Frequently asked questions
Questions regarding the application for and setup of our long distance service
- Which calls can I place through telna?
- Do I keep my local telephone company when I switch to telna?
- How long does it take for my telephone line(s) to be switched to telna?
- Is telna available with any local telephone company?
- What if I currently use another long distance provider? Will telna cancel my current contract?
- How would I cancel my contract with telna in the event that I want to switch to another long distance provider?
- Do I have to dial an access code each time I place a phone call?
- What if I don't want to sign-up on the Internet?
- What if I don't want to provide my social security number?
- My local telephone company has charged me a fee for switching to telna. Will telna reimburse me?
- What can I do in the event of a network outage that prevents me from calling a certain destination?
- What is a PIC freeze?
- Where can I find telna's Terms and Conditions?
- Does telna offer account codes?
- Can I send faxes or place data calls with telna?
- What should I do if I move?
- Do I get something if I refer friends and family to telna?
- Can telna help me lower the cost of international calling from my cellphone?
- How do I place international calls from my cellphone through telna?
- How do I register my cellphone(s) with telna?
- What are the rates when calling from my cellphone?
- Why am I charged airtime in addition to telna's international rates when placing calls from my cellphone?
- Can I speed up the connection of my call when calling from my cellphone through telna?
- Can I program the access number into my cellphone to make all my international calls through telna automatically?
- Do you offer calling from a cellphone as a stand-alone product?
- Does telna offer me a travel-card to place calls while on the road?
- How do I use my telna travel-card?
- What are the rates when calling with my travel-card?
- How do I get a travel-card?
- What is the authorization code I am asked for when calling the access number?
- How can I place several calls from a payphone without paying for the payphone surcharge for each call?
- Can I speed up the connection of my call when calling with my travel-card?
- Do you offer the travel-card as a stand-alone product?
- Can telna switch my toll-free number and bill me for inbound traffic?
- Can a toll-free number ring to an international number?
- Are there any monthly fees or minimums, or any other recurring fees that I will be charged by telna?
- What about monthly PICC (Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge) fees?
- Where can I see a complete rate list with all countries?
- What is straight one second billing?
- Are those promotional rates which will go up a few weeks after I signed up?
- What taxes are assessed on my phone calls?
- How am I billed?
- When am I billed?
- How do I pay?
- Is there an online billing feature? What does it look like?
- What does my bill contain?
- What if I believe my bill is wrong?
- I've recently heard stories about telecom providers going out of business. What about telna?
- Why would telna be able to offer lower rates than anybody else?
- Is telna's service available in Canada?
- Does telna use "telemarketing" techniques to prospect new customers?
- Which calls can I place through telna? If you use our direct dial long distance service, telna handles all your in-state, state-to-state and international calls, with the exception of local calls which are still handled by your local telephone company. If you currently enjoy free local calls, you will still not be charged for local calls after your phone line has been switched to telna.
- Do I keep my local telephone company when I switch to telna? telna is a long distance provider, and only cares for your long distance telephone calls without installing any equipment in your home or office. This is why you have to keep your current local telephone company which provides your physical telephone lines, phone numbers and your local calls, and you will continue to pay your monthly service fee to your local phone company for that service.
- How long does it take for my telephone line(s) to be switched to telna? After your application for telna has been reviewed and accepted (you will receive and email from us at that time), it can take between 2 and 10 business days for your phone line(s) to be switched to telna, depending on your local telephone company. However, most accounts are setup within 2 to 3 business days.
- Is telna available with any local telephone company? Unlike with many other long distance providers, our low rates are available to anyone, no matter if your local telephone company is big or small, because we think that anyone deserves low rates and fair billing.
- What if I currently use another long distance provider? Will telna cancel my current contract? telna will NOT cancel your contract with your current long distance provider. If your current long distance provider doesn't charge you a monthly fee or a monthly minimum, there is no need to cancel your contract: since your long distance calls will be handled by telna and not by your current long distance provider, your current provider will stop sending you bills since they will have nothing to bill you for! However, if your current long distance provider charges you a monthly fee or applies a monthly minimum, we urge you to cancel your contract in writing in order to make sure not to pay for any recurring charges in the future.
- How would I cancel my contract with telna in the event that I want to switch to another long distance provider? Since telna has no monthly fees or minimums, you don't need to cancel your service contract with telna. In the unlikely event that you decide to switch to a different long distance provider, telna will just stop billing your phone calls as soon as your phone line(s) are unswitched from the telna's network, and your service contract with telna will cancel automatically as stated in our Terms and Conditions. In plain English: you automatically cancel your telna service by switching your long distance to another long distance provider.
