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Questions regarding the application for and setup of our long distance service

General questions regarding our long distance service

Questions regarding international calling from your cellphone

Questions regarding the travel-card

Questions regarding our toll-free number service

Questions regarding rates and fees

Billing questions

Questions about Compoint

Questions regarding the application and setup of our long distance service

Which calls can I place through Compoint?

Compoint handles all your in-state, state-to-state and international calls, with the exception of local calls which are still handled by your local telephone company. If you currently enjoy free local calls, you will still not be charged for local calls after your phone line has been switched to Compoint.

Certain local calls within your area code are charged for by your local telephone company (those are called local toll calls), usually when the person you are calling is located more than 20 to 25 miles away from you. We recommend that you select to have those calls also handled by Compoint at the low intrastate rate for your state, instead of having your local telephone company charge you high rates. You will also enjoy one-second billing on those calls.

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Do I keep my local telephone company when I switch to Compoint?

Compoint is a long distance provider, and only cares for your long distance telephone calls without installing any equipment in your home or office. This is why you have to keep your current local telephone company which provides your physical telephone lines, phone numbers and your local calls, and you will continue to pay your monthly service fee to your local phone company for that service.

In the event that you change to a different local phone company after subscribing to Compoint, please contact our customer service in order for us to switch your new phone line(s) to Compoint with your new telephone company.

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How long does it take for my telephone line(s) to be switched to Compoint?

After your application for Compoint has been reviewed and accepted (you will receive and email from us at that time), it can take between 2 and 10 business days for your phone line(s) to be switched to Compoint, depending on your local telephone company. However, most accounts are setup within 2 to 3 business days.

Since it is your local telephone company that actually switches your long distance service, we have no influence on the duration of that process.

Our customer service will gladly inform you on the status of your application at any time.

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Is Compoint available with any local telephone company?

Unlike with many other long distance providers, our low rates are available to anyone, no matter if your local telephone company is big or small, because we think that anyone deserves low rates and fair billing.

The only exception would be if your local telephone company doesn't want you to use Compoint's service for an obscure reason.

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What if I currently use another long distance provider? Will Compoint cancel my current contract?

Compoint will NOT cancel your contract with your current long distance provider. If your current long distance provider doesn't charge you a monthly fee or a monthly minimum, there is no need to cancel your contract: since your long distance calls will be handled by Compoint and not by your current long distance provider, your current provider will stop sending you bills since they will have nothing to bill you for! However, if your current long distance provider charges you a monthly fee or applies a monthly minimum, we urge you to cancel your contract in writing in order to make sure not to pay for any recurring charges in the future.

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How would I cancel my contract with Compoint in the event that I want to switch to another long distance provider?

Since Compoint has no monthly fees or minimums, you don't need to cancel your service contract with Compoint. In the unlikely event that you decide to switch to a different long distance provider, Compoint will just stop billing your phone calls as soon as your phone line(s) are unswitched from the Compoint's network, and your service contract with Compoint will cancel automatically as stated in our Terms and Conditions. In plain English: you automatically cancel your Compoint service by switching your long distance to another long distance provider.

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Do I have to dial an access code each time I place a phone call?

Compoint uses the presubscribed long distance carrier feature of your phone line(s) so that you don't have to dial an annoying access code before each phone call.

Once your phone line has been switched to Compoint, you dial 1 for long distance and 011 for international, and your calls are automatically transmitted through Compoint's network in the same high quality as before, but with Compoint's much lower rates and unique one-second billing.

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What if I don't want to sign-up on the Internet?

You can also sign-up by contacting customer service. Please keep in mind that in case you choose to mail us your application form, your activation time will be longer since we can only start processing your application once we receive your application form.

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What if I don't want to provide my social security number?

Just put "999999999" instead of your social security number in your application. Your name and address is usually enough for us to verify your identity and credit history if you have not moved recently. If we are not able to verify your credentials, we will contact you to request further documentation from you. The documentation can be submitted via fax in order not to delay the processing of your application.

