Phone Companies See Their Future In Flat-Rate Plans
from the not-so-bad dept
As ISPs are struggling to shift away from flat-rate pricing to tiered or metered pricing, long distance companies are moving in the opposite direction. Starting with MCI, who introduced the Neighborhood unlimited calling plan last year, most long distance providers are now getting around to offering some sort of flat-rate calling plan. I've been using the Neighborhood since soon after it launched, and while it's had some glitches, it is really nice to never worry about additional fees or what time to make long distance calls. The one annoying thing (that I'm sure all the phone companies do) is that the various "fees and surcharges" seem to inch up every month.
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Surprises?
But neither should we be now surprised at ISPs seeking new ways to generate revenue. The successes of the imbedded local exchange carriers have left ISPs with little other choice as the ILECs are pricing their services below the ISP costs. The only way out is to develop special services and features that still can't be provided by the cookie cutter commodity telco services.
But such is progress in the 21st century.
-Murrel
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Can you share the glitches?
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Re: Can you share the glitches?
Nothing too bad. The first bill had a $10 "second line" charge for no reason that took some yelling to get removed. The voicemail set up was a little clunky - though, they've now switched to a second (also clunky) voicemail system. It has lots of nice features, but it was clearly designed by someone who had no intention of ever using it. They need a user interface designer badly.
The biggest "glitch" was just on the timing of the switchover. They had promised it at one point, and it just happened at another time, and I couldn't access my voicemail until I called them up, and they admitted the change came too fast (before they had sent me the startup info).
Also, I wouldn't worry too much about losing touch with th elocal phone company. If my experience is any indicator, you will start hearing from them just about everyday, trying to get you back.
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VoIP
No mysterious fees and I'm not paying 30 different taxes, either.
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