Telephone Terms

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First a few telephone terms...  Show-Me Rates is designed to help you compare prices for local toll calls and long distance calls. 

Exchange

 Geographic area in which a consumer receives telephone service.

 Local Service Area

The geographic area that consumers may call without incurring long distance charges.

Toll Calling

Toll calling is generally billed by companies on a per minute basis. Most callers place toll calls by dialing 1+ the telephone number they wish to call. Toll calling can be separated into several different types and companies can have different rates apply for these different types of calls: Local toll calls, long distance calls and state-to-state calls.  

Local Toll Call 

Local Toll Calls are also known as intraLATA toll calls. Local toll calling is long distance calling within a LATA (Local Access Transport Area). Missouri has four LATAs (depicted on the map by the red, blue, orange and green boundary lines). Examples of local toll calls are calls between Jefferson City and Columbia (Cole and Boone Counties), St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Springfield and Joplin (Greene and Jasper Counties), or Kansas City and Kirksville (Kansas City and Adair County).

Long Distance Call

Long distance calls are also known as interLATA calls and pertain to toll calling between LATAs. Examples of long distance calls are calls between Springfield and St. Louis, St. Louis and Kansas City.

State-to-State Call

State-to-state calls refer to toll calling between states.

If you need more information on these types of calls, contact your telephone company of choice at the contact number provided with link in the Show-Me Rate table or the Missouri Public Service.

Monthly fees

A base amount consumers will be charged each month in addition to the per-minute charge for calls.

Monthly minimum

The minimum amount a consumer will pay regardless of the amount of calls made during that month (i.e. a consumer with a monthly minimum of $4.95 who only makes calls totalling $3.00 based on the per-minute rate will still be charged $4.95 on the monthly bill).

Peak (also referred to as day rates)

The part of the business day in which consumers can expect to pay higher long distance service rates. Exact peak hours may vary by company but would be similar to 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Off-peak (also referred to as evening and/or night rates)

The periods of time after the business day has ended during which carriers offer discounted long distance airtime charges. Some companies offer further discounted rates for long distance calls made during late-night hours.

Why shopping matters...

Recent federal and state laws have created an open market for telephone services. You may be able to choose one company to handle both your local toll and long distance calls or different companies for each type of calling.

But you need reliable information to make an educated choice. That's why Show-Me Rates was designed.