1.   All long-distance companies pay local carriers for the originating and terminating parts of calls they handle.

2.   The phone company originating a call bills the customer and then pays the carrier that completes the call, a fee known as the settlement rate.

3.   The phone company originating a call bills the customer, and then pays the carrier that completes the call a settlement fee, which is half the accounting rate.

4.   The telephone company originating a call bills the customer and then pays the carrier that completes the call an amount known as the settlement rate.

5.   To speed mail delivery, carriers are being paid overtime to start earlier, and the delays are expected to end after Thanksgiving, she said.

6.   Users of the unlicensed spectrum do not have to pay telecommunications carriers for air time, but the airwaves can get crowded quickly.

7.   It would set limits on how much U.S. companies would pay foreign carriers.

8.   The plan is designed to bring international phone rates closer to the actual costs of providing calls by setting benchmarks above which U.S. companies would not pay foreign carriers.