What You Should Do After Placing an Order to Switch Long Distance Service

Confirm Your Order Has Been Received   *You will receive a confirming E-Mail.
If you placed your order online, a confirming E-Mail should arrive within a few hours. If you placed your order by faxing it, a confirming E-Mail should arrive within a few days. If you do not receive a confirming E-Mail within these time periods, please contact us with your signup details: date of signup, your phone number(s), and the service.

You MUST Verify   *This is to be sure someone else isn't slamming your service!
Depending on the service and the choice you made at signup, either you will receive an E-Mail or a phone call, or you will be given other specific instructions. Customers in California must verify all orders by phone - maybe Arnold can do something about that! Our Opex plans do not require this verification; they consider your order to be "electronically signed" as soon as you click on the "finalize order" button. If you are not able to verify as per the instructions, please contact us.

Remove PIC Freeze   *Your service cannot be switched legally if there is a PIC freeze!
Call your local phone company and ask that any PIC freezes be removed from your phone number(s) for both long distance (interLata) and regional toll (intraLata) service. Many persons who do not believe they have a PIC freeze on their lines, discover that there is one. In a few days from when you signed up, your new long distance carrier will submit an order to your local phone company to have the service changed. If there is no PIC freeze at that time, you local phone company will switch the service as requested. DO NOT have your local phone company switch your service (self PIC) before the order is placed unless your new carrier instructs you to do so! If your service is switched before you are put on our low cost plan, you may be stuck with higher rates.

How To Know Your Service Has Been Switched   *Determine your carrier.
If you have switched to Cavalier local service, dial 1-700-555-4110 and you should hear "Thank you for choosing Cavalier".
If you have switched to Pioneer long distance service, dial 1-700-555-1212 and you should hear a welcome message from Global Crossing.
Otherwise, dial 1-700-555-4141 to check if your local phone co. has switched your long distance service. You should here the name of your current long distance carrier. If this does not work, dial 00 and you should hear the name of your long distance carrier. To see if your intraLATA (also known as Regional Toll) service has been switched, if you are on Covista offnet ALN 0444, dial 1+700-555-1101. Otherwise either 1+(your area code)+555-4141 or 1+(your area code)+700-4141 should work. Once you hear the name of your new carrier on EACH of your lines for both long distance and intraLata service, you know your outgoing service has been switched correctly.

What To Do Once Your Service Has Been Switched   *Finalize the switch.
If you have toll free (incoming) service, you should phone customer service of your new long distance company and have them confirm that the toll free number(s) have been switched to their service.
After confirming that both incoming and outgoing service has been switched to your new carrier, call your previous long distance carrier and cancel your long distance account so that you do not continue to receive billing from them. Then, phone your local phone company and request that they put a PIC freeze on all your lines and services so that, in theory, no one can slam your service to another carrier without your permission.