How will I be billed for my new long distance service?
Can you explain some of the charges on my long distance bill?
... USF
... PICC
... Billing increment
... Interstate rates
... Intrastate rates
... Intralata rates

How will I be billed for my new long distance service?
Most of the long distance companies on our site send a paper bill to your address on a monthly basis. However, some of our carriers will send a bill via email. Please check the specific details of your plan for more information.
Back to top

Can you explain some of the charges on my long distance bill?
... USF

The USF, or Universal Service Fund charge, is an FCC-mandated charge appearing on the bill sent to you from your long distance carrier. The fund provides support for Internet access for schools, libraries and healthcare facilities.

Why does the USF vary from carrier to carrier? The FCC mandates that long distance companies charge you 6.8% of your monthly bill for the USF. But there's no rule that says they can't charge you more and keep the rest - a practice many long distance companies follow.
Back to top

Can you explain some of the charges on my long distance bill?
... PICC

These fees are charges that long distance companies must pay to local service providers as compensation for their use of the local company's telephone network. Typically, long distance companies recover these fees from their customers by adding a nominal flat charge to their monthly phone bill.
Back to top

Can you explain some of the charges on my long distance bill?
... Billing increment

Billing increments are the blocks of time the long distance company uses to bill you. Typically, long distance service is billed in 6-, 30- or 60-second billing increments. If you are being billed in 30-second increments, for example, and have a 31 second phone call (don't you hate it when you get someone's answering machine?), you'll be charged for 60 seconds of long distance time, because you used two 30-second increments of time.

In all cases, a shorter billing interval will result in lower charges, so it's best to be billed in 6-second increments. The SmartPrice.com™ rate calculator takes the companies' billing increments into consideration when trying to find the best deal for you - so be sure to concentrate on finding your best overall savings, not just on line-items like billing increments.
Back to top

Can you explain some of the charges on my long distance bill?
... Interstate rates

Interstate rates, also known as "state-to-state" rates or "out-of-state" rates, are those rates charged to you when you place a long distance call to another U.S. state. 
Back to top

Can you explain some of the charges on my long distance bill?
... Intrastate rates

Intrastate rates, also known as "in-state" rates, are those rates charged to you when you place a long distance call within your own state.
Back to top

Can you explain some of the charges on my long distance bill?
... Intralata rates

Also known as "local toll" or "local long distance" rates, these rates are for calls that are often within your area code but still require you to dial "1" and the area code before the number.
Back to top

Are you looking for other definitions? Try looking in our long distance glossary.