PHONE COMPANIES GO HEAD TO HEAD WITH SELECTION OF NEW CALLING PLANS.

Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer

With the deregulation of the local phone market in California, major players are offering a mind-boggling variety of rates and plans to lure customers from competitors.

Here's a guide to some of the plans that are available now:

AT&T is offering two new services for businesses: Business Local Service for small to medium-size companies and Digital Link for larger firms.

Business Local Service targets companies that spend less than $2,500 monthly on their phone bill. There's a $10.32 monthly charge and calls are 2 cents a minute for local calls placed at any time.

Digital Link adds local calling to a current AT&T service for companies that have dedicated lines into its network and spend more than $2,500 a month on telecommunication services. But for now, AT&T will only handle calls going out. It expects to be able to carry incoming local calls later on in the year.

MCI Home Phone Service, for residential customers, offers a flat rate of $24.95 a month for one phone line with unlimited local and toll calls. Each additional line adds $19.95 a month. Long-distance calls cost extra.

MCI Business Phone Service, for small-business clients, offers a $20 flat rate a month with 400 free local calls. Additional calls are charged at 3 cents a minute and extra lines are $15 each, monthly.

NetworkMCI One, for medium to large firms, charges from $9.30 to $9.80 a month per line, plus 7.2 cents for each local call.

Customers who don't want a flat rate for local calls can opt for two other plans that charge between 0.6 cents and 3.6 cents per minute.

MCI, like all the new competitors for local phone business, hopes to grab a growing piece of market share with these plans.

``By the year 2000, we're looking at a $2 billion to $3 billion income stream from local phone services,'' said Lynn Coker, MCI local services general manager.

Pacific Bell is fighting back with an aggressive marketing plan of its own.

To keep current residential customers happy, the phone company offers an award program where they accumulate points based on their phone bill. The points can be redeemed for things ranging from discount coupons to plane tickets.

Last month, Pac Bell started sending out its new calling cards that charge calls at a guaranteed rate. Previously, if a customer used the calling card at a pay phone, he or she would be charged at rates imposed by the phone company that is handling that particular phone - which are usually higher. The new cards would guarantee that clients pay a rate no matter whose phone they use.

Next week, Pac Bell will start mailing out its first bilingual phone bills - in Spanish and English. Soon, it will introduce large print bills as well.

GTE is testing its ``one-bill'' concept in Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

Telephone, wireless services, local and long distance as well as Internet costs are compiled in one bill.

Even purchases of phone equipment can be put on the same bill. It hopes to offer this service in Los Angeles later this year.

But with so few local service entries so far, bargain hunting can be frustrating.

``Who has the best deal? Answer: They are all lousy,'' said Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers Action Network in San Diego.

SMART SHOPPING Consumer advocates give these tips in sorting through the new local phone service options:

For savings, service, the convenience of having one phone bill and generally one company to call for billing and other problems, many experts agree it can pay to have one provider.

Look at your calling pattern to decide among the different plans, advised Tom Long, senior telecommunications attorney at Toward Utility Rate Normalization, a utility consumer watchdog group in San Francisco.

For people who make plenty of toll calls, MCI's plan might be better, said Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers Action Network in San Diego.

But for Consumer Action spokeswoman Linda Sherry, who doesn't make a lot of calls at home, the local phone company's plan works just fine for her.

``You change when you see a big benefit to you,'' she said. ``I don't see it at this point.''

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