Telephone FAQ

LandLine Reliability:  The five 9's of Reliability is a benchmark to which a system's downtime is compared to.  A regular land line telephone is operational 99.999% of the time.  That equates to less than 5 minutes of downtime per year!  Think about that compared to your cell phone:  cell phones cut out due to location, weather conditions, capacity overload, and much more. Downtime for a system may be caused by many things including:  errors in hardware or equipment, loss of power, or human error.  United Farmers Telephone runs backup generators to insure that our customers are provided service when you may not have power at your home.  If you have a plain old telephone with its own power source you will still have phone service even with no electricity.  If you use cordless phones only you may want to keep a plain old telephone in the home in case of a power outage.  

National Do Not Call Registry:  The FCC and FTC have set up a national list of numbers that telephone solicitors may not call.  You have the right to put any of your phone numbers on that list or remove them.  If your phone number is placed on the list, telephone solicitors may not call your number unless they fall within several exceptions, like certain charitable and political organizations.  You can register or remove your name from this list either by calling:  1-888-382-1222 (for TTY call 1-866-290-4236) or by registering at http://www.donotcall.gov.

Iowa One Call:  Iowa law requires that any person planning to engage in any form of excavation within the state of Iowa must notify the Iowa One Call notification system at least 48 hours prior to excavation.  To notify Iowa One Call of your work, please dial 1-800-292-8989 for this free service. 

Notice of Complaint:  If United Farmers Telephone Company does not resolve your complaint, the service may be subject to state regulation.  You may contact:  The Iowa Utilities Division, Department of Commerce 350 E. Maple St. Des Moines, IA 50319.  1-877-262-4450 toll free or 515-281-3839.

Statement of Nondiscrimination:  United Farmers Telephone Company is the recipient of Federal Financial Assistance from the Rural Electrification Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and is subject to the provisions of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1984, as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, and the rules and regulations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture which provided that no person in the United States on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, or handicap shall be excluded from participation in, admission or access to, denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any of this organization's, programs or activities.  The person responsible for coordinating the organization's nondiscrimination compliance effort is Roxanne White, General Manager.  Any individual, or specific class of individuals, who feel that this organization has subjected them to discrimination may obtain further information about the statutes and regulations listed above from and/or file a written complaint with this organization: or the Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 20250: or the Administrator, Rural Electrification Administration, Washington, D.C. 20250.  Confidentiality will be maintained to the extent possible.

Basic Telephone Service:  United Farmers Telephone Company is a quality telecommunications service provider who provides basic and enhanced service at reasonable rates within its service territory.  Basic services are offered at the following rates:

                                                                    Monthly Service Charge Rate

Single Party Residence Service................................$13.50

Single Party Rural Residence Service........................$13.50

Single Party Business Service...................................$18.50

Federal Subscriber Line Charge - single line..............$6.50

Federal 2-Line Business Subscriber Line Charge........$9.20

Touch Tone Service - Touch Tone service is provided as a part of local service rate

Toll Blocking - Available at no charge

Emergency 911 - Surcharge for 911 services are assessed according to government assessments.

Low income individuals eligible for Lifeline and Link-Up telephone assistance programs may be eligible for discounts from these basic local service charges through state specified telephone assistance plans.

Basic services are offered to all consumers in the United Farmers Telephone Company service territories at the rates, terms and conditions specified in the company tariffs or price lists. Please call us at 712-834-2211 or visit our business offices at 216 N. Main, Everly, IA 51338 for further information regarding our services. 

Low-Income Telephone Assistance: Low-income telephone assistance is available to qualifying low-income Iowans as part of two federal support programs.  These programs, "Lifeline Assistance" and "Link-up" are available through United Farmers Telephone Company.

"Lifeline" is an assistance plan that assists qualified low-income Iowans by providing a monthly credit on their telephone bill.

"Link-up" is an assistance plan that helps qualified low-income Iowans pay for the installation of basic telephone service by reducing connection charges by 50 percent, or $30.00, whichever is less.

Another feature of the Lifeline program enables qualified applicants to avoid paying a service deposit if they voluntarily agree to have long distance calling blocked from their telephone.  "This telephone assistance plan is available to qualified Iowans," said Chris Dodd of United Farmers Telephone.  "United Farmers Tel phone wants to let low income customers know about these programs, and encourage those eligible customers to apply."  Iowans whose income is at or below 135 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines are eligible for telephone assistance.  Additionally, Iowans who participate in one or more of the following programs are eligible for telephone assistance:  Medicaid, Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Federal Public Housing Assistance, Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program (TANF) National School Lunch Program (NSL).  To apply for either or both of these low-income telephone assistance plans, applicants should submit an application to United Farmers Telephone Co.  Application forms can be obtained from United Farmers Telephone office at 216 North Main St., Everly, Iowa.  This application is also available on the Iowa Utilities Board website at www.state.ia.us/iub.  The Iowa Utilities Board points out that these two low-income telephone assistance plans are important for Iowans and benefit the public by ensuring affordable access to telephone service for everyone.  Eligible Iowans are encouraged to submit their applications and direct questions to their local telephone company.