Southwestern Bell backs off plan to drop long distance plans

<br>(Oklahoma City-AP) -- A flood of angry telephone calls, e-mails and letters from rural Oklahoma has convinced Southwestern Bell Oklahoma to back away from a plan to limit long-distance calling plans.

Friday, September 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- A flood of angry telephone calls, e-mails and letters from rural Oklahoma has convinced Southwestern Bell Oklahoma to back away from a plan to limit long-distance calling plans.

Bell says its Local Plus and One Plus Saver Direct calling plans will remain unchanged for now. The company had planned to limit the number of minutes available starting October 15th, but now says it will work on alternatives.

The long-distance plan allows customers unlimited calls to large areas in the state for a flat fee.

Bell says some customers using the Internet were abusing the service by staying online for days at a time.