Tuesday, March 22, 2005 9:47 AM CST
Consolidated drops charges for calls between Mattoon and Charleston
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
MATTOON -- Earl Walden says his business makes telephone calls to Charleston 30 to 40 times a month — something that shows up on the monthly phone bill, at least until now.
The owner of Walden's TV & Appliances in Mattoon welcomed the news Monday that Consolidated Communications will no longer charge customers of its long-distance service for calls between Charleston and Mattoon.
"That's a welcome step," Walden said. "We do a lot of business in Charleston. That's wonderful."
According to a Monday announcement from Consolidated, the free Charleston-Mattoon calls will begin automatically for its residential and business long-distance customers, so no sign-up will be needed.
Joe Dively, Consolidated's president of telephone operations, said he thinks it's the first time ever people in the two cities can call one another without paying anything. The change will benefit customers and should lead to more people using the company's long-distance service, he said.
"Our company is always looking to bring increased value to our customers and we thought the time was now," Dively said. "We think it's a good business decision."
Charleston insurance agent Dick Stark also said the announcement was a boost to his business, as he estimated that his office makes 20 to 30 calls a month to Mattoon customers, vendors and others.
"We're back and forth to Mattoon all the time," the State Farm Insurance said. "That's great news. For Coles County, that's absolutely a positive."
Dively added that the move is "to a degree" a response to the abundance of cellular phone services and the long-distance plans they offer. But he said the Charleston-Mattoon calling is only one long-distance benefit the company offers.
Walden said he'd also like to see Consolidated drop charges to some other nearby towns, explaining that his business has to pay for calls to Windsor, for example.
Dively said Consolidated will continue to look at charges for calls to other towns but "nothing is imminent." The company decided on free calls between Charleston and Mattoon because of the large number of calls between the two cities.
"Our communities are becoming one in many ways," he said, adding that inquiries about whether the charge for Charleston-Mattoon calls might be ended has been a "frequently asked question."
Dively called the amount of money Consolidated has charged for the calls "significant," but he said he didn't want to disclose an exact figure.
According to the company's announcement, calls between Mattoon telephone number prefixes 234, 235 and 258 and Charleston prefixes 345, 348 and 639 will now be free. Officials also said residential customers with questions about the change can call 800-553-9981 and business customers can call 800-500-9000.
Chris Niebrugge, Long Distance product manager, said toll-free, operator assisted, calling card, coin operated and Directory Assistance calls are not included in the free calling plan.
Contact Dave Fopay 348-5733 or dfopay@jg-tc.com
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
