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Telephone Service

(Students living in resident halls are provided with telephones and local telephone service free of charge. SMU has a specific long distance service provider for all residence halls. There are several locations on campus where students can make free local calls, such as the Hughes-Trigg Student Center and Bradfield Computer Center.)

Local Service

1. Find out what local telephone company serves the area in which you live. SBC (formerly Southwestern Bell) and AT&T service most Dallas areas. Verizon services some areas such as Plano, Garland and Irving.
2. Call the company’s customer service number to ask for telephone service: 1-800-464-7928 for SBC, 1-800-222-0300 for AT&T and 1-800-483-4400 for Verizon. All numbers beginning with 800 or 888 or 877 are toll free calls.
3. You will need to provide the following information to obtain telephone service: actual address, social security number (you may use your nine-digit school ID number in place of a social security number in this case), and date of birth.
4. Telephone companies may ask for a security deposit. This may be included in the first month’s bill or the company may ask you to pay it before you receive service.
5. The company will give you your new phone number.
6. You will need to provide your own telephone set. This can be purchased at stores such as Target, K-Mart, Wal-Mart or Eckerd.
7. The operator may ask you to subscribe to some optional services like “Call Waiting,” “Three-way Calling,” and other features for an additional cost. Please read the details in front of the White Pages Phone Book and consider their real value before you decide which services, if any, to purchase.

Long-distance Service

(Unlike many other countries, it is necessary to select your own long-distance service provider in the U.S.)

1. If you have already decided, simply tell your local telephone company which long distance service you want when you order your basic phone service.
2. If you are not sure and want to shop around, you can tell your local phone company to wait several weeks. There are numerous long distance providers in the U.S. Some companies from which to choose are AT&T, MCI, Sprint, WorldCom, as well as a variety of smaller companies. You may make a long distance call without subscribing to a long distance service by dialing 10 10 8111 before the number. This will cost 5 cents per minute for a call within the U.S.
3. Ask students from your home country about long distance providers that they are using. It is likely that they know about the best deals.
4. Call the companies listed above. They all have toll free numbers and usually have a website. Find out their current promotion activities, promotion period, rates for interstate long distance service and international calls to your home country (cents per minute), and restrictions such as which time of the day (for example, 11:00 am to 6:00 am the next day) has the lowest fares for making such calls.
5. Notify the local phone company after you decide, or, in most cases, the long distance company will do the job for you.
6. You can change your long distance carrier anytime you want, but there may be a small charge for doing so.
7. To make a long distance call, dial 1, then the area code, and the phone number (for example, 1-214-000-0000)
8. For international calls, dial 011 first, then the country code, city code, and the phone number.

Telephone Calling Cards

In some situations, you may need to make a long-distance call while you are not at home. The cost of using a regular pay phone may be very expensive. A phone card is a good option in this case. Usually, there are two types of phone cards:

1. Pre-paid phone cards: You can buy this card in places such as airports, 7-11, Wal-Mart, grocery stores, Sam’s and the SMU Bookstore. The cards have various face values. You can recharge the card when you have used all the value. You need a major credit card to do so. You may also discard the card and purchase a new one when the time is used. The International Student Organization also offers pre-paid phone cards. Their website is www.isoa.org, phone number 1-800-244-1180.
2. Telephone company cards: Your long-distance service telephone company provides this card. Your long-distance carrier may send you one. The company will issue a bill after you have used it. It is best to compare the prices of the cards mentioned in this section. There can be an extreme difference in the cost of the various choices.