- Do I have to dial an access code each time I place a phone call? It actually depends what service you requested from telna. If you requested our direct dial long distance service, then telna uses the presubscribed long distance carrier feature of your phone line(s) so that you don't have to dial an annoying access code before each phone call.
- What if I don't want to sign-up on the Internet? You can also sign-up by calling customer service or you can download a sign-up form and return it by fax or mail. Please keep in mind that in case you choose to mail us your application form, your activation time will be longer since we can only start processing your application once we receive your application form.
- What if I don't want to provide my social security number? Just put "999999999" instead of your social security number in your application. Your name and address is usually enough for us to verify your identity and credit history if you have not moved recently. If we are not able to verify your credentials, we will contact you to request further documentation from you. The documentation can be submitted via fax in order not to delay the processing of your application.
- My local telephone company has charged me a fee for switching to telna. Will telna reimburse me? Unfortunately, telna cannot reimburse you for fees charged by your local telephone company, but we are sure that our low rates will allow you to save at least the amount charged by your local telephone company within the first few months of using telna.
- What can I do in the event of a network outage that prevents me from calling a certain destination? Although very rare, network outages that prevent you from being able to call certain destinations can happen. Those outages are often beyond our control, but you can reduce the repair time by informing our customer service as soon as you notice a disfunction.
- What is a PIC freeze? A PIC freeze is when you ask your local telephone company to prevent your telephone line(s) from being switched to another long distance provider without your consent.
- Where can I find telna's Terms and Conditions? Our Terms and Conditions can be read here. You can also download a PDF version by clicking here.
- Does telna offer account codes? Yes, telna offers account codes to customers free of charge. To set-up account codes, customers would contact customer service after signing up.
- Can I send faxes or place data calls with telna? Yes, you can send faxes within the United States through telna, just like you do with your current long-distance provider. However, you may experience occasional difficulties sending faxes to certain countries, mainly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. If you are unsure whether faxes are supported to a particular destination, please feel free to contact our customer service. Also data calls in the US might not always work perfectly, in particular we recommend that your alarm system does not rely on long distance calls. Data calls outside the United States are generally not supported.
- What should I do if I move? If you are already a customer and you are moving, please contact our customer service in order to inform us of your new telephone number. If we do not receive from you the information regarding your new telephone number, you might not get properly setup by your local phone provider. By contacting our customer service either by email or by calling us, you ensure that we have all the necessary information to make sure you keep our service when you move.
- Do I get something if I refer friends and family to telna? Yes, absolutely! We always appreciate new business, and to thank you for referring new customers to telna, we will credit your account with $10 for each new customer that signs up with us on your behalf. Just follow those easy steps to receive your credits.
- Can telna help me lower the cost of international calling from my cellphone? Yes, absolutely! telna offers you the possibility to place international calls from your cellphone through telna, at the same low international rates than from your landline. There is no additional fee to use this service. For more information, please click here.
- How do I place international calls from my cellphone through telna? All you need to do is register your cellphone number with telna. Then, dial our toll-free access number 1-866-934-2538 from your registered cellphone and you will get a dialtone that allows you to place international calls at telna's low international rates. For more information, please click here.
- How do I register my cellphone(s) with telna? Existing customers can register their cellphone(s) online. The cellphone(s) will be registered within seconds. Please click here to register a cellphone for placing calls with telna.
- What are the rates when calling from my cellphone? The rates actually depend on the access number you use to make your calls. If you call our long distance access number you will achieve maximum savings since the rate with the long distance access number are 1 cent per minute cheaper than the rates with our toll free access number. Click on international rates for details about the rates. Domestic airtime charges may be billed by your wireless carrier for calls to our access number (it is usually the same wether you call our local access number or our toll free access number.
- Why am I charged airtime in addition to telna's international rates when placing calls from my cellphone? In order to place international calls through telna from your cellphone, you have to call one of our access numbers to "dial-in" to our network. This call will last for as long as your international call stays connected. To your wireless carrier, this will be no different than any other domestic call you place from your cellphone, so you will likely be charged domestic airtime for the entire duration of the call, just like for any other domestic call you place from your cellphone. Please note that even if the access number is toll-free, you will likely be charged airtime since calls to toll-free numbers are billed like regular long distance calls by most wireless carriers.
- Can I speed up the connection of my call when calling from my cellphone through telna? When calling from your cellphone through telna, you may speed up the connection of your call by pressing # at the end of the called number. This tells our equipment that you are finished entering digits and that the call should be connected immediately.
