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Telephone Service
Your local telephone company provides the facilities to make calls
within your region or state. You have to subscribe to a long distance
carrier like AT&T, MCI WorldCom, and Sprint in order to make long
distance calls from your home telephone.
Important
phone numbers
911- this is for emergencies.
411- this is automated directory assistance.
If you want
the phone number of a person or a business establishment, dial
411. You have to provide information like the city in which the
person or business is located, what kind of listing (this is "people"
if you are looking for people) or the type of Business like "Restaurants",
if you are looking for Business listings. Then you give the name.
Most of the times an operator comes on the line and gives you
the required information.
Toll
free numbers
Usually to make a phone call you pay some amount to the Telephone
Company. However if you call a toll free number you do not have
to pay anything, they may be dialed anywhere in the country free
of charge. The called person (its usually a company) will pay
for your call. These numbers are also called 1-800 (One eight
Hundred) numbers. They always start with 1-800 or 1-888. Many
businesses have telephone numbers prefixed with 800 for their
customer's convenience.
Calling
cards
You can make long distance calls even when you have not subscribed
to a long distance call provider, by the use of a prepaid card
popularly known as the calling cards. These cards are available
at all supermarkets and gas stations. The price of the pre paid
calling cards vary between 5$ to 20$.
US
Postal Service
The postal service plays one of the major role in the communications.
It delivers letters, packages/parcels and sells stamps and postal
money orders. They deliver both locally and internationally also.
Usually letters
and correspondence are sent by first class mail within United
States. No extra postage is required for airmail as all the interstate
mails are routinely sent by air. On the other hand, while sending
mail abroad you should pay for airmail because surface mail travels
by ship and is considerably slower.
UPS and FedEx are the most commonly used services for sending
international and overnight delivery services.
Addressing
Mail
While addressing a mail in United States, it is very important
to include the zip code along with the address, else the delivery
might be delayed. The zip code should be placed on the same line
as the city and state, it should be placed after the state.
US
Postal Rates
Basically
there are four kinds of mail, each with a different set of postage:
Post cards
These are with a maximum dimension of 4-1/4" x 6". Postcards exceeding
these dimensions are mailed at the first class letter rate of
34 cents. Postcards have a picture or illustration on one side,
and a place for writing a message and addressing the card on the
other.
Letters
Standard letters may not be wider than 6-1/8", longer than 11-1/2",
or thicker than 1/4". The smallest letter size can be 3-1/2 inches
high and 5 inches long. If the envelope is nonstandard in size,
there is an 11¢ surcharge.
Aerograms
Aerograms are lightweight stationery that can fold into a mailing
envelope for correspondence with other countries. They do not
permit enclosures and have a maximum dimension of 7-1/4" x 3-9/16".
Parcels
and Packages
The cost of mailing a package depends on the weight of the package,
the distance, and the class of service. The maximum weight allowed
is 70 pounds and the maximum size is 108 inches. Within the United
States packages can be sent by first class mail or parcel post.
Parcel post is somewhat slower, but also less expensive. Packages
sent by parcel post travel by surface transportation (truck or
train) and arrive within 7 to 10 days.
The following
are some of the more frequently used postage rates.
Postal
services rate calculator
One ounce is about 28 grams. A business-size envelope containing
six sheets of 8-1/2" x 11" office paper weighs approximately one
ounce.
United
Parcel Service (UPS).
UPS is frequently used for shipping packages because they are
often less expensive than the US Postal Service, especially for
heavy and bulky packages. They are the first choice for shipping
by many mail order companies. They also offer guaranteed overnight
delivery for letters. Available services include UPS Next Day
Air, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 3 Day Select, UPS Ground, and UPS International.
Facsimile
(Fax) Services
Facsimile (fax) services can be found almost everywhere in the
United States - from stationery stores and copy shops to laundries.
If you want to send a fax to someone or receive fax from someone
it will cost quite a bit per each page. Therefore it is suggested
to use professional fax services only when it is absolutely necessary.
If you need to send a fax quite often then buying a fax machine
will be more suggestive.
Internet
Once you have an apartment, and a telephone connection if you
have a pc or a laptop with you then you could subscribe to one
of the ISP's for Internet. Some ISP's like Netzero provide free
Internet access. You can subscribe to one month of free trial
to any of the top ISP's like AOL, MSN, and Mindspring etc.
Some of the
most popular ISP's to which you could subscribe are:
Netzero.com
MSN
AOL
EarthLink
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