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perspectives.2009_9_01:perspectives 12/4/09 2:55 PM Page 1
perspectives on public communication
VOLUME 17 / NUMBER 6 DECEMBER 09
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE APCC®
Straight to the point
PSPs answer five key questions about their businesses
CONTENTS
MATT HAGE
Follow the leader
6 THE PERTINENT POINTS
by Tracey Timpanaro
PSPs give the inside scoop
on several aspects of their
businesses.
11 PAYPHONES TO THE
RESCUE
by Flori Meeks
The proof is in the pudding,
as these two 911 stories will
attest.
13 TECH TALK
PAYPHONES GOING GREEN
by Alan Rothenstreich
One PSP makes a great case
for using green cleaning
products.
19 LAST WORD
WE LOVE LARGE
TELEPHONE COMPANIES
by Dennis Williams
If you need a good laugh,
you'll want to read this PSP's
story about what should have
been a simple repair call.
www.apcc.net
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial ...................................3
Introduction ............................5
Legal & Regulatory .............15
Industry Briefs.......................17
Classifieds...............................21
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PERSPECTIVES DECEMBER 2009 | 2
EDITORIAL
'MANNING THE WALLS'
In the 1992 blockbuster movie “A Few Good
Men,” Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Col.
Nathan Jessep includes a number of terrific
scenes, not the least of which is his “You can’t
handle the truth” speech. No one who has
seen the movie could forget it.
There is one scene leading up to that pivotal moment that particularly resonates. This
is when Col. Jessep lectures his young antagonist (Tom Cruise) that there’s a tough world
out there: “Son, we live in a world that has
walls and those walls need to be guarded…”
Well, like Jessep’s paean to the U.S. Marines,
APCC is continuing to man those walls for the
payphone industry against many, and formidable, opponents.
Enforcing the FCC’s DAC rules, and fighting for the payments our customers are entitled to, has been our primary focus since the
FCC’s adoption of the new “tollgate” rules in
2004. With several recent complaint settle-
ments, these enforcement efforts have now
generated over $7.5 million in settlements for
the benefit of our customers — a lot, surely,
but not all of what they deserve.
One reason it’s been so costly and time
consuming to bring the complaint carriers to
meeting their responsibilities has been the
basic and inherent flaws in the FCC’s system.
Simply put, there are just too many “loopholes,” or at least a lack of clarity, in the regulations that unscrupulous or badly motivated
carriers have been able to exploit. But another
reason is the FCC’s lack of real enforcement
of its own rules, a lack of enforcement that
has gone on for years.
Well, finally, we may be seeing some
change at the FCC. APCC has pushed for
years for the agency to be more committed to
enforcing its own rules. And just this month
(on Nov. 12), the FCC has released an Order
(see Page 15) holding a carrier accountable
for its failures to comply with its obligations.
In a Consent Decree between the FCC’s
Enforcement Bureau and Next-G Communications Inc. to resolve a long-standing investigation of the carrier’s failures to comply with
its DAC obligations, the FCC has obtained a
$250,000 payment (in the form of a “voluntary contribution” to the government). In
addition, Next-G has been ordered to
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EDITORIAL
have an effective Compliance Plan in
place within 30 days to ensure it lives up
to its obligations in the future.
And the Bureau also has demanded that
Next-G file (within 60 days) an application
for section 214 authority to operate in the
future. This is in effect a licensing proceeding
that, should Next-G not comply with its obligations under the Consent Decree, will be
available to challenge the company’s basic
character to continue to operate.
But regardless of these successes, it
remains overwhelmingly true that our customers still are not getting all the DAC payments they deserve. Simply put, the FCC’s
rules are, and have been, materially flawed
from the very beginning. This is why a primary target of APCC’s policy work at the
FCC going into 2010 is to get the DAC
system changed — quickly, without years
of rulemaking delays — so that collecting
what is owed occurs without the costs and
delays that result from carriers “gaming”
the existing system.
In addition, other policy targets for the
coming year include getting the FCC (and
Congress as well) to do the right thing and
allow payphones to benefit as recipients
from the USF fund. We also are working
to help the affected state petitioners to once
and for all get a ruling from the agency
requiring Bell company refunds for their
years of overcharging in violation of the
FCC’s NST cost-based rates requirements.
Rest assured, APCC will be there defending your rights.
A final note: with this initial issue of
Perspectives in electronic format, we are
beginning a new stage in the publication’s
life. Certainly the costs of continuing the
printed form of the magazine had risen to be
out of reach. But this new format has been
sized right, and a solid plan is in place for it
to continue publication based on advertiser
support.
In that regard, the advertisers you see in
the magazine are the support for its publication. But they all do much more than that;
in fact, they strongly believe in and support
each and every one of you in your critical
efforts to meet the needs of the American
public. They deserve our support in return.
Willard R. Nichols
President
www.apcc.net
GOING DIGITAL
YES, VIRGINIA, WE’VE GONE DIGITAL
I’ll offer a few pointers for those who would like them.
When the magazine opens, you’ll see a vertical gray box on
edition of Perspectives on Public Communication magazine.
Sharon Cordell (our graphic designer) and the rest of the team the left. It will have the table of contents. You can click on
what you want to read and you’ll be taken to that page. (We
at APCC have worked long and hard over the last four months
will still have a table of contents page in the magazine as well.
to get to this stage. Who knew going digital would involve so
When you’re there, you can also click on pages to be taken
many details?
straight to them.)
More than 200 of you participated in our APCC member
There are also buttons at the top of the screen for scrolling
survey about this issue, and I want to thank you for your
purposes. Just click on the arrows to go page by page, or type
responses. Many of you wrote in great comments of support.
I was very surprised to see that nearly half of you actually pre- in a page number to go there directly.
