PICK YOUR TOLL-CALL FIRM You can pick your toll-call firm despite your primary carrier. It's one of the best-kept secrets in the telephone business. None of the many long-distance companies advertises it. And operators at Pacific Bell and AT&T won't even admit that it exists, although it is a distinct advantage to the consumer to know about it. The secret: If you have already signed up with a long-distance company, you also can make your long-distance through ANY other long-distance carrier. Throughout California, you can roam around among 22 long- distance companies at will casually using any of them that serve your area, without regard to the company you selected as your primary long-distance carrier. "Its the best of all worlds," said a phone industry executive. "I picked my primary carrier on a basis of quality and reliability, and now I pick and choose among the others according to my needs, such as an occasional hour-long call to my son at college over another company's lines that offer cheaper afternoon rates." Said an officer of a major long-distance firm: "If I'm calling home on Christmas or Mother's Day and I get a busy signal, I immediately switch to another company's line to get through." "Competition is here, and its working, in an instant," the officer said. An official at another company said he makes all his personal over-seas calls on a competing carrier's lines because his own company doesn't serve many over-seas countries. "And my own company also charges a premium for calling of the really small towns that I call quite often, so I use still another carrier periodically." Such calls, known in telecommunications jargon as "Ten Triple XXX dialing" are automatically billed by Pacific Bell at whatever rates are established by the long-distance company used by the caller. No bill comes from the company used. Example: Under the rules governing the breakup of the Bell System, a customer has signed up with AT&T to handle all long-distance calling. When the receiver is lifted, calls automatically are handled by AT&T. But, if the caller wants to use MCI, it can be reached by dialing five digits and then dialing the call. MCI's five-digit code is 10222. Each company has a different code, all beginning with 10 and followed by three numbers. Because of this its known as "Ten Triple XXX," or simply "the company code." Use 10444 for Allnet; 10288 for AT&T or 10777 for Sprint, etc. (See accompanying chart.) Constant users of Ten Triple XXX quickly learn that 10 are the digits that make it work and automatically dial 10, leaving to memory only the last three digits. Two companies have made it relatively easy: AT&T is 10 ATT and Sprint is 10 SPR. But the system doesn't work unless the customer's phone has been converted to the new equal-access system, which gives all phone users equal access to all long-distance companies. When equal access arrives in an exchange area, Pacific Bell rewires its telephone switching gear so that long-distance calls are handled by whatever long-distance company has been selected by the customer. But along with this new company-selection option, comes the added bonus of being able to use them all with Ten Triple XXX dialing. Ten Triple XXX codes. Company Code Allnet ................................. 10444 American Network/Savenet ............... 10311 American PTT ........................... 10278 American Telephone Exchange ............ 10050 Amptelco Systems ....................... 10267 AT&T ................................... 10288 Com Systems ............................ 10266 Comex/Chinamerica ...................... 10788 CP National ............................ 10276 Escondido Telephone Co. ................ 10441 Express Tel. ........................... 10700 GTE Sprint ............................. 10777 ITT .................................... 10488 MCI .................................... 10222 Republic Telecom ....................... 10001 SBS .................................... 10888 Standard Information Services .......... 10747 TDX Systems ............................ 10223 Telesphere Network ..................... 10555 TMC Long Distance ...................... 10007 U.S. Telecom ........................... 10333 Western Union .......................... 10220 By Charles W. Ross Staff Writer for: The San Diego Evening Tribune