10-10-321

(Redirected from 10-10-220)
'10-10-321' is a United States long-distance phone service best known for its prolific television advertising in the late 1990s. 10-10-321 was the first mass-marketed service of its type, and it and the similar '10-10-220' service were both owned by Telecom USA, which was owned by MCI. All services of its kind essentially allow consumers to bypass, or "dial-around" their primary long-distance carrier and use a different one.^[1]
The services originally used just 10- followed by a 3-digit number, such as '10-321', but quickly ran out of numbers. They advertised various savings over traditional long-distance companies, most famously 10-10-220 offered 20 minutes for 99¢ and 10¢ a minute after that.^[2]
The services were both advertised heavily, using celebrities such as James Garner, Dennis Miller and George Carlin.^[3] This ubiquitous presence on television lead to an inevitable spillage over into pop culture for a brief time.
By the early 2000s, the steep discounts were no longer offered, and they saw rate increases as much as 80 percent in fall 2002, with 10-10-321 going from 10 cents a minute to 18 cents on October 1 2002. A year earlier, a 9.9 percent "Universal Service Fund" charge had been added.¹ The television advertising has since become much less common.
Both the 10-10-220 and 10-10-321 services are still available, although at significantly higher prices than originally advertised. The current rate for the 321 service is a flat 20¢ per minute, while the 220 service runs 99¢ for the first 10 minutes and 15¢ for each minute afterward.

Contents

References

External links

References

1. http://consumeraffairs.com/news02/10_rates.html
2. http://www.thecommondenominator.com/cl050399.html
3. http://www.shadowculture.com/adman/admn1129.html

External links

★ 1010321.com