forrette@cory.berkeley.edu (Steve Forrette) (03/20/91)
Someone writes: > I was placing a call from a pay phone the other day and noticed that > it had no identifying phone number. It also charged $0.50 for 1-800 > calls. > So I called up the operator (I think from Payline communications) and > complained to her. She told me that it was legal for privately owned > pay phones to charge for 1-800 calls. Was she right? > [Moderator's Note: If such charges are legal, they should be billed to > the recipient of the 800 call. That person has, after all, agreed to > pay the charges associated with connecting the caller to him. I > really do not think they are legal however, but I'm not sure. PAT] Until last August, it was legal in California for COCOTs to charge at most 10 cents for a call to an 800 number. Interestingly, not many COCOTs charged this, but there were some. It was definately a cash deposit made by the caller. Steve Forrette, forrette@cory.berkeley.edu