I called to inquire about residential telephone service in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. I spoke to two people in "northern Idaho." They said the charge for basic services would be $15.99/month. So far, OK.
I then asked about my local calling area. The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area has four area codes. I wanted to be sure that there would be no extra charges for calling within the Metro area. (That's the way my telephone service has worked here for the past 20 years.) The people in Idaho didn't know. They thought I would only be able to make local calls within my area code. They had an "Extended Area" plan, for just $2.50/month extra. But, they didn't know what the extended area included. After about 40 minutes on the phone, they still could not find any answer.
I politely said I would shop elsewhere. I then called the same 800 number, hoping to speak to someone in a different part of the country. A person from a small town in Ontario, Canada answered. He also did not know the answer to my question, but said that in Toronto, there was a toll charge to call from one suburb to another.
I next talked to someone in rural Minnesota. She did some research and told me I would only be able to make local calls in within my suburb. Even calls within my area code would be toll calls. The "Extended Area" plan did not cost $2.50/month, she said, but only 21 cents/month. But, the extended area was only the city of St. Paul. Minneapolis, and the rest of the Metro area would still be toll calls.
What would the long distance charges be, for calling in my local area? I would only find out with the first phone bill.
I did some Googling, and I found this site. After reading some of the horror stories, I'm not very reluctant to sign up with Qwest at all, mystery service or not. Problem is, the only other telephone service provider I can find is Comcast, and their reputation for reliability and service is terrible.
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