In my opinion, the very best
ferred a digital edition, but I’m the biggest Ludite there is.
way to read it on screen is to minThe other significant statistic I want to share from our
imize the vertical gray box on the
survey is that 88 percent of the responders said they would
left. That way, the magazine can
read a digital Perspectives if it were the only option. So here
take up the whole screen, and it’s
we are.
super easy to read.
For those of you who prefer a printed version, you’ll be
I do have to add, though, that
heartened to know that you can print this issue and take it
it is much easier to read on a big
with you. You can print either certain pages or the issue in
monitor (19 inches is perfect) vs.
its entirety.
a small one.
And for those of you who want to keep the magazine on
There are other features availyour computer, you can download a pdf of it and do just that.
able that I’m sure I’ll never learn,
I test drove quite a few digital magazine providers before
settling on Texterity, which is the industry leader. Many maga- but feel free to play to your heart’s
content.
zines created by other providers were just about impossible to
If you have any questions
read on screen. This one is super easy; you don’t have to scroll
at all. If I can figure out how to read this on screen, so can you. about navigating the issue, please
don’t hesitate to contact me —
I’m beyond allergic to anything remotely technical in nature.
I AM VERY PLEASED TO WELCOME YOU to the first digital
www.apcc.net
(281) 646-7200 or via e-mail at [email protected]. I’m also very
open to general suggestions or story ideas.
One final note: please do consider supporting the advertisers who appear in these pages. Without them, this would not
be possible.
Thanks very much for your support. I look forward to entering this new chapter with you.
— Tracey Timpanaro
PERTINENT POINTS
THE PERTINENT POINTS
PSPs ANSWER FIVE KEY QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR BUSINESSES
MANY OF YOU WILL REMEMBER the “questions” features we
ran a few years back. We posed a list of pertinent questions to
payphone service providers (PSPs) and published their
responses verbatim. It was a popular series, so we’ve decided to
bring it back.
Payphone providers are obviously located all over the country, and there are not many opportunities to gather in one geographical location. Since that is the case, Perspectives can serve
as a unifying tool to foster camaraderie in the industry. And as
always, we are open to your story ideas and suggestions. Feel
free to call or write Publisher Tracey Timpanaro at any time.
The number is (281) 646-7200, and the e-mail address is
tat66@ apcc.net. I would love to hear from you.
If you would like to look up the previous “questions” features, they appeared in the April, July and October 2007 issues.
And one final note on this month’s feature: usually the answers
PSPs give have common themes, but this time the similarities
are uncanny. I promise I did not feed any of the answers. Take
a look for yourself.
Our PSP panel for this month includes:
• Anonymous, small PSP in New Jersey;
20+ years in the business
• Matt Brink, president, Paytel Communications, Bellevue,
Wash.; 250 payphones; 23 years in the business
• Brian Chamberlain, president, Madison Communications Inc.,
Jackson, Tenn.;
82 payphones; 15 years in the business
www.apcc.net
by Tracey Timpanaro
• Jay Colvin, owner, Suntel of SC Inc., Camden, S.C.;
150 payphones; 7 years in the business
• Roger Specht, general manager, Gemini Co. Inc., Sioux Falls,
S.D.; 48 payphones; 7 years in the business
1
What cost-cutting measures have you implemented?
Anonymous: We have cut every cost that can possibly be
cut — any general cost has been cut. I had to let my techs go
several years ago. Recently we lowered our 1+ cost by shopping
around. And in the last 60 days we’ve pulled 20 phones.
We started cutting costs several years ago, and it’s an ongoing process. I have to say that my cash flow is good, though. I’ve
never bought new equipment. I’ve always bought refurbished
equipment. I’m still using the same boards I’ve used for 22
years.
I’ve also saved a lot by buying my commission checks
through www.intuit.com.
Brink: We’ve cut back on low-producing phones, and we’re
limiting the number of employees we have. We are always looking to find better or more competitive rates for the products and
services we buy frequently.
We review our phones every month, and every quarter we
make the big decisions about which ones are going to be pulled.
We’ve trimmed down a lot. If the phone doesn’t have a net revenue of $30 a month, we pull it.
Chamberlain: I now collect most phones only when needed,
as opposed to the same time every month. I have also tried to
PERTINENT POINTS
WE CONSIDER SEVERAL FACTORS WHEN DECIDING WHETHER TO PULL A PHONE. OBVIOUSLY WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE IT’S PAYING
THE PHONE BILL. THE SPECIFIC LOCATION AND THE DISTANCE FROM THE OFFICE MATTER TOO. WE ALSO HAVE TO CONSIDER IF WE
HAVE OTHER EQUIPMENT AT THE LOCATION. JAY COLVIN
2
Have you reduced or eliminated commissions paid
to locations, even good ones? If so, how did you
approach the location owner?
Anonymous: If we eliminated commissions entirely, we’d
www.apcc.net
get kicked out of some locations. I pay what I have to pay. The
squeaky wheel gets the grease. Those guys might get more than
they deserve, but for a good location, I’ll do it.
I adjusted commissions six years ago, three years ago, and
this year as well. Recently, I sent a letter to a few location owners who had been receiving a fixed amount. I explained to them
what was going on in our market, and that I had to adjust the
amount because I couldn’t justify what I had been paying them.
I reduced the commission to a percentage basis. I didn’t hear a
word from most of them.
One of my customers, whom I’ve had for 15 years, said,
“Look, I have a cell phone and my 10-year-old has a cell phone.
I understand your situation. I know I’ll get less money, but the
phone can stay.”
Brink: We’ve cut commissions drastically. It has been a
learning process for our customers. We’d been educating them
all along. We’re reduced some, we’ve eliminated some, and have
gone semi-public in some locations.
