News Releases
NEWS RELEASE FOR:
Hargray Communications Group
June 12, 2007
Calling your neighbor won't cost an arm and a leg anymore
By JIM FABER
jfaber@islandpacket.com
843-706-8137
A plan that will allow Hargray Communications to charge all customers a flat rate in exchange for unlimited local calling has been approved by the state and will be rolled out this fall.
Under the new plan, Hargray will charge all residential customers $2.25 a month and business customers $4.50 a month in addition to existing line rental and other charges.
In return, calls from Hilton Head Island to as far away as Beaufort and Tybee Island won't be treated as toll calls.
Currently, residential customers have the option of paying $10 per month for unlimited calls in the area or paying 4 cents per minute.
Tray Hunter, community relations manager for Hargray, said the company will initiate the new plan in the fall.
Hargray proposed the plan, which was approved by the state Public Service Commission late last month, after being faced with a possible investigation over local calling rates.
The initial inquiry was prompted in 2005 by Sun City Hilton Head resident Don Cotnoir who discovered he was being charged the 4 cents per minute rate for calling from his home to the Wal-Mart Supercenter across U.S. 278, a building he can almost see from his home.
Hargray has estimated that 63 percent of residential customers and 52 percent of business customers will see either lower bills or no change in cost under the new plan.
Hargray Long Distance will reduce its rate for unlimited nationwide calling to $22.74 from $24.99 per month under the new plan.