California · Public Utilities Code - PUC

PUC §741: (a) Every owner or operator of telephones available for public use, other than a telephone corporation, that accept any form of payment which, as part of the service furnished, provides operator-assis

What this law says, in plain English

Owners or operators of public pay phones that accept payment and provide operator assistance must comply with specified service requirements.

Read the full statutory text
(a) Every owner or operator of telephones available for public use, other than a telephone corporation, that accept any form of payment which, as part of the service furnished, provides operator-assisted services by other than a telephone corporation having tariff schedules on file with the commission providing for the furnishing of operator-assisted services, shall cause to be posted on or near the telephone equipment so as to be easily seen by telephone customers all of the following information: (1) The name of the provider of operator-assisted services and a toll-free telephone number for contacting that provider. (2) The applicable charges for each available operator-assisted service. (3) That the provider of operator-assisted services will respond to inquiries concerning the terms and conditions of any available service. (4) That surcharges may apply to operator-assisted and calling card calls. (5) That card-activated calls, calls activated by any other payment device, or calls that may be charged to a card by giving a card number to an operator may cost more than coin-activated calls. (6) The local rates for nonoperator-assisted calls. (b) Every owner or operator of telephones available for public use, other than a telephone corporation, that accept any form of payment which, as part of the service furnished, provides operator-assisted services by other than a telephone corporation having tariff schedules on file with the commission providing for the furnishing of operator-assisted services, shall: (1) Identify itself, audibly and distinctly, to the consumer at the beginning of each telephone call and before the consumer incurs any charge for the call. (2) Permit the consumer to terminate the telephone call before the call is connected. (3) At no charge, disclose to the consumer, immediately after the number to be called is entered or given to an operator, a quotation of its complete rates and charges for the call. (c) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2015.

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