About SkyTel:

FCC Rulings

Universal Service Fund Fee
FCC Ruling Affects Pay Phone Users
IVR General Access Numbers
Blocked SkyTel 800/888 numbers

Universal Service Fund Fee

In the Universal Service Order released May 8, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission established new federal universal service support mechanisms consistent with the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. The money raised is used to wire schools, libraries, and rural health-care centers for telecommunications. The Commission requires all telecommunications carriers that provide interstate telecommunications services, providers of interstate telecommunications, and payphone service providers to contribute to the federal universal support mechanisms.

In April 1998, SkyTel began including a nominal charge of 1.5% of the current month's charges, excluding taxes and finance charges. Within the detail of the invoice a line item appears as "FCC Universal Service Fund Fee". These funds are remitted to the Federal government as part of our contribution to the Universal Service Fund. This amount may vary on occasion as the FCC makes adjustments.

Effective October 1999, The Universal Service Fund Fee (UNI Fee) was increased to 2.1%.

Your voice can make a difference.

For more information, visit the FCC web site (www.fcc.gov). If you'd like to let the FCC know your opinion on the ruling, please send an email to fccinfo@fcc.gov, call 202-418-0200 or send a letter to:

Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, NW
Washington DC 20554

FCC Ruling Affects Pay Phone Users

The Telecom Act of 1996 (Docket No. 96-128) mandated that a fee be paid by phone companies (AT&T, MCI, Sprint) to Pay Phone Service Providers for all non-emergency calls originating from pay phones, effective Nov. 17,1997. Pay phone service providers and long distance carriers charge a combined total $.30* access fee for each call to an 800/888 number made from a pay phone. For calls into the SkyTel system, these access fees will be passed on by the long distance provider and will appear on your monthly SkyTel invoice.

*The pay phone service providers are charging $0.284 each, and the long distance carriers are charging an additional $0.016 each, for a combined total of $0.30 for each call.

In order to minimize the impact of these regulations on our customers, we have implemented the following policies for pay phone calls into the SkyTel system.

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SkyTel IVR General Access Numbers

The following numbers (see the complete list of SkyTel blocked numbers) are no longer accessible from pay phones, however, they do remain accessible from other telephones:

1-800-SKY8888 (1-800-759-8888)
(The 1Way SkyTel System for- SkyPager®, SkyWord, SkyWord Plus)

1-800-SKYTEL2 (1-800-759-8352)
(The 2Way SkyTel System for SkyWord Plus with SkyReply® and SkyWriter®)

Pay Phone users can now reach the SkyTel system through the new SkyTel Pay Phone access numbers listed below.

SkyTel Pay Phone Access #

601-960-9548 (use instead of 1-800-SKY8888)

601-969-6848 (use instead of 1-800-SKYTEL2)

Note: The SkyTel Pay Phone Access numbers are charged to the caller as a normal long distance call if calling from outside the Jackson, MS area.

SkyTel Customer Service (SKYUSER)

1-800-SKYUSER (1-800-759-8737) remains available from pay phones. Call this number for service and support as you always have. The send-a-page option is no longer available from this number.

SkyTel Offices & Administration

800 numbers to regional sales offices, corporate headquarters, and all 800 numbers in current advertising will remain available from pay phones.

Customer Personal Access Numbers

Customer Personal Access Numbers (SkyTel 10-digit pager numbers beginning with 800, 888 or 877) are still accessible from pay phones, and the $.30 access fee for each call will appear on your SkyTel invoice. If you do not wish to incur these charges, you may have your Personal Access Number blocked from pay phone access by submitting an authorization form or by contacting Customer Service at 1-800-SKYUSER (1-800-759-8737). Your request will be processed within 48 hours.

Corporate 800/888 Numbers

Corporate 800/888 numbers are still accessible from pay phones, and the $.30 access fee for each call will appear on your SkyTel invoice. If your company does not want to incur these charges, you may block the Corporate 800/888 number from pay phone access by submitting the authorization form or by contacting Customer Service at 1-800-SKYUSER (1-800-759-8737). Your request will be processed within 48 hours.

Your voice can make a difference.

Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, NW
Washington DC 20554

Complete list of blocked SkyTel 800/888 numbers

The following numbers are blocked from pay phone access:

1-800-SKY8888 (1-800-759-8888)	One-way IVR
1-800-SKYTEL2 (1-800-759-8352)	Two-way IVR
1-800-SKYGRAM (1-800-759-4726)	Customer Message Center / alpha paging
1-800-SKYPAGE (1-800-759-7243)	Numeric paging IVR
1-800-SKYTALK (1-800-759-8255)	SkyTalk® IVR
1-800-SKYFAX3 (1-800-759-3293)	SkyFax IVR

Any user wishing to call these numbers must call from a phone other than a pay phone or call the SkyTel pay phone access numbers listed below. Note, the SkyTel pay phone access numbers are charged to the caller as a normal long distance call if outside a calling area.

SkyTel Pay Phone Access number	800 Number
601-960-9548 or 601-960-9547	1-800-SKY8888 (1-800-759-8888)
601-969-6848	1-800-SKYTEL2 (1-800-759-8352)
619-279-8495	1-800-SKYGRAM (1-800-759-4726)
601-960-9560	1-800-SKYPAGE (1-800-759-7243)
601-960-9550	1-800-SKYTALK (1-800-759-8255)