FCC Adds Toll Free Calling Surcharge to Pay Phone Calls

In response to the FCC’s new ruling, Lightyear will begin charging its customers 26 cents for every toll free call made from a payphone to a Lightyear customer’s 800 number. If you have toll free (800/888/877) service from Lightyear and your customer calls your toll free number via a payphone, you will be assessed this surcharge for each of those calls.

The same surcharge will be assessed to calling card calls if placed a payphone. Within the past few weeks, all of the major carriers have filed tariffs with the FCC charging from 29 cents to 35 cents for all toll-free calls originating from a payphone. Lightyear’s 26 cent charge will be included in the call detail on each customer’s invoice with an asterisk to the right side of the charge. At the bottom of the invoice, the customer will see the corresponding asterisk followed by an explanation of the charge similar to "this call includes a 26 cent surcharge because the call was made with a toll-free 800/888/877 number via a payphone."