Chamberlain: We pay payphone commissions only to locations that allow us to provide air/vac and/or ATM service, with
just a few exceptions. Almost all location owners understand
that payphones alone are no longer generating the profits they
once were.
Colvin: We’ve reduced some, but we haven’t eliminated
commissions completely. We still pay it to some of our larger
customers. Oftentimes, it depends on how understanding
MATT HAGE
reduce my windshield time by removing the marginal phones
that are furthest from my office.
Colvin: We closely monitor all our phones every month, and
if they’re not making the grade, then we have to pull them. We
pulled several phones last year, and we have definitely cut down
our routes. We only poll twice a week now.
We consider several factors when deciding whether to pull
a phone. Obviously we have to make sure it’s paying the phone
bill. The specific location and the distance from the office matter
too. We also have to consider if we have other equipment at the
location.
And of course, we consider the customer. It helps if you have
understanding customers in this equation. If we have other
equipment at his site and the phone isn’t doing well, we’ll often
leave it in to keep him happy. You have to take the good with the
bad sometimes.
Specht: We’ve always run pretty lean. We are taking out
phones that aren’t producing a minimal profit. If it pays the
phone bill and makes a few bucks more than that, we’ll leave it
in place. Our phones are producing profits in the lower income
parts of town.
PERTINENT POINTS
the customer is and what other equipment we have at the
location.
If a phone is not generating much revenue, we’re not paying
commission at all. If it’s generating a little revenue, and we just
have a phone at the site, we’re not going to pay commission. It’s
not worth it to cut just one small check. But if it’s a phone that’s
making a little bit of revenue, and we’re sending commission on
the air/vac and the ATM, we’ll go ahead and add the phone
commission as well.
Sometimes we send letters with the commission checks saying we’re reducing or eliminating commissions. Lots of times in
this day and age they understand.
We’re also calculating commissions on a quarterly basis now.
It’s not worth sending a check every month.
Specht: At least three times in the last seven or eight years,
we’ve sent out letters to our customers. They say, “If a phone
doesn’t do X, we can’t pay commission.” For the most part, the
letters have been accepted well.
3
What are you doing to bring business back to your
phones?
Anonymous: We have tried various things. We put advertising on our phones, and we did it all ourselves. Some of our
clients would renew, some wouldn’t. One of our best clients
was a bail bonds service.
Because we’re a small company, I know every location very
well. I check my competitors’ rates and often make adjustments
accordingly. A lot of my phones are 10 cents a minute with a
one-minute minimum. Our faceplate states that.
Brink: We try our best to keep them clean. We’ve done all the
moving we’re going to do. We’ve improved the locations of the
www.apcc.net
PERTINENT POINTS
phones gradually through the years. At this point, we’re not
trying to upgrade the value of the site.
Chamberlain: We do the same things we have always done —
keep them working and keep them clean. We also advertise some
preprogrammed speed dial numbers (* numbers) to frequently
called 800 numbers like the lottery, prayer lines, and Social
Security. That has helped maintain our dial-around income.
Colvin: We’re doing our best to keep them clean and keep
them working. We haven’t made a lot of changes in the last year
or two. We’ve started several other businesses and haven’t
focused on the phones like we should.
Specht: A few months ago, we switched operator service
providers, and I think we’re seeing an increase in our international revenue because of that. They gave us very colorful cards
for the upper and lower housing, and stickers that go on each
side of the keypad. We’re advertising two programs — one is
international and the other is an 800 program.
4
How do you organize your day? What do you do first
thing in the morning?
Anonymous: I leave at 5 a.m. to do my collections and
maintenance. If I’m not out of some of my neighborhoods by
3 p.m., it can become an uncomfortable situation.
I split New Jersey into northern and southern territories,
and I mix up my schedule so I’m not at the same phone on
the same day.
I do my polling in the evenings on Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Brink: We poll every morning, but we don’t service as well
as we used to. It’s no longer “Johnny on the spot,” but more
www.apcc.net
when we can get there. If a phone is down for two or three
days, I realize it’s a loss of money, but oftentimes it would
cost more to drive there and fix it.
If it’s a really good phone, we’ll make a special trip. But
there’s no advantage to going to marginal phones more
regularly.
We’re spread out across the state, and we divide it by the east
and west sides. Once a week we get together to review the route.
Chamberlain: Quite frankly, our payphones require a lot
less attention than they used to. There are very few troubles or
issues to deal with on a daily basis. Our daily focus revolves
more around the ATMs and air/vacs. Of course we check out
our payphones while on site to service the other equipment.
Colvin: We really take things day by day, because it’s so hard
to plan ahead. We have phones, ATMs and air/vacs, and there’s
always something to do.
The majority of our phones are in one general area. We try to
schedule our phone service on the days we’re loading our ATMs,
since they’re in the same areas.
Specht: We poll every night, and so our first task in the
morning is to look at the reports and send someone out for coin
collection or repair if we need to. After that, we do paperwork.
5
Other than payphone management software, what
software do you use to manage your route (Word,
Excel, database and accounting programs, etc.)?
Anonymous: I use Quicken for commission checks and paying bills. I also use Excel.
Brink: We created a sophisticated database program 15 years
ago that we use to run our route. It makes everything easier.
We do use Excel to print certain reports. For example, we
have some truck stops that want certain reports, so that’s how
we print them.
Chamberlain: Besides QuickBooks, we use M.I.S.T. business software to handle all of our payphone data and hope to
start using it for the air/vacs and ATMs soon.
Colvin: We use Word, Excel and QuickBooks. We have an
Excel spreadsheet set up for our commissions. Any income we
take in goes through QuickBooks, including ACH transactions.
Specht: We use Lotus for our spreadsheets and financial management. We use Microsoft Money for our checking functions.
Please see the sidebar on the next page.
Tracey Timpanaro is publisher of Perspectives on Public
Communication magazine.
