A Nickel Here, A Buck There Add Up To Big Phone Bills

from the fleecing-the-public dept

Not that this will surprise many people, but the Baby Bells have been steadily raising all the "fees" they charge for all those add-on services they got you hooked on with cheap promotional deals. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with them doing so, if they were clear about it. Instead, like always, they make sure to hide the info in the middle of their insanely confusing bills. I would think that this is an opportunity for VoIP companies like Vonage to show up and point out to everyone why they're better. The Bells may have pushed out competition on their local lines through shrewd politics and sheer stubbornness, but competition will simply make an end-run around them.
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  • identicon
    werty, 28 Feb 2003 @ 6:06am

    No Subject Given

    Not everything in telecom is bad. Witness Verizon Veriations, which gives customers all the services they could want for a flat fee (I just signed up myself). If only there weren't $109 in taxes on a $60 phone bill.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    X-addict, 28 Feb 2003 @ 11:36am

    Verizon's

    Verizon charges $7 per month for their caller-id service.. While its nice to have caller-id, that price bites and I have a hard time believing that they need to charge that price to cover the equipment costs.. In my case, I called Verizon about a week ago and disabled caller-id, inside wiring plan, unlisted phone number and switched from unlimited local to measured service and removed close to $20 from my phone bill.. now if the feds would quit raising the required subscriber line charges (currently $6), that would be nice as well..

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dr_Stein, 28 Feb 2003 @ 11:50am

    vonage rocks

    Vonage really does rock. Better services from SBC and a much lower price.

    Having Canada *not* treated as an international call is also VERY cool.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    u2604ab, 28 Feb 2003 @ 12:06pm

    No Subject Given

    Pac-Bell (now SBC) pissed me off 3 years ago. I bought a cell phone and haven't had a land line since then. The Baby Bells and the music companies have something in common: refusal to compete and innovate.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    aReader, 28 Feb 2003 @ 1:44pm

    The new charges that are coming

    Following new charges are on way:
    1) Fee to "look" at your phone
    2) Fee to receive the phone without actually picking up the phone
    3) 'Smile Surcharge' -- a fee charged based on number of times you smile while talking
    4) Receiver portability fee -- your SBC phone will no longer work on a receiver that you used for AT & T

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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