|
 The
Cooperative
|
| What is a cooperative? |
| A cooperative is a
company that is owned by it's customers, which are called members. |
|
|
Your
Check |
| What is
a capital credit check? |
| Your check is money that a commercial
telephone company would keep as "profit." Since Mountain Telephone is a
non-profit cooperative, we return that money to you, our members, once a year. |
|
| Who gets a check? |
| Any member who has had active Mountain Telephone
service during the calendar year being refunded will get a capital credit check. |
|
| How much will I receive? |
The amount depends on three things:
- the amount paid for services used last year
- how long you have been a cooperative member
- the amount of Mountain Telephone Long Distance used
Almost everyone receives a different amount. But, the more
services, like Paging, Call Waiting, or E-Mail that you use and the longer you have been a
customer, the more money you receive each year. |
|
Rates
& Payments |
| How do our rates compare to
others around the state? |
Mountain Telephone offers competitive local
and long distance rates. We offer calling plans to fit every need. |
|
| Where do my payments go? |
| Payments to your cooperative
go primarily toward two objectives: expenses and investment. Day-to-day expenses include building maintenance, upkeep on 2750 miles of lines,
salaries and payments to government loans that made construction of lines possible.
Investment includes new communications technology and employee training. |
|
| Can I get everything on one
bill? |
| In many cases, yes. Local and long distance
phone service, internet and paging can all be on one bill. In fact, there are several charges that may appear on your bill that we have no
control over. Local, state and federal governments add taxes and fees and your long
distance company sets it's own rates for calls and monthly fees. |
|
Your Local Service |
| What is a local calling area? |
| It's the area that you can call without long
distance charges, like the house next door. Our local
calling area is the largest in Kentucky. People outside our area are often surprised when
they hear we can call anywhere in four counties without long distance charges. For many of
those people anything outside their home county is long distance. |
|
| Who provides my service? |
| All of our employees are fellow cooperative
members and your neighbors. When you call for service, you talk with local people and the
person who comes out to your home is probably from right there in your community. |
|
Advanced Services |
| How will new telephone
technology affect me? |
| Mountain Telephone is proud of the fact
that even though we serve a rural area, we are on the cutting edge of technology.
Mountain Telephone provides services such as DSL to nearly all of our
customers. Advances in the last several years have
allowed us to offer Paging, Cell Phones and Long Distance Cards; service like Caller ID
and Call Forwarding that make our phones more efficient and secure; and services that
connect our rural area to the world like local access to E-Mail and the Internet. |
|
| Doesn't buying new technology
reduce my capital credit check? |
| In the long run, investment actually means
more return for members in the not-so-distant future. Better
equipment almost always means doing the job more efficiently. This means we will be able
to stay competitive and offer the same services as larger outside phone companies. |
|
Community Support |
| Is local ownership that
important? |
| Mountain Telephone invests in our area to
create more opportunities for our businesses, our members and our young people. We have a
real interest in making this an even better place to live and work. |
|
| How do you invest in our area? |
| Among other things, our community support
takes the form of scholarships, efforts to better equip our schools, local fire
department, and area Little Leagues. |
|
| What type of scholarships? |
| We send 17 member students from across the
service area to Morehead State University each year. Since straight-A students have many
other scholarship opportunities we focus on students with averages between 2.5 and 3.5 who
demonstrate a financial need. |
|
