BellSouth Adds New Fee To Pay For The Non-Fee They No Longer Need To Collect
from the please-explain-this-one dept
Remember Verizon's doublespeak efforts in explaining their new extra fee for DSL subscribers this week? This was their new "supplier surcharge," which is almost exactly the same as the now ended Universal Service Fee (USF). It turns out the fact that the amounts are nearly the same and one ends just as the other begins is a mere coincidence. BellSouth, on the other hand, couldn't even be bothered to pretend that any new fee is unrelated to the end of the USF. They've announced that they'll just keep on charging the exact same amount on everyone's bill and will pocket it. It won't even be called a "supplier surcharge" either. They're not even trying to hide it. BellSouth is calling it a "regulatory cost recovery fee," which is what they used to call it as well. Of course, there's no more regulation, so there's no more regulatory cost to recover. So, how does BellSouth explain that? Well, you see, it's "to offset costs incurred in complying with regulatory obligations and other expenses. The fee also recovers costs associated with additional systems necessitated by federal regulation, as well as costs associated with monitoring, participating in and complying with regulatory proceedings, and other network and servicing requirements." I've read that twenty times already, and I still don't know what they're saying, other than they don't really care, they just want to keep the money. The article also notes that when the telcos lobbied to be let out from having to pay into the USF system on DSL, part of the argument was that it would benefit consumers -- when the reality is that these two telcos have used it as an opportunity to shaft consumers. The article does point out that neither AT&T nor Qwest are continuing the fee, but that could always change once they see what their friends are doing.
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Call it "undercoating"
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Money grubbing, poor customer service, continual screwups... does it ever end?
I would advise anyone: google "verizon sucks" before signing up for any of their services.
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Re: Yet Another Dissatisfied Customer
and, isn't AT&T buying out BellSouth? (or is it vice versa?).
So, does that mean the fee will go away, or will AT&T decide to add it?
Perhaps they'll add a business transfer fee to cover the costs of the business merger.
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competition
why won't companies do better to keep the customers instead of constantly pissing people off for no good reason?
i swear when i had telco line, all those fees would jack up my bill by 200% at the end....it doesn't seem alot with $3 here and another $2 here but after all the additions, my $17 bill would come to nearly $30....
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interesting...
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Re: interesting...
DSL is no longer under the USF, but VoIP IS now, they weren't before. So, A: Vonage is being charged the USF fee.
B: They do not have to itemize it in your bill, they could swallow the cost, but it's much easier to just tack it on and say they're required to charge you... In the end, they have to pay it, and since they get their money from you, you have to pay it.
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Does it mean...
Is this the cost incurred by the telco when they illegally tap your phone for the government?
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Re: Does it mean...
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advertising
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Re: advertising
I feel that anything that you're required to pay every month, whether it's sales tax, universal service fee, regulatory recovery fee, etc., should all be included in advertised cost of the product being sold. I recently moved to Iowa and my home phone service is supposed to be $29.95 per month for local calls only - no long distance, no special features, just a phone number that works. My monthly bill is over $39 each month because of tacked-on fees and taxes that *have* to be paid, but they're not included in the advertised price.
I called up the local cable company which offers their own VoIP offering for $29.95 per month which includes every possible calling feature *and* unlimited long distance and I asked how much it would be each month with all fees and taxes applied - $31.75 is what I was told which includes the local sales tax. They're going to switch me over on August 31, we'll see what happens...
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Haven’t you gotten it thru your heads yet?
YOU ARE NOT CITIZENS ANY MORE.
You are merely consumers and consumers have no rights. Corporations are the only legal entities that have rights anymore, so shut up and learn your place.
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They can charge it
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Re: They can charge it
Oh, I forgot, the AT&T wholesale price is only $1 to $2 dollars less than their direct price for consumers, in most cases.
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Re: They can charge it
Cancelling service will only hurt the consumer that now no longer has any ISP. These companies have divided the geographical area, so that in order to swap ISP you physically have to move, in my head this is what I call a monopoly. This is really what they want, because most people will not move in order to swap ISP, and the greedy companies can keep prices high.
If you are lucky, you might have one telco and one cableco offering service where you live, but this seems more like an exception these days, and even if you do, the prices are still high.
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Re: Re: They can charge it
and that is the problem. high speed cable and DSL are not an "apples to apples" competition. in most neighborhoods you need to have a phone line to get DSL or cable television to get a cable modem. the only choice you have is which useless service (thanks to VOIP and IPTV) you have to pony up for.
offering DSL without phone service (called "nakedDSL" in some circles) is available in a few markets in the continental united states, and some markets let you get internet access thru your powerlines, but that's it for pure internet access.
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Btw, I called Comcast yesterday to cancel my $42.99 monthly cable IP service. Before I could finish the sentence the phone rep offered me 6 months at $19.99 to stay. I stayed. Try it and you might get the same!!!
