With more competition for telephone service and new services being developed every day, you have more choices for your communications needs than ever before. But understanding your options - and your phone bill - has become much harder.

Many phone companies are redesigning their bills to make them easier to understand. However, the charges may still be confusing unless you know some basics about how telephone billing works.

Looking at your phone bill carefully - and understanding what it says - will help you use phone services wisely and avoid fraud.

If you would like to print out the entire phone bill explanations and information about fraud and your rights, click here for the text-only version. Please note: this document is lengthy. You may print out individual explanations separately within the pop boxes.