Phone plan offers savings for United Methodist churches, agencies  Nov. 17, 2004
NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (UMNS) — A new plan negotiated by the United Methodist Publishing
House with AT&T provides an opportunity for churches, organizations
and agencies to save on long distance and local telephone service. Mike Cunningham, director of information technology at the Publishing House, says the plan "is a good deal for the church." The
Publishing House has had an agreement with phone providers for about 10
years, Cunningham said. This new plan with AT&T will save money for
local churches that have bills as low as $15 or $20 a month, but it
will especially help customers who have $200 or more a month in
telephone charges. Currently,
the plan has 300 participants. Most of the United Methodist general
agencies are in the plan, as well as some conference and district
offices and local churches. "I
would really like to see all the conference and district offices become
part of this plan," he said. "The more people we have in the plan will
mean we can drive down prices even further the next time we negotiate." The plan: - Reduces long-distance telephone rates.
- Offers teleconference and Web-meeting services at reduced rates.
- Manages T-1 circuits for connecting to the Internet.
- Offers savings of up to 30 percent on AT&T local service.
- Eliminates recurring charges for toll-free numbers.
- Eliminates all monthly recurring charges.
Reduced
long-distance telephone rates range from 2.7 to 4 cents per minute,
depending on the type of service used. In-state rates vary by state. For
more information, call (866) 546-7784 or e-mail your organization name,
contact name, contact telephone number and address to umlongdistanceplan@cokesbury.com. News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
| 
Korean News
