said by J D McDorce:. That is odd, since it costs me three times more to call Ann Arbor from my house via SBC currently than it does for me to call my parents in Florida via AT&T or MCI. Maybe it's just one of those competition things.
Actually, it has to do with the fact that intra state rates are higher than interstate ones due to the fact that instate calls are regulated by the Michigan Public Service Commission and interstate ones are not. In many cases it's cheaper to call Alaska or Hawaii than within the state of Michigan.
The competition is charging higher rates too. This is the case in many states, no matter what carrier you choose for your IntraLATA calls. I used to work for AT&T and was familiar with the pricing of many carriers. In 90% of the states across the union it was more expensive than interstate calling. The only state that was cheaper was California. Some states, like yours, were as high as 3x the interstate price.
You could complain to the state commission if you feel strongly about it.
