The surcharge rates are *NOT* regulated!
Which surcharges?
The FCC/etc. have "allowed" the payphone owners to charge these
> surcharges, LONG AFTER the private payphone owners first became
> involved in the payphone game.
For 800 number, the FCC set the charge the (last I checked) just under $0.30. That's paid by the recipient (who may be a long distance carrier, or any sort of company with a toll-free inbound number).
But the rates themselves, while "recommended" by the FCC/etc., are
> NOT regulated! The amounts that the payphone owners charge back to
> the Long Distance carriers who then pass back to the card-holder is
> *PURE GRAVY* for both, since the Long Distance and Card companies
> are most likely adding even more profit for themselves.
So you think the payphone owner should allow those calls to tie up his payphones for free?
Seth
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Seth, in the olden, golden days of the Bell System, there was a back office function called 'Separations and Settlements' which divided up the money so both the sending and the recieving telco and any telco in the transit path all got their share of the money. And just as hotel switchboards get a commission from telco on the amount of long distance revenue they collect on telco's behalf, I think telco could have arranged to pay a commission to the COCOT owner. PAT]