Families will pay less to their long-distance carrier, but more to the local company.

Long-distance carriers are required to provide most of the money for the program.

Just about any other company that wants to become a long-distance carrier is free to do so.

Long-distance carriers now pay local companies about $25 billion a year in access charges.

A number of long-distance carriers have indicated that they may soon offer a similar service.

The deal is the second this year between a Bell local phone company and a long-distance carrier.

Long-distance carriers were not the only groups that criticized the plan.

This morning, just to get into the swing of things, I changed my long-distance carrier.

Not all the long-distance carriers are joining the Internet price war.

But some companies are now arguing that the long-distance carriers should pay the bill.