- Can I program the access number into my cellphone to make all my international calls through telna automatically? There are ways to program the access number into your cellphone in order to place calls quicker and easier. Please click here for more information.
- Do you offer calling from a cellphone as a stand-alone product? Yes we do. When you sign up on our website you can either choose to sign up for our regular long distance service plus our dial around cellphone service or you can choose to sign up for the dial around alone.
- Does telna offer me a travel-card to place calls while on the road? Yes, absolutely! We offer you a free travel-card to place calls from any phone in the U.S. and certain overseas locations. There is no fee to have a card, and calls are billed at our regular rates without surcharge (except when calling from certain overseas locations). For more information, please click here.
- How do I use my telna travel-card? The card is easy to use: all you need to do is dial the toll-free access number, enter your main telephone number at the prompt, followed by your mytelna PIN code, and you will get a dialtone that allows you to place both domestic and international calls at telna's low rates. You can find the access numbers here.
- What are the rates when calling with my travel-card? There are no extra fees associated with the travel-card, and calls are charged at the same rates than from your regular phone without surcharge or connection fee. An FCC mandated surcharge of 65¢ applies to all calls originating from payphones. Various per minute surcharges apply for calls originated from overseas, where access numbers are available. You can check those surcharges here.
- How do I get a travel-card? Existing customers can request a travel-card online. The travel-card will be activated within seconds. Please click here to request your travel-card.
- What is the authorization code I am asked for when calling the access number? Your authorisation code is your main 10 digit telephone number that is registered with telna. After entering your authorisation code, you will be prompted for your 4 digit mytelna PIN code.
- How can I place several calls from a payphone without paying for the payphone surcharge for each call? When using your travel-card and your first call is finished, do not hang up and dial ## instead. This will give you a new dialtone and you may dial another call without paying for an extra payphone surcharge (since you have only placed one single call from the payphone to our access number). For security reasons, you can only use ## twice. If you need to place a fourth call, you will need to hang up and dial the access number again.
- Can I speed up the connection of my call when calling with my travel-card? When using your travel-card, you may speed up the connection of your call by pressing # at the end of the called number. This tells our equipment that you are finished entering digits and that the call should be connected immediately.
- Do you offer the travel-card as a stand-alone product? At this time, the travel-card is only offered to telna's long distance customers. You have to select telna as your long distance provider for a home or business line in order to receive a travel-card.
- Can telna switch my toll-free number and bill me for inbound traffic? Yes, telna also offers toll-free service to business and residential customers. To transfer an existing toll-free number to your account, simply fax us the signed letter of agency. To request a new toll-free number, please contact customer service with the type of number (800, 888, 877 etc) you would like. Transfering numbers or requesting new numbers is free of charge. A recurring service charge of 99¢ per month applies to every toll-free number in your account. Click here for more information on telna's toll-free number service.
- Can a toll-free number ring to an international number? Yes, telna can program your toll-free number to ring to a number in any country. Calls will be charged at our regular low international rates for the terminating country. You may contact customer service to change the phone number to which your toll-free number rings.
- Are there any monthly fees or minimums, or any other recurring fees that I will be charged by telna? There are absolutely no monthly fees nor minimums nor any other recurring fees that you will be charged by telna for using our long distance service. You are only billed for the phone calls that you place, and this is all you have to pay for. If you don't place any calls during a month (while on vacation for example) you will not be charged anything.
- What about monthly PICC (Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge) fees? PICC fees are federally mandated fees that long distance providers have to assess on certain customers on behalf of the FCC.
- Where can I see a complete rate list with all countries? You can download a complete rate list in PDF format from our download section.
- What is straight one second billing? Straight one second billing means that all your calls are billed by the second, from the time the called party pick up their phone. telna doesn't apply a minimum to each call, unlike other long distance providers who apply minimums between 6 and 60 seconds per call, or even 20 minutes! This means that if you call someone, are redirected to their voicemail and hang up immediately, you will only be charged for 1 or 2 seconds at telna's low rate. This makes a huge difference when compared to a 60 seconds minimum!
- Are those promotional rates which will go up a few weeks after I signed up? Our rates are not promotional rates. Those rates are permanent for all our customers. We also do not have plans to raise our rates in the future, unless forced by economical or political changes beyond our control on very specific destinations. If our rates change, all customers are notified at least 15 days in advance, persuant to our Terms and Conditions, so that there are no surprises.
- What taxes are assessed on my phone calls? Some long distance providers might not assess any taxes on phone calls that you place, which is completely illegal.
