Consumer Holiday Tip: Spend More on Holiday Treats Instead of Throwing Money Away on Overpriced Long Distance Services.Business Editors & High-Tech/Telecommunications Writers AUSTIN Austin. 1 City (1990 pop. 21,907), seat of Mower co., SE Minn., on the Cedar River, near the Iowa line; inc. 1868. The commercial and industrial center of a rich farm region, it is noted as home to the Hormel meatpacking company, whose Spam Town museum , Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2000 SmartPrice.com(tm) Enables Long Distance Savings During The Holidays and All Year Round 'Tis the season to spend on family and friends. Where does it all go? When the bills arrive in January January: see month. , 41 percent of Americans expect their long distance telephone bill will be among the casualties of holiday spending, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an independent national survey(1) commissioned by SmartPrice.com, an online service that analyzes long distance plans for consumers and small businesses. More than one-third of Americans (35 percent) say their long distance bills will increase because they make more calls to close family and friends who live out of town. A few unfortunate folks blame the increase on houseguests who make a lot of long distance calls (6 percent), or having accepted a few well-intended collect calls (4 percent). "Keeping in touch with families and friends is money well spent any time of year," says Jeff Hoogendam, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , SmartPrice.com. "But too many Americans are throwing money away because they pay more than twice the lowest longest long distance rate, despite having more choices among plans and services than ever before." The deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. of telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. has given American American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Augustus) along the river in 1848 led to the California gold rush of consumers an impressive but bewildering be·wil·der tr.v. be·wil·dered, be·wil·der·ing, be·wil·ders 1. To confuse or befuddle, especially with numerous conflicting situations, objects, or statements. See Synonyms at puzzle. 2. range of choices, from new long distance carriers and a myriad Myriad is a classical Greek name for the number 104 = 10 000. In modern English the word refers to an unspecified large quantity. The term myriad is a progression in the commonly used system of describing numbers using tens and hundreds. of calling plans to prepaid pre·pay tr.v. pre·paid, pre·pay·ing, pre·pays To pay or pay for beforehand. pre·pay  ment n. calling cards and
10-10 "dial around" numbers. But the SmartPrice.com/Bruskin
survey also indicates that many Americans are throwing their hands up in
the air in frustration instead of shopping around for cost-effective cost-effective,n the minimal expenditure of dollars, time, and other elements necessary to achieve the health care result deemed necessary and appropriate. ways to stay in touch -- 85 percent of adults feel that finding a long distance plan is not a positive experience, citing it is either a hassle Hassle () is a location in Närke, Sweden, where a Celtic treasure was found in 1936. It comprises a large bronze cauldron which contained two Bronze Age swords of the Hallstatt type, a pommel of bronze, two bronze buckets with to gather the information (21 percent) or that calling plans are too difficult to compare (18 percent). Fifty percent of Americans believe that they will not save money if they shop for a new long distance calling plan, according to the SmartPrice.com/Bruskin survey results. However, the fact is that the majority of Americans are paying more than twice as much as today's most competitive rates for domestic long distance service(2). "If you have had the same calling plan for more than one year, you are probably overpaying," Hoogendam says. "It is worth spending five minutes with SmartPrice.com to find out if you're you're Contraction of you are. you're you are you're be getting the best deal." The SmartPrice.com/Bruskin survey results also indicate that 48 percent of consumers are wary about their long distance plans, citing concerns about hidden charges (25 percent) and whether their plan is the best deal they can get (20 percent). One in 10 claims that their long distance bill is too difficult to understand, while nine percent indicate they are not sure what time period is the best to make long distance calls. Women are clearly more skeptical than men that there are any savings to be found in the long distance market. Fifty-four Adj. 1. fifty-four - being four more than fifty 54, liv cardinal - being or denoting a numerical quantity but not order; "cardinal numbers" percent of women think that they would save no money by shopping for a different long distance calling plan, compared with 46 percent of men. Young Americans are more likely than older Americans to believe that shopping for a new calling plan could save them money. Even those who do shop around don't expect to save very much. Only three percent think that shopping for a new long distance calling plan can save them more than 30 percent off their monthly bill, despite the fact that the average consumer can reduce their phone bill by 50 percent. "Consumers can reap significant long distance savings with minimal effort thanks to our service," says SmartPrice.com's Hoogendam, who offers these long distance tips for home and small business consumers: -- On specific holidays, check with your carrier regarding its rates. For example, Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on a Monday this year, so you may be paying peak rates for those calls to family and friends. -- Don't assume that your rate plan will stay the same. If you signed up for a specific "per cent" rate plan, these plans can and do change. Read your bill closely and calculate your per minute cost every month to make sure you are billed for the plan that you asked for. -- Be informed about monthly fees. Many companies charge monthly fees in order to offer lower per-minute rates. Make sure you are aware of these charges before signing up and do not fall prey to hidden fees or service charges. -- Examine calling card rates. Your super low-rate calling plan may not have a calling card plan to match. To avoid unwanted surprises, ask for the per-minute rate that applies to calling cards, as well as any services charges that also may apply. If these suggestions seem time consuming, SmartPrice.com can do the math for you. In less than five minutes, the site can evaluate a variety of criteria, help find the best plan for you and alert you via its SmartNotify(tm) service if a better plan comes along in the future. Now there's an idea that will put you on the road to savings during the holidays and into 2001. About SmartPrice.com Founded in 1999 in Austin, Texas, SmartPrice.com(tm) is a free Internet-based service for residential consumers and small businesses to find, compare and switch long distance plans, which are evaluated according to individual calling habits. The company is pioneering Profile Driven Commerce(tm), helping consumers to select and purchase services based on individual behaviors and changing needs. Its flagship SmartNotify(tm) service is the first service to monitor changes in long distance calling plans and regularly alert customers to opportunities to save money on their bills. SmartPrice.com saves time and money, while providing peace of mind about choosing long distance by comparing more than 140 plans from more than 20 telecommunications carriers. It simplifies the process of choosing long distance services by analyzing plans according to each customer's calling profile and offering side-by-side comparisons of different plans that may save money. (1) Survey was conducted by Bruskin Goldring OmniTel during weekly national telephone omnibus omnibus: see bus. over the weekend of Nov. 10-12, 2000. A total of 1,000 telephone interviews were conducted with adults 18 years of age. (2) Average toll price per minute for residential consumers is 16.5 cents, found in "CALLS Analysis," Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. , May 25, 2000, page 20, graph 11, located at www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Reports/FCC-State_Link/IAD/callanal.pdf |
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