Quirks Of Rural Phone System Frustrate Deer Park Residents
Deer Park resident Carole Livingston can chat up her friend in New Hampshire for less money than it takes to order a steak from the neighborhood butcher.
“It’s like calling New York to call my market,” said Livingston.
Since moving recently to North Spokane, Livingston has discovered the quirks of rural phone coverage that play havoc with her, and her neighbors’, phone bills.
Just outside the Deer Park city limits and just inside the 292 phone prefix, it’s long distance to call into the North Spokane city and its services.
She can call Spokane and Loon Lake, but that does little good when she wants to call neighbors down the street.
“When I called and asked why, they said it’d been this way for 100 years,” said Livingston.
The area of her toll charges are based on phone traffic, said U.S. district manager Annette Miller.
About 80 percent of the calls made in the 292 prefix are local, meeting the criteria set by the state Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. That commission in part regulates phone company practices.
Most calls from the 292 prefix go to Spokane, which is local in all of Spokane County.
“You have to draw the line somewhere,” said Miller.
U.S. West constantly analyzes phone traffic to spot trends and improve service, said Miller. Analysts are looking the North Spokane County options, she said.
Recent state legislation that has opened long distance phone service to competition will likely force phone companies to look even harder at their billing practices, said Tim Sweeney, a policy specialist with the state commission.
Customers in rural North Spokane have the option of taking the 292 or 276 prefix. But for Livingston, that would mean even more of her 292 neighbors would be long distance.
Opening both to local service is an option, said Sweeney. “The problem is that it raises everybody’s rates,” he said. “We are trying to encourage companies to come forth with calling options.”
In the meantime, other frustrated North Spokane residents are considering getting a second line with a 276 prefix, at a cost of $200.
“It’s a big bite, but if I’m being charged a dollar a minute to call my kid’s school, it’s worth it probably,” said Steve McCasson. “I don’t like giving any more money to the big corporations, though.”
, DataTimes