Consumer Information
Basic Local Service
Basic local service includes dial tone and touch-tone services and a local calling plan for making and receiving telephone calls in your local area. Basic local service also includes fees such as the federal line cost charge, the federal and state universal service fund surcharges, the E911 services surcharge, and the school and library fund surcharge.
Your local calling area is listed in the front of your telephone directory. Many customers have the option of choosing either "premium" or "economy" local service which is based on the size of your local calling area. Premium local calling allows customers to place unlimited local calls to all contiguous exchanges for a flat monthly rate. The economy option allows unlimited local calling to a smaller local area at a lower monthly rate. If you choose economy service, calls made to numbers outside the economy area but within the premium area are charged at 5¢ per minute.
If your local phone service is provided by a competitive carrier rather than the traditional local telephone company in your area (such as Verizon, TDS, etc.), your local calling areas may be different than what is shown in the telephone directory.