Payphones Past

NY Times: $51 for 2 Minutes? Not Without A Fight.

BBG Global is the payphone villain of the week, according to the New York Times and several other sources. U.S. troops accuse the company of gouging payphone users with exorbitant rates for very brief long-distance calls.

For many American troops passing through Leipzig to the war zones, the steep cost of a quick call home from pay phones has been a source of growing indignation. The Pentagon estimates that about two dozen commercial charters carrying American forces stop at the Leipzig airport each week.

“In interviews, service members said calling rates are not printed on the phones in the segregated lounge, where American troops must stay during layovers. The phones do not accept prepaid phone cards bought in the United States, and troops say their complaints to a customer service line are ignored or not answered.”

Read more at the New York Times, Army Times, and MSNBC.com.

        

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