WE ALSO ADVERTISE SOME PREPROGRAMMED SPEED DIAL NUMBERS (* NUMBERS) TO
FREQUENTLY CALLED 800 NUMBERS LIKE THE LOTTERY, PRAYER LINES, AND SOCIAL
SECURITY. THAT HAS HELPED MAINTAIN OUR DIAL-AROUND INCOME. BRIAN CHAMBERLAIN
PERTINENT POINTS
P.S. FIND MORE SCOOP HERE
Editor’s note: In the course of talking to PSPs for the main feature, other tidbits came up during my conversations. The information didn’t quite fit the story’s categories, but it is certainly worth passing on, so
I’ve included it here. Some of the topics are sensitive, so I chose not to use attribution. These are all direct
quotes from my interviews. Well, except for my exceedingly clever headlines.
1.
ICE, ICE BABY. There is a large nationwide ice packing
company that has not been doing a great job with service in our
area. The company was taking care of its large accounts, but
wasn’t providing good service to its mom and pop accounts. It’s
hard to manage a large company like that; they get so big that
they can’t keep up.
We decided to go into the ice packing business, and have
picked up 30 to 40 new customers already. Because we already
had the locations in a lot of instances, it was easy to come back
in with another product. It’s going really well because we had
all those contacts.
3.
quite a few phones, and we’ve been able to sell most of our
extra equipment. We’re down to selling internal parts.
SEND CASH PLEASE. Our ATMs are programmed to send
alerts when they have a low cash balance or money is jammed.
My e-mail goes straight to my cell phone, and this has proven
immensely helpful. Sometimes I’m in town on the weekends,
and it saves a great deal of time if I can handle the problem
when I’m in town vs. driving back in during the week.
www.apcc.net
We’re looking at doing group management for all of us as a
way to eliminate costs. Nobody wants to buy anybody anymore.
If we could put three or four companies together so we could
combine collection and service, it would eliminate more costs.
4. COIN, GLORIOUS COIN. We’ve been concentrating on
coin phones. A good coin phone is still a good coin phone. We
have a lot of phones that held the same amount of coin even
through the economic downturn.
This has been a good business, and it’s still a really good
business. You just have to take care of your customers.
5.
2.
PARTS, ANYONE? Over the years, we have removed
7.
LONG LIVE THE PAYPHONE. We have had to work with
quite a few customers who want our phones removed. We’re
doing our best to save what we’ve got. It’s been a real problem.
6. ALL IN THE FAMILY. Over the years, all the PSPs in our
state association have worked hard to keep a good relationship.
Everybody knows everybody, and we’re all in survival mode. We
help each other in as many ways as we can.
WASH, DRY AND SURF. In 2003, I put Internet kiosks
in Laundromats, and I still have them. I charge 10 cents per
minute. I built the cabinet for the kiosk myself. There was a
lot of revenue in the machines when I first put them in, but
the revenue fell in the fall of 2008 and 2009, just like with
my payphones.
I think a large part of the reason was because a lot of Hispanic immigrants had trouble finding jobs here during the economic downturn, so they went back to their native countries.
TO THE RESCUE
PAYPHONES TO THE RESCUE
IN TWO SEPARATE STORIES, A 911 CALL FROM A PAYPHONE ENDED UP SAVING A PERSON’S LIFE
Most people in the payphone industry have heard their share
of arguments over the years for removing payphones. The
phones get blamed for criminal activity, blight, loitering —
they’re a common target for municipal officials and law
enforcement representatives who typically misunderstand
the true role payphones play in communities.
Payphone service providers (PSPs), meanwhile, have been
consistently making a case for the contributions payphones
offer. The phones provide a lifeline for millions of people with
no phones of their own; the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimates that almost 6 million U.S. households
have no phone service of any kind. This population, typically
low income households, relies on payphones for their everyday
communication needs.
Payphones are also reliable sources of communication during
emergencies, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, blackouts and
hurricanes. Not to mention that payphones provide around the
clock 911 service.
Good arguments one and all, and now it’s safe to take those
arguments one step further. Payphones can save lives. At least
two payphone providers have shared stories recently of callers
using their payphones to rescue others in the midst of lifethreatening situations. And in both cases, the rescue attempts
were successful.
A TWIST ON TECHNOLOGY
When Touchtone Technologies Inc. developed technology for
www.apcc.net
placing collect calls on cellular telephones, the company promoted it as a new revenue opportunity. The service, TTI Collect
2 cell, incorporates automated interactive voice response with
text message invoicing, an interactive Web portal and recorded
sound files for call acceptance confirmation. After a call is completed, a text message is sent to the called party. In some cases,
the customers send replies. Most are a brief “thx” or “check is in
the mail.”
In May, however, the company received a message reading,
“OK I’m not sorry I accepted that call. My son saved a child’s life
with that call for 3 mins. I’ll put money order in today’s mail…”
“When I first read the text message I thought it was a joke,
so we called the cell phone number that sent the message,” said
company president and CEO Stephen Muoio. “The technology
was developed for telecom carriers. We hadn’t considered what
a positive impact the service would have on end users.”
The message was genuine. It was sent by Portland, Ore. resident Retta Jeffries. When her cell phone rang May 4, an automated voice told her, “You have a TTI collect call; press one to
accept.” Jeffries accepted the call and found herself talking to
her 19-year-old son, Emanuel, who was asking for instructions
on performing the Heimlich maneuver.
