Components of a Telephone Bill

Every local telephone company has a unique billing format and style, but they all share similar characteristics. The first page typically provides the following information:

• Bill payment or remittance address

• The customer billing address

• The account number, including the main telephone number

• A summary of charges that includes:

  • Local monthly service (recurring monthly service charge for telephone lines and circuits billed to the account)

  • Local calls (local toll charges billed directly by the local telephone company

  • Information charges (directory assistance charges)

  • Taxes (federal, state, and local taxes)

  • Long-distance carrier billing (usage charges for long-distance services billed by a long-distance carrier on the local bill; Exhibit 1 shows AT&T billing on this local bill)

    Exhibit 1: Example Local Telephone Company Bill

    
    

    
    
    
    
    

A closer look at the telephone bill in Exhibit 1 shows one problem common to all local telephone bills. Although Exhibit 1 directs the customer to Page 2 for details on the monthly service charge, the details behind the monthly service charge remain unclear (Exhibit 2). The "Monthly Service" charge of $240.84 is not clearly explained.

Exhibit 2: Page 2 of a Local Telephone Company Bill

In fact, it is not until you turn to Page 3 that lines included in the "Monthly Service" charge can be identified. Exhibit 3 shows Page 3 of this bill. In this case, two of the telephone lines, (517) 555-2225 and (517) 555-2445, which are included in the "Monthly Service" charge, had usage charges.

Exhibit 3: Page 3 of a Local Telephone Company Bill

If these lines did not have usage charges, they would not have appeared on the bill. The local telephone bill does not present the complete picture of what lines and services are billed to the company. It also does not tell you the service address where the lines terminate and services are delivered. The address on the front of the bill is the billing contact name and address where the service provider mails the bills. For example, if the billing contact is the Accounts Payable manager, the address on the front of the bill will be the A/P department address.

Because of these issues, companies should always request a Customer Service Record (CSR) for their local telephone accounts. A CSR describes in detail the following information:

• Billing address

• Service address

• List of individuals who are authorized to make changes to the account

• List of all telephone numbers and, under each number, a detailed list of services billed to that number

By comparing information on the CSRs to the company's line and circuit inventory, a company will be able to validate the services for which it is paying.

Sometimes long-distance carrier charges show up on a local telephone company bill in addition to the expected charges from the long-distance carrier. This occurs when the long-distance charges were not rated under the company's corporate discount plan. Sometimes, this situation occurs when a field office manager, unaware of a corporate plan, calls the local telephone company and signs a contract for services. Although the contract is with the same carrier, the rates will likely be at the "mom-and-pop" rates that are typical for smaller firms. The long-distance carrier has no easy way of identifying such "rogue" plans.

Companies contract with a long-distance carrier for long-distance services under a discount plan. The Telecom department provides working telephone numbers (WTNs) to the long-distance carrier when new lines are ordered and the local telephone company has assigned the line number. The WTNs are placed into a long-distance carrier's database, and calls are billed per the contract plan. If the phone numbers are not in the database, the correct discounts will not be applied to the call.