Telephone Tax Refund

OK, What's the deal with the telephone tax refund? The IRS instructions talk about a refund of the "federal excise tax". I looked through some old phone bills, and while I paid plenty of "federal tax", nowhere can I find a "federal excise tax". My sister Texas says "hey, don't worry about it, everybody who had phone service paid this tax, just take the standard refund amount", but if everybody paid it, why can't I find it on my old phone bills? Or are "federal tax" and "federal excise tax" one and the same?

Please help.