The technique calls for using a series of under-thediaphragm abdominal thrusts to save the life of someone choking on a foreign object. Emanuel was working at a camp in
South Dakota at the time. He told his mother a 3-year-old boy
there had swallowed a penny. The coin was lodged in the
MATT HAGE
by Flori Meeks
TO THE RESCUE
“OBVIOUSLY, PAYPHONES PROVIDE A SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY,” MUOIO SAYS. “IT’S A CONVENIENCE, AND WHEN PEOPLE DON’T
HAVE A CELL PHONE BECAUSE THEY CAN’T AFFORD IT OR THEY FORGOT IT OR THE BATTERY DOESN’T WORK, IT’S A SAFETY ISSUE.”
STEPHEN MUOIO
boy’s throat, blocking his airway, and he couldn’t breathe.
Emanuel, who didn’t have a cell phone, called his mom from a
payphone. Jeffries walked him through the Heimlich maneuver,
and he was able to dislodge the penny.
“Obviously, payphones provide a service to the community,”
Muoio says. “It’s a convenience, and when people don’t have a
cell phone because they can’t afford it or they forgot it or the
battery doesn’t work, it’s a safety issue.”
A DIRE SITUATION
Jeff Wallmark, the owner of American Products in Fort Smith,
Ark., learned about the contributions one of his payphones
made while he and his wife were watching the evening news in
November of 2008. “They were telling the story of a gentleman
on 6th Street. A couple of guys just decided to beat on him.”
The man tried to get home, but he was seriously injured
and unable to make the walk. That’s when an observer used
a corner payphone to call 911, the news report stated. “My
wife and I looked at each other and said, ‘that’s our phone,’”
Wallmark says. The call brought life-saving medical assistance
to the crime victim.
A CONCRETE CASE
A couple of weeks later, Wallmark attended a community meeting where city officials and residents of a local apartment complex were discussing the possibility of removing some area
payphones because they felt it would reduce criminal activity.
Wallmark, who owns two payphones in the area being considered, was intent on making a case for keeping the payphones
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in place. “The residents
were misinformed about
how the phones were being
used,” he says. As far as his
call records indicated,
callers were using his payphones for conversations,
not illegal purposes. “I
watch the traffic,” Wallmark
says. “There’s more long
distance calling than local.”
Further, Wallmark said,
payphones can be used as
crime-fighting tools. “I
explained that the phone traffic was being monitored, and if
subpoenaed, it could provide a record.”
Wallmark also pointed out payphones’ social value in the
community. “I reminded them of payphones’ legitimate purposes for visitors and those who don’t have other phones.”
But the key to his argument was the fact that a payphone
near the complex, one of his payphones, became a rescue
tool when it was needed. “That phone you say is a conduit
for criminal activity saved a gentleman’s life,” Wallmark told
the others at the meeting.
The City Council members at the meeting did consider
Wallmark’s comments. They liked the idea of the payphone
traffic being monitored, and they liked the idea of a payphone
saving a life. There have been no additional requests to pull
the payphones since that meeting.
These cases are far from the only times payphones have been
used to summon help. But the rewarding aspect for Muoio and
Wallmark is that they got to hear the happy endings. “It felt
good to know the phone served its purpose, and it helped somebody,” Wallmark says.
“There have been a lot of stories about payphones being
removed,” Muoio said. “Here’s a story that shows a payphone
saving a life. Being in the telecom field, it was good to see something like that happen.”
Flori Meeks is a freelance writer who is based in Houston. She
has 21 years of writing and editing experience, and has been
writing for Perspectives for 10 years.
TECH TALK
PAYPHONES GOING GREEN?
ONE PSP MAKES A CASE FOR USING GREEN CLEANING PRODUCTS
by Alan Rothenstreich
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles that
will address cleaning products.
EVERYONE IS GOING GREEN, so why not us? It makes
sense for payphone service providers (PSPs) on many
levels. In this article, I’m going to offer three reasons
why you should consider making the switch.
IT JUST MAKES SENSE
The first argument is the easiest — going green is better
for you, your employees, your customers, and the environment. Most of the products used in the industry today —
from general cleaners to graffiti removers — are aerosol
sprays, so they contain fluorocarbons or mixtures of
volatile hydrocarbons stored under pressure.
Active ingredients like these are pretty toxic (not to
mention flammable), and are obviously harmful to both
humans and the environment. When the cleaner comes
into contact with plastics, it is usually corrosive. It can
cause all kinds of problems for a human body — irritating
the skin, eyes, nose and throat for example. It can create
headaches and cause fatigue and nausea. Overexposure
can cause permanent brain and nervous system damage.
For these reasons, most companies have discontinued
manufacturing aerosol products.
From an employee standpoint, you can avoid workers
compensation claims and make your employees happier.
Plus, an employee who is not worried about the cleaning
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solution burning his skin or irritating his
eyes is more likely to clean. With many of
the green products, you can clean without
gloves because they are so safe.
Liability should be part of this discussion
as well. In most cases, phones are located
outside, and when you’re cleaning, you are
spraying products outside where the public is.
If the product you are dispersing accidentally
gets in someone’s eyes or on his skin, you will
be liable. And we know you don’t want that.
The good news is that new products are
coming to market that are biodegradable and
green. The newer products have less volatile
organic compound in them, but that does
not make them less effective. We will be discussing some of these products in upcoming
issues.
IT WON’T BREAK THE BANK
My second point is that going green is not as
expensive as you might think. Although the
products cost more initially, there are some
hidden savings over the life of the product.
Dilution is one example; not every situation
requires the full strength of the cleaning
product. (With your standard aerosol products, dilution isn’t an option.)
TECH TALK
ONE LAST ADVANTAGE TO GOING GREEN IS THAT YOU CAN USE IT AS A SALES TOOL,
FOR BOTH YOUR LOCATION OWNERS AND PAYPHONE CUSTOMERS. YOU CAN MENTION
ON SALES CALLS THAT YOU ONLY USE GREEN PRODUCTS.
