Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society
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Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society |
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SOUTHERN OREGON TOLL-FREE REGION? Do you want a Southern Oregon Toll-Free Region which in legal terms is an "Extended Area Service (EAS) Region"?An EAS region is a replacement for long distance (toll) service. An EAS allows telephone customers in one local calling area (known as an exchange) to call one or more nearby exchanges without incurring long distance charges. Advantages: The region will give customers greater calling access to neighboring communities. This access can be quite important in smaller exchanges, where local residents are often forced to rely on good and services found in other exchanges. An EAS region can also help address the problem of outdated exchange boundaries. Original exchange boundaries may no longer correspond to community calling patterns. The region will help eliminate this problem by eliminating the "toll barrier" between exchanges that are really a part of one community. Disadvantages: The EAS is not a free service. Per-minute long distance charges are replaced with a flat or measured EAS rate, with most customers opting for a flat rate. Long distance charges formerly faced by a small number of customers are replaced with smaller EAS charges to many customers. The Oregon Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will be careful to make sure the cost shifting among customers is understood and generally accepted by affected customers before creating a new EAS region. Position Of Hugo Neighborhood Is it possible to build strong local communities that are able to protect themselves? Mike Walker, Secretary, Hugo Neighborhood, is one of 14 individuals serving on an Advisory Task Force that will recommend to the PUC proposed boundaries for a Southern Oregon EAS local calling region. He is representing the Hugo Neighborhood’s position that customers can, and have, sought individual routes as an alternative to joining a region. We emphasize the position that just because the Hugo Neighborhood has opted into the region during the boundary setting stage does not mean that it is recommending neighbors ultimately join the region. If the rates are unsatisfactory to the citizens of Hugo, they can bow out of the region.More information on the proposed calling area can be found in the Archives section for the Mail Tribune Online Edition. Search for Shayne Maxwell and you will discovered several articles. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/archive.htm
More Information On August 20, 2002 the PUC opened an investigation to determine whether to establish a Southern Oregon Toll-Free Region and has established an EAS Citizens Advisory Panel that will propose potential boundaries to the PUC.The PUC may accept, modify or reject the Panel’s proposal. After boundaries are established the investigation will proceed through the standard EAS procedure of establishing proposed customer rates. The PUC staff, working with the affected local exchange telephone companies, including Quest, Verizon, Sprint United, and Citizen, will conduct a rate analysis. EAS rates must be revenue neutral. That is, affected telecommunications carriers should neither gain, nor lose income as a result of a new EAS region. Once the proposed rates are determined the PUC will hold a series of public meetings to determine whether citizens still want to go forward with establishing an EAS region. More Information: Contact an officer of the Hugo Neighborhood, or the PUC for more information.PUC Web Page: http://www.puc.state.or.us/ October 24, 2002 Back to Top |
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© 2012 Hugo Neighborhood Association & Historical Society |
