AT&T; Lays Out Plan to Fight ‘Slamming’

AT&T; Corp., blaming outside sellers of its phone service for the growing problem of consumers having their long-distance carrier switched without their knowledge, said it will curtail its use of independent sales agents, place restrictions on resellers and start a phone hotline to answer customer complaints. The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based phone company also urged the Federal Communications Commission to make an industrywide requirement that an independent third party verify that a customer has indeed requested a change in long-distance carriers. AT&T; also urged the agency to adopt rules that would compensate carriers whose customers have been slammed and that would penalize the responsible carriers $1,000 for each slamming incident. The company said it remains opposed to a proposal federal regulators are considering: that slamming victims be exempt from having to pay long-distance phone charges incurred while an unauthorized switch was in effect.