Phone Industry
Numbers, phone industry is a shadow of its former self. Due to a combination of factors beyond the rise of chat rooms, the 1-976 industry is in a state of near-total collapse. There are three main reasons why: First, customers were getting fed up with the dodgy billing. Phone sex companies would over-bill, charging fees that were above those advertised. Second, when irate or embarrassed customers would call Bell to complain about the charge on their bill - provided they didn’t pay by credit card - Bell would charge the fee back to providers, and the financial hits began to take their toll. And third, when phone sex companies tried various means to disguise their real nature, usually by having a 1-900 or 1-800 non-sex line number, the CRTC cracked down and threatened carriers with repercussions if strict adherence to guidelines wasn’t followed. (PL)