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My local telephone company has charged me a fee for switching to Compoint. Will Compoint reimburse me?

Unfortunately, Compoint cannot reimburse you for fees charged by your local telephone company, but we are sure that our low rates will allow you to save at least the amount charged by your local telephone company within the first few months of using Compoint.

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General questions regarding our long distance service

What can I do in the event of a network outage that prevents me from calling a certain destination?

Although very rare, network outages that prevent you from being able to call certain destinations can happen. Those outages are often beyond our control, but you can reduce the repair time by informing our customer service as soon as you notice a disfunction.

Network outages are often repaired in a matter of minutes, but if you need to place a phone call to a non-working destination urgently, you can always do so by using alternate dial around long distance services. We recommend you to use those services only when urgently needed, as their rates will be much higher than calling with Compoint.

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What is a PIC freeze?

A PIC freeze is when you ask your local telephone company to prevent your telephone line(s) from being switched to another long distance provider without your consent.

We recommend that you request a PIC freeze from your local telephone company after Compoint's service has been successfully switched to your phone line(s) so that a disregarding long distance provider cannot switch your phone line to their more expensive long distance service without your consent.

If you have a PIC freeze in effect before applying for Compoint, you NEED TO REMOVE it by asking your local telephone company, before applying for Compoint. Otherwise, we won't be able to switch your phone line(s) to Compoint and your activation may be delayed.

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Where can I find Compoint's Terms and Conditions?

Our Terms and Conditions can be read here.

Please do not hesitate to contact our customer service if you have questions regarding our Terms and Conditions.

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Does Compoint offer account codes?

Yes, Compoint offers account codes to customers free of charge. To set-up account codes, customers would contact customer service after signing up.

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Can I send faxes or place data calls with Compoint?

Yes, you can send faxes or place data calls within the United States through Compoint, just like you do with your current long-distance provider. However, you may experience occasional difficulties sending faxes to certain countries, mainly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. If you are unsure whether faxes are supported to a particular destination, please feel free to contact our customer service. Data calls outside the United States are generally not supported.

You may still achieve substantial savings by switching only your voice lines to Compoint.

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What should I do if I move?

If you are already a customer and you are moving, please contact our customer service in order to inform us of your new telephone number. If we do not receive from you the information regarding your new telephone number, you might not get properly setup by your local phone provider. By contacting our customer service either by email or by calling us, you ensure that we have all the necessary information to make sure you keep our service when you move.

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Do I get something if I refer friends and family to Compoint?

Yes, absolutely! We always appreciate new business, and to thank you for referring new customers to Compoint, we will credit your account with $10 for each new customer that signs up with us on your behalf. Just follow those easy steps to receive your credits.

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Questions regarding international calling from your cellphone

Can Compoint help me lower the cost of international calling from my cellphone?

Yes, absolutely! Compoint offers you the possibility to place international calls from your cellphone through Compoint, at the same low international rates than from your landline. There is no additional fee to use this service.

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How do I place international calls from my cellphone through Compoint?

All you need to do is register your cellphone number with Compoint. Then, dial our toll-free access number 1-866-934-2538 from your registered cellphone and you will get a dialtone that allows you to place international calls at Compoint's low international rates.

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How do I register my cellphone(s) with Compoint?

Existing customers can register their cellphone(s) online. The cellphone(s) will be registered within seconds. Please login to your account to register a cellphone for placing calls with Compoint.

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What are the rates when calling from my cellphone?

The rates are the same low international rates than from your regular phone without surcharge or connection fee (domestic airtime charges may be billed by your wireless carrier for calls to our access number).

Various per minute surcharges apply for calls originated from certain overseas locations.

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Why am I charged airtime in addition to Compoint's international rates when placing calls from my cellphone?

