REGINA – SaskTel is gearing up for a busy holiday calling season, projecting that its customers will make approximately 950,000 long distance calls this Christmas Day. That number includes 700,000 wireline calls and 250,000 wireless long distance calls.
In comparison, on Christmas Day 2009, SaskTel customers placed 736,000 wireline long distance calls and 210,000 wireless long distance calls for a total of 946,000.
About 44% of Christmas Day calls are expected to be made to locations in Saskatchewan, while about 51% of the calls will be to Canadian destinations outside of the province. About 5% of the calls will go to the United States and overseas.
SaskTel said that the increase in long distance calling during the holidays may result in some network congestion, and is suggesting that customers minimize any inconvenience by:
– placing calls outside of the busy hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.;
– placing direct-dialed calls instead of operator-assisted calls;
– verifying phone numbers in advance; and
– taking time zones into consideration.
