politely as I would have liked. “But nobody told us to turn off your long distance service and we charge for you not using us.” I say, well, whose job was it to tell you to turn it off? “Maybe yours,” she said. She admitted it could have been the responsibility of my new carrier, but that didn’t matter much to her. Either way, I was still going to have to pay for NOT using ATT. And she would NOT take that $17 off my bill. Nope. Uh huh. Forget it. Needless to say, I made sure than end there that my phone line was NOT hooked up to ATT from that moment on. * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/29 "1999-11-11T11:28:00Z")
Yeah, the state-to-state rates are cheaper now than they used to be, but take a look at your bill and look at all those damn fees they tack on now. Not to mention how bad we’re getting jacked on in-state long distance. That’s how they make up for it. It literally costs me more to call a place 25 miles away than it does to call a place 3,000 miles away!!! ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635/30 "1999-11-11T16:00:00Z")
yeah that 20min/.99, 1min = .99 5 min = .99 19min = .99 * * * I treated Art as the supreme reality, and life as a mere mode of fiction–Oscar Wilde [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-long-distance-now-cheaper/4635.md?page=1)