[originaltext]W: Tony, I just moved into my new apartment, and I need to have t

W: Tony, I just moved into my new apartment, and I need to have the phones hooked up. I have no idea what I am doing. I have to make all these decisions about local, local long-distance, and long-distance carriers.
M: I know. It’s really complicated. In America, we have somewhere between five and ten thousand long-distance telephone companies. Competition is nice, but sometimes I think we have too much choice! It was easier before deregulation in the early eighties. The telecommunications industry has become far too confusing, but at least prices have really gone down in the last twenty years.
W: Why do I need to choose more than one company?
M: We divide telephone service into three categories: local, local long-distance, and long-distance. Your long-distance company allows you to call foreign countries, other American states, and other cities in your state. Your local long-distance company allows you to call suburbs or regions just outside your city. And, of course, your local company allows you to place calls within your own city.
W: But they only asked me to choose a local long-distance company and a long-distance company. Don’t I get to choose my local service?
M: In Southern California, we really don’t have much choice yet when it comes to local service. It’s still basically a monopoly.
W: Is it really expensive to make local telephone calls then? How much does it cost per minute?
M: Actually, for most people, local calls do not have a per minute charge. You pay your local telephone company a monthly service fee of around ten to fifteen dollars for your local service, but then we don’t have to pay per minute.