Another example is that you
will be able to buy cleaning
solution in bulk, which saves
money. You’ll be putting the
solution in your own plastic bottles, so there is
savings inherent when
you’re dispensing the
solution. First off, you will
be using less product than you would with
conventional cleaners. Secondly, you will
ultimately use 100 percent of what is in
the bottle.
With aerosol cans, about ¼ of
the active ingredients are wasted
due to a variety of factors: wide
dispersion, overspraying, a loss of pressure in the can, or because your technician damaged the tip and had to throw
the bottle out.
Something else to consider is that
you very well may save on the rags or
towels you use. There are companies
that buy unused extra fabric from factories and turn the fabric into rags. These
companies sell the rags or towels for the
same price or cheaper than new rags.
YOU’LL MAKE NEW FRIENDS
One last advantage to going green is that
you can use it as a sales tool, for both
your location owners and payphone customers.
You can mention on sales calls that you only use
green products. You may even want to
Fun facts
consider putting some type of sticker
In his research, Rothenstreich found one
on your phones that informs customers
green product that was promoted as
that the phone has been cleaned by
“safe enough to eat.” Another product
green products. The environment is a
was actually kosher, and the company
hot topic these days; your new approach
rep said, “You can eat it, but it doesn’t
taste very good.” We think we’ll take his
may even help you gain new customers.
word for it.
As the Editor’s note mentions, I will
be covering cleaning products in
www.apcc.net
ALAN ROTHENSTREICH
upcoming Tech Talk columns. I would love to
hear from you. You can send suggestions, questions, or even recommend a particular product.
Obviously, clean phones are in everyone’s best
interest, so let’s help ourselves and the environment at the same time by using green products to
keep our phones clean.
Alan Rothenstreich is director of projects for
TCC Teleplex and serves as the technical consultant for the Independent Payphone Association of New York.
LEGAL & REGULATORY
by Dan Collins
NEXT-G TO PAY $250,000 TO FCC TO SETTLE
INVESTIGATION
On Nov. 9, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
adopted a Consent Decree with Next-G Communications Inc.
The decree concluded the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s investigation into whether Next-G violated the commission’s payphone compensation rules by, among other things, failing to:
• pay dial-around compensation;
• establish a call tracking system;
• engage a third party auditor to verify that the call tracking
system complies with the commission’s requirements,
• prepare an annual system audit report to be filed with the
commission;
• submit quarterly call data reports to PSPs; and
• provide sworn statements from its chief financial officer
certifying that the compensation paid for a particular
quarter was accurate and complete.
Under the Consent Decree, Next-G agreed to pay
$250,000 to the FCC and to create a plan related to the
company’s future compliance with the FCC’s payphone
compensation rules. Next-G also agreed to waive its right
to administrative or judicial reconsideration, review or
appeal of the Consent Decree. The decree does not prevent
the FCC from investigating new evidence of noncompliance
of the agency’s payphone compensation rules by Next-G.
For years, APCC Services has been leading efforts against
nonpayors at the FCC. APCC Services has been pressing the
FCC to pursue sanctions against nonpaying carriers who do
not comply with their responsibilities under the dial-around
compensation orders.
www.apcc.net
FCC HEADQUARTERS
PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT FILING DEADLINES FOR 2010
As we approach 2010, you should mark your calendars for the following important FCC filing deadlines:
Feb. 1
Form 499-Q
Quarterly filing for Universal Service contributors
April 1 Form 499-A
Annual telecommunications reporting worksheet
May 1
Form 499-Q
Aug. 1
Form 499-Q
*Sept. Form 159-W
Annual regulatory fee worksheet
Nov. 1 Form 499-Q
Please note that all PSPs must file Form 499-A and Form 159-W regardless of whether they qualify for
the de minimis exemption for direct payments to the USF. *Please also note that the specific September
date has not yet been set for the Form 159-W deadline.
LEGAL & REGULATORY
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
DO PSPs HAVE TO PAY THE SLC?
The Subscriber Line Charge (SLC) is not a government fee or tax, but a fee that carriers charge to
recover the cost of providing access to the telephone network. The SLC, also called the federal Subscriber Line Charge, Federal Access Charge or Customer Line Charge by some carriers, is regulated
by the FCC and is currently capped at $6.50 for a single line. PSPs are not exempt from paying the
SLC, but payphones must be treated as single line business lines for assessing the SLC, not the
higher amounts assessed on multi-line businesses.
FCC ANNOUNCES 4TH QUARTER USF CONTRIBUTION FACTOR
According to a Public Notice issued by the FCC, the USF contribution
factor for the fourth quarter of 2009 will be 12.3 percent, a decrease of
0.6 percent from the third quarter 2009 contribution rate.
Dan Collins is corporate counsel for the APCC.
PLEASE NOTE NEW MAILING ADDRESS FOR USF PAYMENTS
As of Oct. 22, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) changed the
addresses for companies who send in Universal Service Fund (USF) contribution
payments. For payphone service providers (PSP) who are direct contributors to the
USF, the new addresses for payments made by check are:
Regular Mail:
USAC
P.O. Box 105056
Atlanta, GA 30348-5056
Overnight Courier:
Bank of America
c/o USAC (105056)
1075 Loop Road
Atlanta, GA 30337
USAC will charge any applicable late payment fees for payments sent to the old delivery addresses. Additional information on making direct contributions to the USF can be
found at: www.usac.org/fund-administration/collections/payment-instructions.aspx.
If you are a PSP who qualifies for the de minimis exemption from direct USF payments, you will continue to make indirect USF payments through your carrier bills.
www.apcc.net
INDUSTRY BRIEFS
IN MEMORIAM
LOBSTER, ANYONE?
JERRY ROMNEY
Jerry Romney Jr., a payphone industry pioneer, passed away on Sept. 18. He was 55 years old.