In order to place international calls through Compoint from your cellphone, you have to call one of our access numbers to "dial-in" to our network. This call will last for as long as your international call stays connected. To your wireless carrier, this will be no different than any other domestic call you place from your cellphone, so you will likely be charged domestic airtime for the entire duration of the call, just like for any other domestic call you place from your cellphone. Please note that even if the access number is toll-free, you will likely be charged airtime since calls to toll-free numbers are billed like regular long distance calls by most wireless carriers.

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Can I speed up the connection of my call when calling from my cellphone through Compoint?

When calling from your cellphone through Compoint, you may speed up the connection of your call by pressing # at the end of the called number. This tells our equipment that you are finished entering digits and that the call should be connected immediately.

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Can I program the access number into my cellphone to make all my international calls through Compoint automatically?

There are ways to program the access number into your cellphone in order to place calls quicker and easier. Please login to your account for more information.

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Do you offer calling from a cellphone as a stand-alone product?

Yes we do. When you sign up on our website you can either choose to sign up for our regular long distance service plus our dial around cellphone service or you can choose to sign up for the dial around alone.

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Questions regarding the travel-card

Does Compoint offer me a travel-card to place calls while on the road?

Yes, absolutely! We offer you a free travel-card to place calls from any phone in the U.S. and certain overseas locations. There is no fee to have a card, and calls are billed at our regular rates without surcharge (except when calling from certain overseas locations). To download a copy of the travel card, please click here.

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How do I use my Compoint travel-card?

The card is easy to use: all you need to do is dial the toll-free access number, enter your main telephone number at the prompt, followed by your MyCompoint PIN code, and you will get a dialtone that allows you to place both domestic and international calls at Compoint's low rates. You can find the access numbers here.

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What are the rates when calling with my travel-card?

There are no extra fees associated with the travel-card, and calls are charged at the same rates than from your regular phone without surcharge or connection fee. An FCC mandated surcharge of 65¢ applies to all calls originating from payphones. Various per minute surcharges apply for calls originated from overseas, where access numbers are available. You can check those surcharges here.

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How do I get a travel-card?

Existing customers can request a travel-card online. The travel-card will be activated within seconds. Please click here to request your travel-card.

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What is the authorization code I am asked for when calling the access number?

Your authorisation code is your main 10 digit telephone number that is registered with Compoint. After entering your authorisation code, you will be prompted for your 4 digit MyCompoint PIN code.

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How can I place several calls from a payphone without paying for the payphone surcharge for each call?

When using your travel-card and your first call is finished, do not hang up and dial ## instead. This will give you a new dialtone and you may dial another call without paying for an extra payphone surcharge (since you have only placed one single call from the payphone to our access number). For security reasons, you can only use ## twice. If you need to place a fourth call, you will need to hang up and dial the access number again.

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Can I speed up the connection of my call when calling with my travel-card?

When using your travel-card, you may speed up the connection of your call by pressing # at the end of the called number. This tells our equipment that you are finished entering digits and that the call should be connected immediately.

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Do you offer the travel-card as a stand-alone product?

At this time, the travel-card is only offered to Compoint's long distance customers. You have to select Compoint as your long distance provider for a home or business line in order to receive a travel-card.

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Questions regarding our toll-free service

Can Compoint switch my toll-free number and bill me for inbound traffic?

Yes, Compoint also offers toll-free service to business and residential customers. To transfer an existing toll-free number to your account, a letter of agency will need to be completed. Please contact our customer service for more information. To request a new toll-free number, please contact customer service with the type of number (800, 888, 877 etc) you would like. Transfering numbers or requesting new numbers is free of charge. A recurring service charge of 99¢ per month applies to every toll-free number in your account.

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Can a toll-free number ring to an international number?

Yes, Compoint can program your toll-free number to ring to a number in any country. Calls will be charged at our regular low international rates for the terminating country. You may contact customer service to change the phone number to which your toll-free number rings.

