Re: New N.Y. Law Targets Hidden Net LD Tolls

["Jonathan M. Slivko" <lists () slivko org>]

> Those pennies can add up.  And if you have ever called a government
> office, you can sometimes spend a long time listening to music on
> hold. Does the NY State Goverment warning citizens they may be charged
> for phone calls to government offices?

I'm not sure if that's the same thing - since usually they are either local
offices (broken up by district within a city) or a toll free national number
to Albany or some other call center. As far as your "Those pennies can add
up" statement - I agree. But not to the same degree as an Internet surfer.
You would have to make ALOT of calls to Dominos in order to match up to an
Internet users bill.

As an aside, while I was travelling outside the US on my T-Mobile phone
(roaming), as soon as I landed in the airport and turned my phone on - I got
a text message from the local cell carrier saying that I can dial 611 and
123 just as if I was home. However, what they DON'T tell you is that your
going to be charged international roaming rates for that call - even if your
calling your home customer service. That's something that the NY AG should
go after, not this and at $3/min, it's a bigger nuiscance and a bigger bill
in a shorter ammount of time. Something definately doesn't smell right - oh,
and btw, that includes calls to the roaming carriers customer service
department too. Go figure.

> This is one of those "feel good laws" that doesn't actually change
> anything.
100% agreed - there's more pressing matters that needs to be taken care of
first.

(N.B. I'm actually a resident of New York State)