Connecticut western news., 1919-01-02
INCREASE IN TELEPHONE
 RATES JANUARY FIRST
25 Cents More for Residence and 50 Cents for Busi-
 ness Phones

Announcement is made by Tho
 Southern New England Telephone
 Company that as a result of large
 and repeated increases in the costs
 of labor and material it finally be-
 comes necessary to make a general
 increase in it's exchange service
 rates throughout the state. The
 rate changes, effective January 1st.
 apply to all exchange service fur
 nished on fat rate basis and rep resent in general an increase of 25c
 month for residence telephones and
 soc month fer business telephones.
 In explaining the necessity for this
 increase, the Company points out
 that its pre-war rates have been
 continued for a substantial period during which the rates and prices for other services and commodities
 have been materially advanced and states that the amount of revenue
 resulting from the rate increase will, in fact, be somewhat less than the
 amount of wage increases that have
 been accorded to employees during
 the last six months.
 uG nGM sNSAlG VI IhlcS WN1 AI-
 proved on December 21st by the Postmaster General under whose
 control the telephone business in
 Connecticut, ns elsewhere, has been
 operated since August 1st. 1t is not
 expected that the increase will in an
 cases be permanent since the present exigencies in the telephone business, as in other business, are regarded as abnormal. 1t has always been the policy of the Company and it is the announced policy of the Postmaster
 General to modify and standardize rates whenever possible through re-
 duced costs of operation, and it w believed that opportunity for the exercise of this policy will in some as it has been afforded in the past
 measure be afforded in the future
 Coupled with the above announce ment is the further news that be- gining January 1st telephone bills will cover exchange service for ono month only. This represents . de- parture from the long established custom of rendering bills for three months service and is expected to be welcomed by the. pnhlic as conform- ing with regular coffiniefrfaf practice and as simplifying the checking and payment of bills. The bills of JanU- ary 1st will, of course, include ton charges for the three months period ended December goth but subge- quent bills will carry toll charges .fO- one month only. ....
 AS already announc,A by tho Tc master General the charges
 installing new telephones and
 changing the location of existil telephones have been materially duced. The former charges wern five, ten or fifteen dollars, according to the rate paid for the telephone service itself, but the present charge either for installing or moving tole- phone is only $3.50, regardless cf the rate paid for the service. This reduction is in keeping with he oF- der of the Postmaster General ,a odi- flying the restrictions on service ex- tensions imposed because of the war and will prove to be helpful factor in the future development of the business.
 The effect in Connecticut of the recently announced order covering the standardization of toll rates as of January 21st cannot be fully stated at this time as the new rateE have not yet been computed. Om the one hand, the new rates, which are based upon a system of fixed mileage charges, will occasion suh- stantial increases between long haA points as the present toll rate sche- dule in Connecticut is unique in pro viding a maximum rate of 25c be- tween any two points within the state, but as the traffic is naturally light between long haul points these increases will mean less to the public and to the business than would ap- pear at first thought On the other hand, there are many points n Con necticut, approximately twenty miles apart, where the present rate Is also 25c and where reductions win take place under the new schedule Between these points, the traffic ia relatively high and the rate changes will carry more meaning than those long haul points. Between .he very short haul points, both in ,reases and decreases will be occa- stoned, the new schedule providing ! rate of 5c in cases where the air inc distance does not exceed six niles. Full announcement of thu new rates as applied between CoD-- lecticut Exchanges will be made prior to January 21st.