Rategate Service & Help

Dear user,
Rategate.com wants you to make a well educated caller. We want you to find and navigate through the telecommunication jungle. Thus we tried to collect many usefull infos concerning telecommunication issues. We continously try to collect all telecommunication data to help you explain all the different telecommunication terms. One example is your telphone bill. You will find tons of different terms, rates and prices allthough you really do not understand what you should pay for. If you navigate through our help and service section, you will find a lot of explanation for all those terms. Please feel free to navigate through Rategate and make yourself a well educated caller.

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Switch your long distance service provider

Consequences of changing your long distance company. As a consumer you have the ability to switch your primary interxchange carrier (PIC). For a better understanding we outlined this process to inform you about what exactly happens during this switching process:

Your long distance phone calls will be directly routed to your long distance carrier of choice although your local telephone company will maintain their wires that run into your home or business. The carrier that carries your direct dialed long distance calls is named the "pre-subscribed carrier" or primary interxchange carrier (PIC)
If you choose to switch your pre-subscribed carrier after comparing long distance rates, there are a few points to look at before:
Carriers and rate plans vary in their process to generate accounts, so your switch will begin with some kind of mechanism like web-signup, a call to customer service or signing a contract.
In many states long distance companies are required to submit your change request to a "third party verification service" to verify that you indeed have chosen to switch long distance companies. This frequently takes the form of an automated phone call that restates the terms of your new service and asks you to verify that you have chosen it and want to be switched. In those states that require third party verification it is impossible for your carrier to switch your service until you have verified your request, or submitted a written request to be switched.
After the verification of your request to change the carrier, your new carrier should give you the procedure for successfully switching your service. Some carriers will handle out a "PIC" code to give your local phone company. Others will "handle the switch" for you and communicate the new "PIC" code to your local phone company for you. In either case your service will not be switched until your local phone company updates its switch to re-route the calls to the new carrier using the new carrier's "PIC" code.
The time needed to switch varies from 1 to 10 business days depending on the number of factors including the amount of time it takes your new carrier to create an account and the amount of time it takes your local phone company to update the "PIC" code on your account. In case it takes more than 10 business days you should definitely consider follow-up with your new company.
PIC Freeze is one of the most common causes for delays in changing the carrier. (link glossary) If you have requested that your local phone company not switch your long distance carrier without your permission it is impossible for the switch to go through without adjusting that status. Each company has its own way to handle such situations. Some ask you to remove the "PIC Freeze." from your line. Others ask you to teleconference with them and your local phone company to authorize the switch. Others give you a "PIC" code and ask you to notify your local phone company to switch to the new code. Contact your carrier regarding their procedure for "PIC Freezes" if you have one on your line.
It is very common that local phone companies charge you with a PIC switching fee. Often the new long distance carriers will refund this switching fee. Others will not. Some also offer a guarantee that if you ever choose to switch away from their long distance service that they will pay for the switch. Please contact your carrier or ask about their policies.
In order to check out which long distance carrier is serving as your primary Pre-subscribed carrier simply dial 1-700 5554141. There you will get informed about who is the carrier who is carrying your calls. As many long distance reseller actually route the calls over larger carriers network you should not be surprised, that the name you hear will not be the company you think you are doing business with. Usually many of the heavily discounted rate plans are resellers that use the lines of larger carriers. In case you hear some unexpected voice prompts, please contact your new company to find out whether these voice prompts are correct and belong to their services.
After successfully switching please contact your old carrier to cancel your account. Although this should happen automatically it is usually best to make sure the account is closed to avoid any additional monthly fees, minimums, etc. Again we would like to outline, that you should definitely wait to cancel your old service until you have verified that your new service is working perfectly. Otherwise you´ll have very high "casual caller rates".
After verification you should ask your telephone company for a PIC freeze on your line to prevent unauthorized security breeches.
Always keep an eye on your phone bill !