Romney entered the industry in its infancy as a payphone service provider (PSP), but he
was best known for his leadership of Teltrust, an operator service provider (OSP) based in
Salt Lake City, Utah.
“I believe he was the first OSP to offer an unbundled product to the market, where you
could pick from a menu of service options,” said APCC board member Gary Pace, president
of Midwest Communication Solutions Inc. “It was a pretty innovative approach to the market from what I saw.”
Pace said he remembers how at ease he felt the first time he visited Romney and his colleagues at Teltrust. “You got a very comfortable feeling that you would be well taken care of.
The honesty and integrity he had was very apparent.”
Romney and Pace became close through the years, and Pace has many fond
memories of his friend. One of his favorites is a trip that was arranged by Teltrust
for its biggest customers. The whole group spent four days together on several
houseboats on Lake Powell. “It was probably the vacation of my lifetime,” Pace says.
“I remember being completely and utterly relaxed.”
Romney was known for his generous hospitality, and his talents in the kitchen
were legendary. He was a voracious reader, and absolutely loved the outdoors, particularly fly fishing and hunting.
“Everyone knew him as a great individual,” said friend and business associate
Gary Buehner, who is CEO of the new Teltrust. “He had many, many friends. He
was always happy and jovial, and he had a great sense of humor. He’ll be missed.”
Pace said Romney’s generosity was immense. “If I needed a nickel and Jerry only
had a dime left, he would offer me the dime.”
Pace also remembers being blown away the first time he saw Romney skiing.
Romney was traversing a black double diamond slope like it was a walk in the park.
“He was so fluid, so athletic,” Pace said. “It was like he barely touched the slope.”
We think that’s a good way for all of us to remember him.
www.apcc.net
THE LOBSTER ZONE IS OFFERING PSPS A NEW revenue
opportunity with its Lobster Zone amusement vending machine,
which is typically placed at sports bars, casinos, restaurants and
the like. The crane machine houses live lobsters, and players
can try to catch one in a giant claw. If successful, an employee
of the establishment will retrieve the lobster and cook it for
dinner. It costs $2 to play, and a contestant has 60 seconds to
work with the machine.
“It is definitely a spectator game,” said Mark Shmikler,
president of Illinois Payphone Systems, who has quite a few
machines in the field. “When someone puts $2 in, right away
everyone is watching him play. And if he wins, there is lots of
screaming and yelling.”
Shmikler said when the game is first placed in an establishment, it does really well. His best machines have earned $1,500
per week for the first few weeks, although the national average
is between $400-$450.
“Play does diminish over time, however,” he said. “The best
locations are ones that draw a transient crowd, so there are
always new faces coming in. But I would say the machine runs
its course in three to 12 months, and then you find another
location for it.”
The machines do require service every week, and it takes
about 30 minutes, including counting the money. It’s not hard
to learn how to service the machines, but it is very important
that it is done properly.
“We’re very happy we have the machines,” Shmikler said.
“Due to those contacts, it has helped us place ATM machines
as well.”
“It’s a really good fit for PSPs,” said Lobster Zone CEO
INDUSTRY BRIEFS
Ernie Pappas.
“You already have
great potential
locations and people to service the
machines, so it
makes a lot
of sense.”
There are
currently 700
machines placed around the country. The machines cost $12,500
each. For more information, please visit www.thelobsterzone.
com, or you can call Pappas at (407) 592-2735. His e-mail
address is [email protected].
Shmikler said he would be happy to answer questions from
other PSPs. He can be reached at (708) 598-7200, or via e-mail
at [email protected].
FINDING BURIED WIRES IS A SNAP
LOCATING BURIED WIRES AND CABLES CAN BE A
nightmare, and the equipment that makes it easier typically
costs a fortune. TelVend has a new product that will solve
this problem for PSPs.
TelVend is pleased to
introduce the Pro871
buried wire, cable, pipe
locator/break detector. The
unit incorporates a dual
frequency transmitter and
a sensitive receiver, and can
detect wire, cable and pipe
that are up to three feet
underground.
“If your payphone wire breaks, and it’s buried, it can be
very costly to find the break,” said Cliff Wilson, president of
TelVend. “You have to rip up asphalt and tear up the ground in
some cases. This product saves a lot of time, effort and money.”
Similar products on the market cost between $2,000 and
$4,000, Wilson says. The Pro871 is $499, and just came out on
the market this year.
Wilson says the Pro871 is very easy to use. You simply
connect the transmitter to ground and the wire to be tracked
and turn it on. A series of beeps will guide you to exactly
where the wire is broken. You can use the unit to trace good
wire as well.
An inductive clamp (IC871) can be added for an additional
$100. The clamp allows non-metallic connection to wires and
cables, inducing signal onto the conductor and providing a
tracing signal.
For more information, call (508) 675-5474, or send an
e-mail to [email protected].
PHONE IS WEATHERPROOFED TO THE MAX
THE G-TEL WP500 IS A WEATHERPROOF PHONE designed
for locations where durability and weather resistance is needed.
All the components have multi-layer waterproofing and dust
proofing. The phone can be used for direct dialed calls and also
has the capability to store nine unique speed dial numbers for
fast push button access by the user.
The WP500 is perfect for use as an emergency phone in
transit applications or parking garages. It can also function
as a courtesy phone, a security phone, or a hotline phone.
The phone is designed to be either wall- or pedestalmounted, and can be wall mounted without the need for a
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separate mounting device. The G-TEL WP500 is made of
durable powder-coated steel and is protected by a sealed door
with a latch. The phone utilizes several gaskets and waterproof
gels to keep water out.
The phone is keypad programmable and vandal resistant,
and it has a magnetic hookswitch (i.e. no lever). It works with
any standard telephone line or VoIP. It can be used on most
PBX systems as an extension phone, and the door latch allows
the door to be locked if necessary (but the padlock is not
included).