- How am I billed? Calls you place through telna are billed on a separate long distance phonebill that you receive from telna monthly. This bill contains not only the amount due, but also a complete listing of all calls you placed, including date, time, number dialed and duration.
- When am I billed? Your bill is generated between the 2nd day and the 5th day of each month, for the previous month's usage (usage from the first day of the month at Midnight to the last day at Midnight). You then receive an email to let you know that your bill is ready for download. You can also choose to receive your bill through email as an attachement as soon as it is ready.
- How do I pay? You can choose between direct debit from your checking account, or credit card charge to pay your monthly bill. Every month, around the 5th day, your balance for the previous month is automatically charged through the payment method you selected, so that you are never past due on your telna bills!
- Is there an online billing feature? Yes, telna offers an advanced online billing service which allows customers to view their daily long distance usage in near real-time (usage is updated every 5 minutes). Statements are delivered online in convenient Adobe Acrobat PDF format, or through the regular mail.
- What does my bill contain? Your monthly bill contains the detail of all phone calls placed from the phone line(s) that are presubscribed to telna, including the time and duration of the call as well as the number called. If you place international calls from your cellphone through telna, or if you use our travel-card, your bill will also contain those 2 types of calls. Your bill also contains the detail of all taxes that you have to pay on your calls.
- What if I believe my bill is wrong? Pursuant to our Terms and Conditions, you should contact customer service immediately and send your claim to us in writing by registered mail. If a mistake was made on your bill we will credit any over billed amount to your account or give you a refund.
- I've recently heard stories about telecommunication providers going out of business. What about telna? telna has always been a profitable company since its first day in business back in 2002. telna is a service from Telecom North America Inc.. Telecom North America Inc. is a privately held telecommunication group specialized in providing retail and wholesale telecom products to customers all over the world. You can find more about Telecom North America Inc. on our corporate website at http://www.telecomnorthamerica.com
- Why would telna be able to offer lower rates than anybody else? Telecom North America Inc. is providing wholesale termination services to many telephone companies around the world. As a consequence, telna is able to negotiate lower purchase prices thanks to a huge volume of monthly minutes. telna also owns its own international network, which allows us to route your phone call to the place in the world where our costs for that destination will be the lowest.
- Is telna's service available in Canada? Not at this time, but telna will be available to Canadian residents in the near future. We are hoping to start our Canadian operations during the year 2009.
- Does telna use "telemarketing" techniques to prospect new customers? No, telna does not use any telemarketing techniques. We are as annoyed as you are, when telemarketers call us in the middle of our dinner. Plus, why would you believe someone who calls you to tell you that you can save on your long distance? Isn't that what they always tell you?
General questions regarding our long distance service
Questions regarding international calling from your cellphone
Questions regarding the travel-card
Questions regarding our toll-free number service
Questions regarding rates and fees
Billing questions
Questions about telna
Questions regarding the application and setup of our long distance service
Certain local calls within your area code are charged for by your local telephone company (those are called local toll calls, or intralata calls, or local long distance, or interisland calls in Hawaii), usually when the person you are calling is located more than 20 to 25 miles away from you. We recommend that you select to have those calls also handled by telna at the low intrastate rate for your state, instead of having your local telephone company charge you high rates. You will also enjoy one-second billing on those calls.
In the event that you change to a different local phone company after subscribing to telna, please contact our customer service in order for us to switch your new phone line(s) to telna with your new telephone company.
Since it is your local telephone company that actually switches your long distance service, we have no influence on the duration of that process.
Our customer service will gladly inform you on the status of your application at any time.
The only exception would be if your local telephone company doesn't want you to use telna's service for an obscure reason.
However for your protection we do recommend that you call us or send us an email if you disconnect service, so we can close the account and make sure that no charges ever incur without your knowledge.
Once your phone line has been switched to telna, you dial 1 for long distance and 011 for international, and your calls are automatically transmitted through telna's network in the same high quality as before, but with telna's much lower rates and unique one-second billing.
If you decided to use our dial around service with access number, then of course you will need to call our access number for every call you want telna to take care of. If you forget the access number, we can't be responsible for the calls. We recommend that you save the access number in a speed dial of your phone, which makes it far more convenient to use.
General questions regarding our long distance service
Network outages are often repaired in a matter of minutes, but if you need to place a phone call to a non-working destination urgently, you can always do so by using alternate dial around long distance services. We recommend you to use those services only when urgently needed, as their rates will be much higher than calling with telna.
We recommend that you request a PIC freeze from your local telephone company after telna's service has been successfully switched to your phone line(s) so that a disregarding long distance provider cannot switch your phone line to their more expensive long distance service without your consent.