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Questions regarding rates and fees

Are there any monthly fees or minimums, or any other recurring fees that I will be charged by Compoint?

There are absolutely no monthly fees nor minimums nor any other recurring fees that you will be charged by Compoint for using our long distance service. You are only billed for the phone calls that you place, and this is all you have to pay for. If you don't place any calls during a month (while on vacation for example) you will not be charged anything.

800 numbers or paper bills are subject to monthly service charges. Certain business accounts are subject to federal PICC fees.

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What about monthly PICC (Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge) fees?

PICC fees are federally mandated fees that long distance providers have to assess on certain customers on behalf of the FCC.

We do not charge monthly PICC fees for residential customers, as there is no PICC fee imposed on residential telephone lines anymore (we don't understand why some long distance providers still keep charging those fees to residential customers!). However, multiline business customers with more than one telephone line have to be charged $2.50 per month per extra telephone line switched to Compoint beyond the primary telephone line for which no PICC fee is charged. This fee is simply collected by Compoint on behalf of the FCC, much like a tax, and has to be charged by any legitimate long distance provider (look at your current bill under PICC fee, federal access fee, line access fee or line switching fee.

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Where can I see a complete rate list with all countries?

You can see a complete rate list in by country at out international rates page.

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What is straight one second billing?

Straight one second billing means that all your calls are billed by the second, from the time the called party pick up their phone. Compoint doesn't apply a minimum to each call, unlike other long distance providers who apply minimums between 6 and 60 seconds per call, or even 20 minutes! This means that if you call someone, are redirected to their voicemail and hang up immediately, you will only be charged for 1 or 2 seconds at Compoint's low rate. This makes a huge difference when compared to a 60 seconds minimum!

With one second billing, you also enjoy no billing increment on your calls. Each call is billed for its exact duration in seconds. This means that if you call someone for 1 minute and 33 seconds, Compoint will only bill you for 1 minute and 33 seconds, where other providers would bill your for 1 minute and 40, 2 minutes or even 20 minutes!

With Compoint, one second billing comes on all your calls, even on international calls!

The table below shows how much you would additionally save with one second billing, if your current provider already offered you the same low rates as Compoint (If you currently phone at a higher rate, you would save much more than the tables shows, because of the lower rate on top of the one second billing!):

* Calculations are based on a 4.8 cents/minute rate and do not include applicable tax.
  30 seconds billing increment 60 seconds billing increment 20 minutes billing increment
3 second call
(typically hanging up on a voicemail)		 You would save 90% extra with one second billing You would save 95% extra with one second billing You would save 99% extra with one second billing
33 second call
(typically just leaving a message)		 You would save 45% extra with one second billing You would save 45% extra with one second billing You would save 97% extra with one second billing
8 minutes and 33 seconds call
(typical call to the family)		 You would save 5% extra with one second billing You would save 5% extra with one second billing You would save 57% extra with one second billing

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Are those promotional rates which will go up a few weeks after I signed up?

Our rates are not promotional rates. Those rates are permanent for all our customers. We also do not have plans to raise our rates in the future, unless forced by economical or political changes beyond our control on very specific destinations. If our rates change, all customers are notified at least 15 days in advance, persuant to our Terms and Conditions, so that there are no surprises.

As a general trend in telecommunications, rates tend to go down, and we believe that if our rates change, they will rather go down than up!

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What taxes are assessed on my phone calls?

Some long distance providers might not assess any taxes on phone calls that you place, which is completely illegal.

As a legitimate long distance provider registered in all 50 states, Compoint is legally obligated to assess certain taxes on your phone bill:

Remember, since Compoint offers such low rates, our customers pay less taxes since the taxes are applied to lower amounts!

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Billing questions

How am I billed?

Calls you place through Compoint are billed on a separate long distance phonebill that you receive from Compoint monthly. This bill contains not only the amount due, but also a complete listing of all calls you placed, including date, time, number dialed and duration.

