Editorial: Hanging up on phone slamming

Thursday, May 14, 1998 | 10:59 a.m.

Deregulation has given long-distance telephone customers more choices, but the lack of regulation also has led to some companies taking advantage of consumers. Switching long-distance service without the customer's knowledge -- often called "slamming" -- is a growing problem. The Federal Communications Commission had fewer than 2,000 complaints in 1993, but the number grew to 20,000 last year.

Slamming is not only annoying, it can be costly to the consumer. Victims sometimes end up paying rates with the new telephone carrier that are as much as 10 times what the customers would have paid with a low-cost carrier. They might not even know they've been slammed until they get that first bill.

The FCC already had in place regulations aimed at curtailing slamming, but they simply didn't have enough teeth. If the Senate bill gets approved by the House and is signed into law, Congress and the FCC should continue to closely monitor slamming to make sure that the legislation is in fact protecting consumers.

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