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exchangelawyer

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Finding local access numbers in hillbilly territory

I know this seems simple, but I live in a rural area and am very happy with my ISP (AT&T Worldnet), but they have no local access number for me and none in any exchanges in my LATA with Ameritech. They provide me a 800 #, billed at .10 a minute. Sounds cheap, but it was over $400 last month and has been running a min of $250 per month. Now this certainly works out well for AT&T, but I could buy a bass boat for that much. Here's what I can't figure out. How can I find a access number in my calling area and still connect directly to Worldnet for Email, launching, etc? Do I need to subscribe to another ISP too and if so how do I find one in this area? What if there isn't one? There might not be, because I think I am one of only 2 or 3 literate people in this area. I'm totally helpless when it comes to understanding how these connections work. Give me a good lecture on the basics and earn some points.
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MasseyM

Call Worldnet and explain that to them.. Add that you would be willing to change to AT&T if they could get you a local access number... change from Ameritec to AT&T...

I work for GTE, home of hill billy accounts for most of the country. I have worked in the billing/orders dept for 2 years now, and the biggest complaint we get is from people that have huge phone bills for internet access. A couple of suggestions...1)try to find a local ISP/OSP. The connection may not be as fast, or the 'bells and whistles' as fancy, but the $400 bucks a month back into your pocket would help...2)Check with your county library...many libraries offer almost free service to their server...the drawback is the text-only format..or 3) Check around!! Many ISP's, including GTE are expanding at a faster-than-calcutable rate and are adding dial-ups to the sticks....REALLY! Another option, is go for the pay-per-minute service, just download the info and turn off the connection. This is the pain-in-the-butt option, but you would not believe how much time is spent on-line, reading downloaded info!! Also, knowing how much you are paying per minute is better than paying casually dialed rates from your local phone company (ours range from .09 to .36/min for local long distance, depending on how far away and time of day, for example). Just get quick with the click-off from the connection. This will save you money, in a very short time. It is not the same as a local dial-up, but very helpful in combatting those huge phone bills!
Good Luck!!
JenniferM
P.S. What area do you live in? I could check around for you at work for local dial-up info from our competitor profiles to try to find a local access for you...it is worth a shot. Like I mentioned before, you may have to sacrifice quality for monetary convenience, but it would be worth it not to pay those astronomical phone bills.....Let me know
clancy5@gte.net

JenniferM
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This is far too simplistic an answer. I have already called AT&T (long distance and worldnet) I've also called my local telephone company and they can not add a calling area to my local service that has a access # that can link straight into worldnet.
OK, sorry... I would go with Jennifer then...

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JenniferM

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