The optional Security Screw Kit allows the main fasteners
on the front of the phone to be changed out with special tamperresistant screws during
installation. The kit
includes 10 security
screws and one security
screwdriver bit.
For more information, please call (800)
884.4835, or visit
www.payphone.com.
LAST WORD
WE LOVE LARGE TELEPHONE COMPANIES
A PSP HAS HIS PATIENCE TESTED OVER WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SIMPLE REPAIR CALL
by Dennis Williams
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW A COMPANY can be
in business for such a long period of time (decades apparently)
and have lousy customer service? Well question it no longer;
I have the answer.
I do, however, have to choose my words wisely when telling
this story, because some of the words I’d like to use are too
colorful for print. I’ll be polite and won’t name the company
in question, but suffice it to say it’s a large telephone company
in Canada, and you all have similar counterparts in the United
States.
When thinking about such companies, I have to wonder
the following: who hires their employees, who comes up with
the rules for dealing with customers, and why am I the lucky
one who gets to deal with such companies on a daily basis?
What have I ever done to deserve this?
Of the many stories I could share with you, one in particular
comes to mind. It all started about a month ago when one of
my technicians visited a payphone because we had lost contact
with it. After several minutes of troubleshooting, it appeared
that the payphone had lost dial tone, as it was not a handset
or board problem. We actually had no dial tone coming into
the payphone.
REALLY, WE CAN’T FLY
However, my technician could not verify a problem at the
demarcation jack, as the local exchange carrier (LEC) had
installed the jack 30 feet up a telephone pole, and our techniwww.apcc.net
cians do not carry 30 foot ladders or sky-jacks with them. In
fact, my technician does not own a 30 foot ladder or sky-jack,
but maybe the telephone company should supply them. Maybe
I’ll approach them with this idea; I’m sure it would go over big.
After my tech told me about the problem, I prepared myself
for the ordeal I knew I would have to endure. I called the company’s toll-free “so-called” repair number. I was then asked to
enter “1” for English or “2” for French. Since I knew I was
going to have a hard time, I thought I might try French for fun,
even though I don’t speak it very well. But since I really did
have to try to solve the problem, I chose English, mostly
because I know more swear words in it.
I told the person who answered the phone (let’s call him
Roy) that we had no dial tone at our payphone. Without asking
any questions, he transferred me to residential repair before I
could say a word. I was so pleased with this, as I knew the
folks at residential repair would be payphone experts.
So “Judy” answered the phone, and once again I explained
the situation. She then asked me why I had called residential
repair since I was calling about a payphone issue. And then,
without a word, she transferred me to the payphone division.
You are thinking, “Good choice, right!” Not so fast. She had
transferred me to the company’s own payphone division. Yes,
the division that looks after its payphones and not the competitive payphone lines. Therefore, when “Rudy” answered the
phone, he said, “This is not our payphone. I can’t help you.”
Really???
DENNIS WILLIAMS
LAST WORD
So yes, you guessed it; I was again transferred to another
department, which thrilled me no end.
After about 20 minutes on hold, my call was picked up by
Roy. I was so happy because he had proven so competent in
our first exchange. I believe at this point the decibel level of
my voice was slightly (OK, highly) increased from the last time
I had spoken to him.
I’m pretty sure I said something along the lines of “if you
transfer me again, I will stick my hand through the phone and
choke you to death.” I then made him feel better by saying,
“You know, I am not upset with you, but with the company
who would hire someone as incompetent as you.” Amazingly,
that did not go over well. He placed me on hold for 15 minutes
before his supervisor answered my call.
“All I wanted was for the demarcation jack to be 6 feet above the ground,
rather than the 30 feet it is now. Is that
too much to ask for?” I asked the supervisor on duty. “Just send someone out
to lower the demarcation jack and
check for dial tone.”
THIS IS PROGRESS?
OK great; we’re making progress here.
After approximately one hour on the
phone for a simple repair request, it
seems the order has been placed and
the demarc will be relocated to a lower
level. Furthermore, it is to be completed by their technician within two
days. Whatever! Really, how important is dial tone after all?
I should have known better. After
three days of waiting for this repair
to be made, I still could not communicate with the payphone. So I dispatched
our technician once again. He called me
www.apcc.net
from the site, and the demarcation jack had been lowered to
6 feet above the ground as requested, but there was no dial tone
present. I remember thinking, “Can you believe that?” I also
remember repeating a particular four letter word, but I’ll leave
that to your imagination.
Soooooooooo what next? Yes, it was back to the phone to
experience some more of that terrific customer service. Suffice
it to say that my blood was boiling after 35 minutes of that. But
after a very heated conversation, I was able to talk directly to
the technician who lowered the demarcation jack.
The tech actually had the balls to tell me he was there to
lower the demarcation jack to 6 feet and he had not been asked
to confirm dial tone, nor had he thought of that himself. In fact,
he was pretty adamant that he had done his job, and done it
well. “I was only there to move the jack; I did not check dial
tone. I did not have to check dial tone.”
Who in their right mind would service a line and NOT check
for dial tone? I don’t even think the word incompetent covers it.
ARGHHHHHH!
At press time, the dial tone issue had yet to be resolved.
However, I do have an answer to my initial question about how
a company can be in business for such a long period of time and
have such lousy customer service. It just doesn’t care!
Dennis Williams has been involved in the payphone industry
for 11 years and is currently operations manager for FCT Communications Inc., which is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
He can be reached at [email protected]. Feel free
to send questions or ideas for Tech Talk columns.
CLASSIFIEDS
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Call Scott at 316-640-3175, [email protected], Touch Tone Communications.
FOR SALE
Recently pulled from route: Elcotel Series 5 boards, Quadrum style phones unarmored
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