OneidaTelephone

Helpful Hints

Note to Oneida County Telephone Customers

To sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry, visit www.donotcall.gov or Call the FTC’s tollfree number at 1-888-382-1222, for TTY users, 866-290-4236. Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) Oneida County Rural Telephone respects our custom ers’ right to privacy. Customers have a right & Oneida County Rural Telephone has a duty, under Federal Law, to protect the confidentiality of CPNI. CPNI is any in formation that relates to the quantity, technical config uration, type, destination, location, and amount of use of a telecommunications service subscribed to by any customer of a telecommunications carrier, and that is made available to the carrier by the customer solely by virtue of the carrie-rcustomer relationship. CPNI also includes information contained in the bills pertaining to the telephone exchange service or telephone toll service received by a customer of a carrier. We may use or share CPNI information with our affiliates, agents, and con tractors solely for the purpose of developing or bringing to your attention any products or services. You have the right to deny our use of your CPNI for these purposes. Denying approval for us to use your CPNI will not affect your current services. Granting approval will enhance our ability to offer you new products and services tai lored to your needs. For more information on CPNI, call your Service Representative at (315) 865-5201. Telephone Sales Call Restrictions You should be aware that the New York State General Business Law, Section 399-p, forbids certain practices relating to telephone sales calls and the use of automat ic dialers. In general, under the law, persons making sales calls to consumers must identity the individual or business on whose behalf the call is being made as well as the pur pose of the call. Automatic dialing devices must provide similar information and, in most cases, the address of the individual or business. The automatic device must disconnect immediately from the line when either the called or calling party hangs up. Further, telephone solicitors must also take steps to pre vent future calls to consumers who specifically ask not to be called again. Telemarketers and most users of automatic dialers may not place calls to emergency telephone lines, to law en forcement agencies, or to certain types of health care facilities (such as hospitals and nursing homes). Lawsuits may be filed by the Attorney General or by any person who receives a call in violation of certain of the restrictions mentioned above.

4. If calls persist, try to listen for any distinguishing background noises, voices, etc. and call your local law enforcement agency and your telephone company business office representative at 315-865- 5201. Our representatives are trained to help you and in severe cases with police officials to catch the offender. It is a crime under New York and Federal laws for anyone to make obscene or harassing phone calls. These laws impose penalties of imprisonment and/or a fine. Lifeline Service Discount You may be eligible for a discount on your monthly tele phone service if you receive assistance from one of the following programs: • Food Stamps • Medicaid • Persons with a non-service related disability and receiving Veterans Disability Pension or Veterans Surviving Spouse Pension • Persons who are eligible to receive benefits from one or more of the programs listed above but are not currently receiving benefits from that program. For more information about this discount or to obtain an application, please call the Business Office at 315 865-5201. You may also visit www.lifelinesupport.org for more information. About Telephone Sales Calls Many people enjoy receiving telephone calls at home from companies offering them information about prod 2. If you think you may be interested but want to know more, ask the caller to mail information about the offer. 3. If you are not interested, just cut in and say so. 4. If you don’t want to get another call from that company, ask the person to take your name off the company’s list. If you want to reduce the number of your at-home tele phone solicitation calls from national companies, write to: • Supplemental Security Income (SSI) • Federal Public Housing Assistance ucts or services that they may need or want. When you receive a telephone sales call: 1. Find out who is calling.

Included in the preliminary pages of our Holland Patent Di rectory are some services, rates and regulations which do not apply to Oneida County Rural Telephone. Read these carefully, and to avoid confusion, call your Business Office representative to review what applies to our company. Savings On Long Distance There are a number of long distance options available for both Intrastate and Interstate calling. Tele phone your Business Office for more details on how you can save on your monthly phone bill. Look In The Book You can avoid Directory Assistance charges by looking up numbers in the directory. Also, jot down frequently called It costs less when you dial long distance calls yourself to telephone numbers within your Regional Calling Area. Collect, Calling Card and public (coin) phone calls re quire the services of an Operator, as do requests for time and charges and calls billed to another number. Calling person-to-person always costs the most. Selecting a Long Distance Company All customers have Equal Access available to them. Equal Access is a long distance dialing program which allows you to choose a primary long distance company to handle calls placed outside the Syracuse LATA. There is a charge per telephone line to change to a dif ferent primary long distance company. Primary Long Distance Company With Equal Access, your selected long distance compa ny will complete your calls outside the Syracuse LATA. The rates and regulations of this company apply to each of these calls. Information on LATA’s is found elsewhere in this directory. Victims Of Domestic Violence The Oneida County Telephone has a new program de signed for victims of domestic violence that are concerned about their directory listing information. Please call the Oneida County Company if you would like more informa tion concerning directory listing protections we now offer. How To Handle Obscene Or Harassing Calls If you receive any obscene, threatening or harassing calls, follow these suggestions: 1. HANG UP at the first obscene word or if the caller doesn’t say anything after the second time you say “Hello”. Do not slam the receiver hard into the phone cradle as this gives satisfaction to the caller that he has both bothered and distressed you. 2. Do not give your name, address or telephone number to anyone until the caller has been identified. 3. Strongly advise your children and sitters to give no information to strangers. If you are not home, have them simply tell the caller that “Mother/Father cannot come to the phone right now”. numbers and keep them handy. Dial Direct And Save

Telephone Preference Service Direct Marketing Association P.O. Box 9014 Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735 Contact ‘Do Not Call’ Registry

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has established a national do-not-call registry for con sumers who wish to avoid receiving telemarketing calls. The national Do-Not-Call registry will not prevent all un wanted calls. It will not prevent calls from organizations with which the consumer has established a business re lationship; calls for which the consumer has given prior written consent; calls which are not commercial or do not include unsolicited advertisements; and calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations.

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Holland Patent, NY