Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-09
TELEPHONE RATE
REDUCTION seen
Zone Method Planned fol
AIexandria'S Recently
Annexed Area.
By HOWARD M. BAGGETT,
stan Correspondent Of The star

ALEXANDRIA, Va, November a.
The local branch Of the Chesapeake q
! Potomac Telephone Co. has under con-
| sideration q plan for doing away with
| the present system of charging for tele-
| phone service in the recently annexed
| territory at an addition over the old
| territory rate for each quarter mile from
the old line and substituting new
zone covering practically all of the an
nexed territory with one rate, consid-
| erably reduced:
II this plan, which has been worked
out under direction Of Lawrence T.
| Roland, manager of the local company
is adopted, 1t win mean an $1,000 an
nual loss In revenue to the company
and Roland is seeking to convince tele-
phone officials that the gain In the
service will compensate.
A new telephone exchange originally
scheduled to be built here this year
| probably win not be built until 1894
Roland said, due to the inability Of en-
gineers Of the company to definitely
determine In which direction the city
will grow. Planning for future growth
by the company, Roland said, Is usu-
ally from 81 to 90 per cent accurate
/ over a l0-year period, but, due to the
TACT. that 1t cannot be foreseen here
| 70 the west or along the new Mount
Vernon Boulevard, the location of the
new exchange, which must be as cen.
tral as possible, cannot be determined
| 1t this time.
Dial System Waits.
The dial system win not be installed
mere until the new exchange Is built
Within 10 years the telephone company
expects the dials to be used in ali ex.
changes having 1000 or more tele.
phones IN service. There are $500 tel.
epnones handled by the local Office, and
u is one OF the few branches to show
q net gain IN service in the past year
The proposed new zone. to have 4
nat rate at slightly higher level thar
the rate IN the old city, would extend
under Roland's plan, from the Potomac
River on the east to Four Mile Run or
the north and be bounded by an inn.
aginary line on the west running one.
quarter mile west Of and parallel h
Russell road. This would take In JET.
ferson Park, -Braddock Heights, Oak.
WOOD, Beverly Hills, Hume, Glebe, Beau.
mont, Potomac, Mount Ida, Braddoch
and other subdivisions in the area.
Tne State Corporation Commission
| provides that the nat service rate shaIj
be charged within q radius of i milk
fronn the telephone exchange, witt
rates for each one-qparter mile there.
AFTER at an additional figure, Due Il
Q natural boundary. Hunting Greek. or
the south, the local company has foI
some years charged the fiat initial rate
In all Of the old city territory.
Annexed Territory Rates.
At present telephone users In the an.
nexed territory pay rs cents per month
for each quarter mile they are over the
city line for private or business phone,
and AZ cents for each quarter mile fol
| two-party phones. Telephones In soma
OF the fairly heavily settled suburbs OF
the city are as much as "a miles from
the city line, which results In six zone
additions to the base city rate and rum
the cost of telephones In those section,
| rather high
| Considerable protest has been made
TO the local company by residents Of
the new territory sections, and as :
result several surveys have been made
in attempt to md some way to relieve
the condition. Roland's plan Ia thu
result Of these surveys, and It's adoption
1t this time Is dependent on his con.
vincing officials Of his company that thu
increase, in service due to lower rate.
would onset the estimated 5000 Loss
| in revenue.
The nat rate in the old city at thu
present time Is S. per month for bust.
ness phones, 50 for private residence
/ phones and $2.25 for party line phones
in residences. A person with a private
residence. phone ] " miles from the Ole
city line Is now required to pay 90 plur
six charges of rs cents for each QUAR-.
ter mile, making the total monthly
| service charge Of $780,