2019 New York Laws
PBS - Public Service
Article 5 - Provisions Relating to Telegraph and Telephone Lines and to Telephone and Telegraph Corporations
91 - Adequate Service; Just and Reasonable Charges; Unjust Discrimination; Unreasonable Preference; Protection of Privacy.
§ 91. Adequate service; just and reasonable charges; unjust discrimination; unreasonable preference; protection of privacy. 1. Every telegraph corporation and every telephone corporation shall furnish and provide with respect to its business such instrumentalities and facilities as shall be adequate and in all respects just and reasonable. All charges made or demanded by any telegraph corporation or telephone corporation for any service rendered or to be rendered in connection therewith shall be just and reasonable and not more than allowed by law or by order of the commission. Every unjust or unreasonable charge made or demanded for any such service or in connection therewith or in excess of that allowed by law or by order of the commission is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. 2. (a) No telegraph corporation or telephone corporation shall directly or indirectly or by any special rate, rebate, drawback or other device or method charge, demand, collect or receive from any person or corporation a greater or less compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered with respect to communication by telegraph or telephone or in connection therewith, except as authorized in this chapter, than it charges, demands, collects or receives from any other person or corporation for doing a like and contemporaneous service with respect to communication by telegraph or telephone under the same or substantially the same circumstances and conditions.(b) The local service area within which calls are made on a local rather than toll basis in a city with a population of one million or more shall not be changed as a result of the establishment of an additional area code. 3. No telegraph corporation or telephone corporation shall make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person, corporation or locality, or subject any particular person, corporation or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever. 4. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent any telegraph corporation or telephone corporation from continuing to furnish the use of its lines, equipment or service under any contract or contracts in force at the date this article takes effect or upon the taking effect of any schedule or schedules of rates subsequently filed with the commission, as hereinafter provided, at the rate or rates fixed in such contract or contracts; provided, however, that when any such contract or contracts are or become terminable by notice, the commission shall have power, in its discretion, to direct by order that such contract or contracts shall be terminated by the telegraph corporation or telephone corporation party thereto, and thereupon such contract or contracts shall be terminated by such telegraph corporation or telephone corporation as and when directed by such order. 5. No telegraph corporation or telephone corporation shall sell or offer for sale any names and/or addresses of any of its customers whose listings have been omitted from the telephone company's published directory at the request of the customer. 6. (a) Every local exchange telephone corporation shall include in any directory of telephone numbers it or an affiliated company publishes for general distribution an alphabetical list of interexchange carriers with their federal communications commission assigned identification codes which may be used by the subscribers listed in such directory to access any telephone corporation that originates interexchange service in the local exchange telephone corporation's service area and that agrees to publication of its access code in such directory.
(b) Each interexchange carrier shall be responsible for providing its own identification codes, sorted by geographic area serviced by the individual directories published by each local exchange company or its affiliate. Further, the identification codes for each directory shall be delivered to the local exchange carrier or its affiliate in compliance with the established directory printing closing dates. Those interexchange carriers wishing to be listed in the directory shall bear full responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the list of their identification codes.
(c) Local exchange telephone corporations and their affiliates shall not be exposed to any greater liability for their failure to include such carrier identification codes in their directories than is present in the provisions of filed and approved tariffs dealing with directory listing errors and omissions. 7. Every telephone corporation, as defined in this chapter shall, at its option: (a) allow a customer to use a modified or alternative name for a directory listing or (b) waive the otherwise applicable charges for a non-published telephone listing, where the customer requests protection of its identity in connection with the customer's purchase of telephone service and the customer is a victim of domestic violence, as defined in section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law, and for whose benefit any order of protection, other than a temporary order of protection, has been issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. This waiver of charges shall be for the duration of the applicable, non-temporary, order. Any non-published listings provided in this subdivision shall conform to all the same requirements of other non-published listings. A customer requesting such an accommodation shall provide a copy of the order of protection to the applicable telephone corporation. Any customer requesting an accommodation pursuant to this subdivision may also request and shall be provided, at no cost to the customer, a new telephone number within fifteen days from the request for such accommodation. 8. Every telephone corporation, as defined in this chapter, shall allow a person who is under contract including, but not limited to, a multi-year contract or bundle contract with such telephone corporation, to opt-out of such contract without charge when such person is a victim of domestic violence and requests to opt-out in writing. Such victim of domestic violence shall provide to such telephone corporation any of the following documents, which shall relate to such domestic violence, within six months of the document's issuance: (a) a valid domestic violence incident report form, as such term is defined in subdivision fifteen of section eight hundred thirty-seven of the executive law; (b) a valid police report; (c) a valid order of protection; (d) a signed affidavit from a licensed medical or mental health care provider, employee of a court acting within the scope of his or her employment, social worker, a rape crisis counselor, as defined in section forty-five hundred ten of the civil practice law and rules, or advocate acting on behalf of an agency that assists domestic violence victims. A claim for opting-out of such contract without charge shall be made in good faith. Such telephone corporation shall waive the otherwise applicable charges for such person requesting to opt-out of such contract.