If you have a PIC freeze in effect before applying for telna, you NEED TO REMOVE it by asking your local telephone company, before applying for telna. Otherwise, we won't be able to switch your phone line(s) to telna and your activation may be delayed.
Please do not hesitate to contact our customer service if you have questions regarding our Terms and Conditions.
You may still achieve substantial savings by switching only your voice lines to telna.
Questions regarding international calling from your cellphone
Various per minute surcharges apply for calls originated from certain overseas locations. You can check those surcharges here.
Questions regarding the travel-card
Questions regarding our toll-free service
Questions regarding rates and fees
800 numbers or paper bills are subject to monthly service charges. Certain business accounts are subject to federal PICC fees.
We do not charge monthly PICC fees for residential customers, as there is no PICC fee imposed on residential telephone lines anymore (we don't understand why some long distance providers still keep charging those fees to residential customers!). However, multiline business customers with more than one telephone line have to be charged $2.50 per month per extra telephone line switched to telna beyond the primary telephone line for which no PICC fee is charged. This fee is simply collected by telna on behalf of the FCC, much like a tax, and has to be charged by any legitimate long distance provider (look at your current bill under PICC fee, federal access fee, line access fee or line switching fee.
With one second billing, you also enjoy no billing increment on your calls. Each call is billed for its exact duration in seconds. This means that if you call someone for 1 minute and 33 seconds, telna will only bill you for 1 minute and 33 seconds, where other providers would bill your for 1 minute and 40, 2 minutes or even 20 minutes!
With telna, one second billing comes on all your calls, even on international calls!
The table below shows how much you would additionally save with one second billing, if your current provider already offered you the same low rates as telna (If you currently phone at a higher rate, you would save much more than the tables shows, because of the lower rate on top of the one second billing!):
| 30 seconds billing increment | 60 seconds billing increment | 20 minutes billing increment | |
| 3 second call (typically hanging up on a voicemail) | You would save 90% extra with one second billing |
You would save 95% extra with one second billing |
You would save 99% extra with one second billing |
| 33 second call (typically just leaving a message) | You would save 45% extra with one second billing |
You would save 45% extra with one second billing |
You would save 97% extra with one second billing |
| 8 minutes and 33 seconds call (typical call to the family) | You would save 5% extra with one second billing |
You would save 5% extra with one second billing |
You would save 57% extra with one second billing |
As a general trend in telecommunications, rates tend to go down, and we believe that if our rates change, they will rather go down than up!
As a legitimate long distance provider registered in all 50 states, telna is legally obligated to assess certain taxes on your phone bill:
· State and local taxes can range anywhere from 0 to 10% depending on your city, county and state. Certain smaller long distance providers don't charge you for those taxes. This is completely illegal and means that those companies are bound to disappear sooner or later!
· The USF (Universal Service Fund) charge is collected on behalf of the federal government to fund telecommunications in remote areas. Unlike other long distance providers who charge up to 12% for "USF fees", telna passes the USF charge straight through to its customers. The current USF charge rate can be found here.
Remember, since telna offers such low rates, our customers pay less taxes since the taxes are applied to lower amounts!
Billing questions
Our low rates require that we deliver your monthly bill to you online or through email. You can then print it out on paper if you wish. For this purpose, we offer you free access to mytelna, an advanced online billing service. If you don't have access to email, or don't have a printer, you can have telna print out your bill and mail it to you, but we have to charge 99¢ per month for that service.
To save more money, we recommend you use the free online billing service and print out your bill yourself from the convenient PDF format.
At that time, we also mail out paper bills to customers that requested this option. You can expect your paper bill to arrive anytime between the 3rd and 15th day of each month.
To save more money, we recommend you to use direct debit from your checking account so that you avoid expensive discount rates that are usually charged on credit card balances by your credit card company.
Unfortunately, to maintain low operating costs which result in low rates, we can't accept payments by check at this time.
However, you don't have to wait for your monthly statement to know where you stand since our advanced online billing service lets you view your long distance usage in near realtime.
Don't loose any time if you suspect a mistake, since we can only accept billing disputes within 30 days of sending your bill.
Questions about telna
By maintaining low operating costs, and refraining from expensive national marketing campaigns, we need less mark-up, which results in some of the lowest rates available for our customers.
We think customers should realise for themselves the savings they can achieve by using telna's long distance service, and therefore we only use non-invasive marketing methods.
If you receive annoying telemarketing calls, we recommend that you sign up for the free National Do Not Call Registry from the FCC on this website: https://www.donotcall.gov/.