Our low rates require that we deliver your monthly bill to you online or through email. You can then print it out on paper if you wish. For this purpose, we offer you free access to MyCompoint, an advanced online billing service. If you don't have access to email, or don't have a printer, you can have Compoint print out your bill and mail it to you, but we have to charge 99¢ per month for that service.

To save more money, we recommend you use the free online billing service and print out your bill yourself from the convenient PDF format.

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When am I billed?

Your bill is generated between the 2nd day and the 5th day of each month, for the previous month's usage (usage from the first day of the month at 12 AM to the last day at 12 PM). You then receive an email to let you know that your bill is ready for download. You can also choose to receive your bill through email as an attachement as soon as it is ready.

At that time, we also mail out paper bills to customers that requested this option. You can expect your paper bill to arrive anytime between the 3rd and 15th day of each month.

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How do I pay?

You can choose between direct debit from your checking account, or credit card charge to pay your monthly bill. Every month, around the 5th day, your balance for the previous month is automatically charged through the payment method you selected, so that you are never past due on your Compoint bills!

To save more money, we recommend you to use direct debit from your checking account so that you avoid expensive discount rates that are usually charged on credit card balances by your credit card company.

Unfortunately, to maintain low operating costs which result in low rates, we can't accept payments by check at this time.

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Is there an online billing feature? What does it look like?

Yes, Compoint offers an advanced online billing service which allows customers to view their daily long distance usage in near real-time (usage is updated every 5 minutes). Statements are delivered online in convenient Adobe Acrobat PDF format, or through the regular mail. To learn more about MyCompoint, Compoint's online billing service, and see what it looks like, please login to your account.

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What does my bill contain?

Your monthly bill contains the detail of all phone calls placed from the phone line(s) that are presubscribed to Compoint, including the time and duration of the call as well as the number called. If you place international calls from your cellphone through Compoint, or if you use our travel-card, your bill will also contain those 2 types of calls. Your bill also contains the detail of all taxes that you have to pay on your calls.

However, you don't have to wait for your monthly statement to know where you stand since our advanced online billing service lets you view your long distance usage in near realtime.

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What if I believe my bill is wrong?

Pursuant to our Terms and Conditions, you should contact customer service immediately and send your claim to us in writing by registered mail. If a mistake was made on your bill we will credit any over billed amount to your account or give you a refund.

Don't loose any time if you suspect a mistake, since we can only accept billing disputes within 30 days of sending your bill.

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Questions about Compoint

I've recently heard stories about telecommunication providers going out of business. What about Compoint?

Compoint has always been a profitable company since its first day in business back in 1997, and our profit before taxes and amortizations for Q3 2002 was over 3 million dollars. Our IPO in 1999 has also given us access to substantial funding to sustain our growth, and by permanently monitoring our costs, we make sure that we will be around for years to come!

To prove our financial strength, we believe that we need to give our valued customers access to our financial reports.

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Why would Compoint be able to offer lower rates than anybody else?

With over one million customers worldwide, Compoint is able to negotiate lower purchase prices thanks to a huge volume of monthly minutes. Compoint also owns its own international network, which allows us to route your phone call to the place in the world where our costs for that destination will be the lowest.

By maintaining low operating costs, and refraining from expensive national marketing campaigns, we need less mark-up, which results in some of the lowest rates available for our customers.

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Is Compoint's service available in Canada?

Not at this time, but Compoint will be available to Canadian residents in the near future.

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Does Compoint use "telemarketing" techniques to prospect new customers?

No, Compoint does not use any telemarketing techniques. We are as annoyed as you are, when telemarketers call us in the middle of our dinner. Plus, why would you believe someone who calls you to tell you that you can save on your long distance? Isn't that what they always tell you?

We think customers should realise for themselves the savings they can achieve by using Compoint's long distance service, and therefore we only use non-invasive marketing methods.

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