Public Knowledge Comments to the FCC:

“This proposal will harm consumers as well as carriers that serve rural communities, widening the digital divide.”

“The purpose of toll free numbers is that 8YY subscribers pay for the service in order for their callers to be connected toll free, but if these costs are passed on to consumers, they will ultimately make fewer 8YY calls, which will have a chilling effect of reducing access to toll free services.”

“8YY numbers are useful and may even be critical in some instances, such as toll-free crisis hotlines. However, a move to bill-and-keep will harm consumers trying to access these services…Under a bill-and-keep framework, consumers will have to pay to use toll free service—essentially an oxymoron.”

T-Mobile Comments to the FCC:

“[Adopting the U.S. Telecom proposal] would establish the ILEC tandem as the network edge, thereby perpetuating antiquated voice technology and…will slow the Commission’s progress in other technology-driven proceedings, including those involving robocalling and network security.”

NTCA Comments to the FCC:

“...the Commission’s proposal would upend the toll-free calling paradigm and would have the perverse result of saddling 8YY callers with the costs of originating and routing supposedly “toll free” calls.”

“If the Commission adopts its proposal, however, 8YY calls will no longer be “toll free” for consumers. Rather, under a bill-and-keep framework, LECs will be forced to bear the costs of originating 8YY calls and then to bill their subscribers—which include both 8YY and non-8YY callers—to recover such costs. The result is that consumers—including those living in high cost rural areas—will pay more for local exchange service, even if they do not use this service to place 8YY calls.”

“...the Commission’s consideration of reducing 8YY traffic to bill-and-keep represents picking the largest IXCs as regulatory winners and customers as losers.”

Charter Communications Comments to the FCC:

“The consumer harm from this change would be immediate and direct, by forcing providers to charge higher rates without providing any additional benefit for consumers.”

“...bill-and-keep would shift the costs of such calls from businesses (and IXCs) to the very consumers whose calls they seek to stimulate, forcing end users to subsidize a premium business service and rendering the calls no longer “toll-free” to the consumer.”

“...transitioning 8YY to bill-and-keep would harm consumers through higher rates, outweighing any benefits to the ICC system.”

West Telecom Services Comments to the FCC:

“The result sought by the IXCs would eliminate the IXC compensation due upstream providers in the path of a toll-free call for their call routing and other services necessary for toll-free call completion, and therefore it would seriously jeopardize market competition.”

“Adoption of the 8YY originating access compensation changes sought by the IXCs would have a profound adverse impact on that vast majority of honest providers and on toll-free-calling consumers, and it would not be in the public interest.”

Eric Bolling via Twitter:

“Calls to crisis hotlines for addiction & suicide prevention have increased 60% during the pandemic. Federal regulators are threatening to take away access to toll-free calling...” View Tweet

"Small Businesses rely on toll-free numbers, like 1800 numbers, to bring in business. And today small businesses need every advantage they can get! Regulators are considering taking away toll-free access..." View Tweet

Tim Young via Twitter:

“This is insane... Federal Regulators are threatening to take away TOLL FREE CALLING... so it would potentially cost people to call SUICIDE PREVENTION and DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINES.” View Tweet

“Think of how many people need crisis hotlines... especially with COVID lockdowns and spikes in domestic violence and suicide... It would be insane to take away toll free calling for these much-needed services” View Tweet

Small Business for America's Future via Twitter

"An @FCC Order will upend the #tollfree system at a time when small businesses are relying on toll-free numbers like the IRS hotline to receive their #PPP loans. Tell the @FCC to #keeptollfreecallshttps"​ ​​ View Tweet