Political phone company?

[House-Of-Leaves]

I'm asking for opinions here more than anything.

I received an advertisment in the mail about a long distance company that calls itself 'progressive'. I'm suspicious, but intrigued.

Okay, first...if I switch, I get like...12 free pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. That's almost got me sold. Well, okay, not quite.

But...okay, this sounds like a neat deal. I'm wondering if it's worth it. First, they donate 1% of my bill (the original bill, they don't charge extra, they claim) to charities like the Children's Defense Fund, Doctors Without Borders ( I love that charity ), and Greenpeace. Their calling cards are made from recycled plastic (heehee). They'll give me 60 minutes of free long distance for 3 months. (total of 180 minutes)

But see...this is the part I think is neat. With each bill I'd get information about issues that deal with the charities involved, political and environmental issues, corporate law...and not only will they give me the phone number of the political leaders/businesses to call and target, but they'll give me free calls to do it.

I could call some politician in NYC and bitch at him for something stupid he did, and it would be FREE for me! LOL!

There's other stuff too, planting 100 trees for ever ton of paper used, a cheap monthly fee, low calling rates...but I just don't KNOW. Is it worth it, y'think?

[bumcheekcity]

It sounds brilliant. Is it cheaper than your phone company now?

[SpEeDFiReSrFr]

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What he said.

[FUNKbrs]

It sounds too complicated. The line between political long distance call and long distance call is a little fuzzy, I think they might screw you with that. I just don't trust it, it reeks of "ad ploy", the old bait and switch, if you will. I would at least learn a little about the owners.

[Dewbs789]

yea I agree with the guy above, it sounds too good to be true, there has t be a catch.

[arnamenta]

I assume you mean Working Assets? They've been my long distance company for about 6 months now. They're great. The rates are nice and low, there's not a ton of ads shoved in with the bill, switching was SO easy...

There's other features too. Every month they send a little newsletter about issues and books and who they're giving money to. I just got the yearly donation report, I can dig it out if you want more details.

I definitely recommend them. One thing I'd mention is to suggest you find someone you know who uses them. They can be your "referrer" or something and get more free hours, and I think you get more as well.

[bumcheekcity]

You should read the small print VERY carefully, but if it all seems fine then go for it.

[TheShrike]

There's gotta be a catch somewhere.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

But it's worth looking into. Perhaps any evils associated with it may be outweighed by all the ice cream... err... political.. yeah... you know what I mean.

[Commander-K25]

Let's see....House lives in Portland.

Yep, this is definitely a Left Coast thing.

[House-Of-Leaves]

At 5/31/03 01:00 AM, arnamenta wrote: I assume you mean Working Assets? They've been my long distance company for about 6 months now. They're great. The rates are nice and low, there's not a ton of ads shoved in with the bill, switching was SO easy...

There's other features too. Every month they send a little newsletter about issues and books and who they're giving money to. I just got the yearly donation report, I can dig it out if you want more details.

I definitely recommend them. One thing I'd mention is to suggest you find someone you know who uses them. They can be your "referrer" or something and get more free hours, and I think you get more as well.

Yes, that's exactly the company I'm talking about. :)

I'm glad someone else has heard of it, and is using it. I purposefully left the name of it out to sorta...test the waters, see if someone else knew about it.

It sounds like a great deal, and I believe it IS cheaper than my current long distance. The phone bill and all is taken care of by my boyfriend, though, so he'll have to approve. That's the utility he's responsible for.

As for the political long-distance thing, I'm not sure if I get that. I'd love more info on that arnamenta, if you could. It would help me in convincing Tom that he needs to switch for me. ;)

[fantom326]

ah, yes, the act for change long distance initiative, otherwise working assets. i was thinking of joining them myself. the free iced cream was quite enticing... lol well anyway, yeh it is very politically minded, they run a lot of progressive political campaigns, for example to strengthen the filibuster against the supreme court bush appointee miguel estrada. id say go for it. let me know how it goes, maybe ill join up too