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Offers consumer advice about long-distance telephone billing plans available in Australia. Explanation of testing methods; How to choose a phone plan; Assessment of phone plans and service providers; Recommended plans for various types of users.

Reports on developments related to the computer network industry as of October 21, 1997. Includes various countries' efforts to control the Internet; Rates of long distance calls between the United States and Europe; Computer network companies' search for corporate names; Impact of the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 on US telecommunications industry.

Discusses the costs involved with making long-distance telephone calls. How customers are not guaranteed the rate for which they signed; Decrease in the value of phone company stocks; Efforts to increase consumer rights.

Denounces AT&T and the United States Federal Communications Commission for their perceived ineptitude at coming to a workable agreement regarding long-distance telephone rates. Change in regulation that cut the charges long distance carriers like AT&T pay to local phone companies; Basic rate increase by AT&T; Opinion that many people pay more for long-distance calls than they have to.

Discusses the agreement between long-distance telephone companies and the United States Federal Communications Commission to reduce long-distance rates. Increased benefits for those who are infrequent long-distance callers; Opinion that the plan could be a step toward a more economical telephone service plan.

Reports that some customers are benefitting by threatening to switch long-distance carriers. Various incentives offered by MCI, AT&T, and Sprint; Contact points.

Deals with the termination of the plans of Sprint and WorldCom to merge. Information on the decreasing rates of long distance calls; Reason for the termination of the plan; Details on other business proposals to Sprint; Plan of Sprint for its Integrated On-demand Network.

Focuses on the business partnership of America Online (AOL) and Daniel Borislow, chief executive of Tel-Save Holdings Incorporated, which involves affordable consumer long distance service in the United States (US). Information about the strategy of Borislow in offering long distance service in the US; Financing of the planned strategy of Borislow; How the consumers react from the long distance service that AOL offers. INSET: Does Tel-Save connect?.

States that long-distance telephone companies in the United States are facing competition from each other with rates for long-distance calls, and as a result a long-distance calling plan was implemented. Volume discount plan; Flat-rate plan; Who or where you called plan. INSET: Make the competition work for you..

Offers explanations for the high cost of hotel calls. Contradicting opinions of long-distance company personnel and a hotel owner; Tips to avoid the high charges of long-distance companies known as alternate-operator services; List of telephone call charges from United States hotels.

Discusses how United States (US) telephone companies are battling over long distance service to Cuba. The past difficulty in getting calls through to Cuba from the US; Unreliability of Cuba's receiving system; How AT&T had exclusive rights to the Cuban market until 1992; Other companies that now offer service; Sample rates in January-February 1995; Comments from Marie Santana, one of the negotiators sent by AT&T to Cuba to work out a deal with the Cuban government.

Focuses on different issues about the provisions of the Telecommunications Act and the competition among telecommunication companies in the U.S. Debate on the cost of long distance telephone service; Merger and marketing of AT&T Corp. and Bell Atlantic; Effect of lobbying and advertising on telecommunication regulations.

Reports on the price difference between Internet-based long-distance telephony and ordinary long-distance telephone calling in the United States. Reason for the lower cost of Internet-based telephony; Ruling by the United States Federal Communications Commission that Internet traffic is not voice traffic.

Presents news briefs on the telecommunication industry as of September 13, 1999. Long-distance telephone rates offered by Excel Communications company; Shipment of the NeoPoint 1000 telephone to Sprint PCS; Negotiation between Vodafone company and Bell Atlantic over wireless network.

Reports on the long-distance and net access service price competition among carriers in the United States. Price competition between MCI WorldCom and Qwest Communications International; Evening rates charged by Sprint Corp.; Offerings of Qwest Communications.

Discusses Sprint Unlimited, the flat long-distance rate during weekends offered by Sprint Corp. Pricing scheme; How analysts view this offering; Consumers' average long-distance bill according to AT&T Corp. INSET: Long-distance price plans.

Focuses on the effect of cheaper long-distance phone rates on Canada's telephone industry. Declining revenues forcing some companies to leave the industry; Deregulation rules that allowed small companies to enter the industry and hurt Bell Canada; How the waiving of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulations created a price war; The low residential market profit margins; Example of Call-Net Enterprises Inc. of Toronto; Success of AT&T Canada Inc.

Discusses the long-distance telephone rate price war in Canada. Efforts of Bell, Sprint, and AT&T the undercut the others' rates; Observations of George Karidis of the Yankee Group of Canada; Statistics on the cost of a five-minute call from 1993 to 1998; Potential for further discounting battles.

Predicts, in August 1997, that long-distance telephone rates should fall over the next five years because of a US Federal Communications Commission ruling. Brief details about the ruling; The role played by the Consumers Union's Washington office; Seven popular discount plans compared.

Attempts to offer an estimate of which company offers the lowest long-distance rates despite the fact that long-distance phone service seems to change regularly. Ways the consumer can save; Comparing discounts; Comparison of AT&T True Savings (now True Reach); MCI Friends & Family; Sprint Sense.

Features the `Long Distance Rate Research Report' from Delta Communications Group that outlines the best long distance telephone service rate programs in the United States. Order information.

Reports that the cost of international telephone calls in Europe is being driven down by competition. Comparison of rates in 1985, 1990 and 1995.

Presents key European carriers that are making significant reductions in their rates for long-distance and international integrated service digital network (ISDN) calls.

Says that BC Tel has received interim approval from the CRTC to lower long-distance calling rates from Canada to Hong Kong. The new rates.

Reports on the management policy `Free Access' instituted by Hilton Hotel Corp. concerning the elimination of the extra 75 cents to a dollar surcharge per telephone call. Complaints by hotel guests on the high phone bills; Application of surcharges onto long-distance calls made by calling cards from a guest room; Importance of asking the hotel operators about the phone charges.

Focuses on rates for long distance telephone service. Marketing of various services; Various plans available; Tips on finding the best plan; Contact point for comparison of the top long-distance companies' rates.

Focuses on the flat rate for domestic calls by long-distance phone companies. Brief details of AT&T's new One Rate plan; Plans by MCI and Sprint; Prediction by Aaron Golub of the Telecommunications Research & Action Group, a nonprofit consumer group, that telecommunication leaders are reaching a consensus on rates; Chart of monthly long-distance bills, based on average, including calling-card use.

Reports that the Big Three long-distance telephone companies have intensified their marketing war by reducing prices and shifting to simpler rate structures to attract more revenues. AT&T's One Rate calling plan; MCI Communications Corp.'s five-cent-Sundays promotion; Sprint's Monday Nights Free and Clear.

Assesses the impact of Taiwan's decision to deregulate its telecommunications market. Application for admission into the World Trade Organization; Need for foreign investments; Reduction of international call charges; Services for Internet users.

Focuses on the impact of low prices of long-distance plans on service providers in the United States. Goal of price reduction of attracting more customers; Rates offered by various carriers including AT&T, MCI WorldCom and Sprint Corp.; Anticipation that consumers will user long distance freely resulting to higher revenue.