Southwestern Bell long distance number

Friday, March 30th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Southwestern Bell is one of the newest players in the long distance game. And the company has set up a toll free number for consumers to find out more about their service. But, someone else has set up a similar number and if you call it, it could cost you.

KOTV's Consumer reporter, Diane White explains in a Consumer 6 Alert. Southwestern Bell says this is a case of mistaken identity and it believes someone is trying to trick people into spending money. When the telephone company got the go ahead to offer long distance service, they set up a special toll free number.

The number is 1-877-PICK-SWB. But someone set up a copycat number - 1-800-PICK-SWB. "Hello if you are trying to reach Southwestern Bell long distance, you will be given the opportunity to receive the correct number, by pressing one now or any time during this message." When you press one, you hear: "The correct number for Southwestern Bell long distance is 1-877-742-5792." But if you listen to the entire message it says, "Our patent pending process will provide you with the number for one dollar and 99 cents, which will be billed to your local telephone bill as call connect, or at anytime during this recording you can hang up and check the number through directory assistance." Southwestern Bell says it has no connection to this number and says it is "still investigating who's behind this. This is obviously a money making scheme that exploits our name recognition."

Again, the right toll free number to dial for long distance information is 1-877-PICK-SWB.