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Telco's blow
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3 words
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Bring attention to this
Now that the actual law has been repealed, there's no excuse. Sure they could just raise prices to compensate, but that would put them in an obvious bad light. It's much easier to keep sneaking line items onto the bill so they can advertise their "base prices" which actually have nothing to do with reality.
It's true people don't really have an alternative, other than simply not have phone or internet service. Still, if we are able to make enough people aware it could affect the the image of the company and help bring about change.
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Re: Bring attention to this
Same principal applies though!
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The point has been made
That's how our economy works. If they aren't competitive because they are charging ridiculous fees, then they don't get the business. It's that simple.
But I also like Bull's idea:
If you want to, or feel that you have to, give your business to one of these companies, then beat them at their own game. Work their system to your advantage.
For further example, how many people here used to be on BMG or a similar purchase program? How many times would you cancel right after you met your obligation, so that you can get the "come back to us" offer for (comparatively) super-cheap CD's?
Same idea.
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Re: The point has been made
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Re: Re: The point has been made
Collusion to raise prices is where a bunch of competitors get together and all agree not to undercut each other so that the price doesn't drop. That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about giving these companies enough rope to hang themselves with. If they want to charge more money than thier competitors, let them. If they all want to charge it, it'll only take one of them to say "Hey everyone, come do business with us. We don't charge that fee!". That kind of selling point will cause the other's to drop the fee too.
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telecartels
verizon and AT&T.
once bell south gets bought/sold/assimlated by AT&T, cingular will convert to AT&T again. that brand is just too important to die.
the others, qwest and sprint and whatever, will either die off or get eaten by the big two and there will be little or no competition in the telco industry. even if they don't they will only matter to the people fortunate enough to live somewhere where there is a little competition.
i don't think that there will ever be enough competition to cause a "race to the bottom" for internet access, even though it's the only service (other than water, electricity, and waste disposal) that could be considered essential.
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Re: telecartels
AT&T just taking back what they were forced to give up 22 years ago......
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As a point, SBC bought AT&T, which then became AT&T (or at&t, depending on which presentation you watched) and then AT&T bought Bell South.
No, the USF did not pay for wiretapping, and in fact, the govt. reimburses the communications companies for this service.
In terms of the advertised price, I agree that anything that is not a tax should be included in the advertising, but forcing them to inlcude taxes in the advertisements would be a problem as states have different tax structures, these fees that are mandatory (but not actually taxes) should be included in the advertised price.
Oh, and considering the broadband penetration rate in the US, I hardly see how broadband access can be considered essential.
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Bellsouth Sucks
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Re: Bellsouth Sucks
I can offer you three pieces of advise;
1. Get an education
2. Whilst gaining the education, PLEASE learn to spell correctly
3. After gaining the education, GROW UP
Have a wonderful life!
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Re: Re: Bellsouth Sucks
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Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee
SBC bought AT&T and chose to use thier name as it was more recongnizable. The new at&t is currently slated to purchase Bellsouth barring any governmental intervention approximately the beginning of next year.
Should this particular issue offend you enough - threaten to cancel service and see what they offer you. You might make out on the deal.
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FEES
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ITS BEEN ELIMINATED!!
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Are you kidding me?
I've been irked about paying that USF charge for years- it's stupid, it's not like we really have rural areas where consumers need served and there aren't adequate facilities in place. The telcos are equally involved as any municipal agency in residential zoning expansion and any new construction is on the top of everyone's list, trying to be that single provider within the home for all things, broadband, phone service and television.
A BellSouth representative said they have been testing DSL at speeds of 24Mbps for about a year now, allowing them to carry their new television signal into our homes.
Why haven't they?
Also, if Fiber to the curb has been their goal for the last 5-10 years, why was my home, constructed just over three years ago still on POS copper, and better yet, can't even get the highest speed dsl. C'mon guys. You'd think living across from the Doral Country Club there would be ample services to those who live here. They would tend to spend more, I'd think.
BellSouth, c'mon! Be fair, you pretty much own everything now anyway (Welll, MA AT&T).
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Re: Are you kidding me?
What I found is this.
First, they charge us for our service. Then they still collect the USF, but thats only about 70¢. But, what's this $6.50 charge (per line of course, all charges are) for network access? Isn't that what I pay for to start with in getting a phone line?
Okay, so they are getting 69.5¢ per line they don't deserve.
According to their current financial report for the period ending June 31st, this monthly revenue would equal $13,413,500 a month (they have 19.3 million total access lines).
If they are collecting this on Cingular bills for wireless service, thats 57.3 million subscribers. That would bring their monthly bounty to $53,237,000!! This is CRAZY!
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They are all problematic.. so chose the lesser of
Who is the crappiest? I dunno... MCI has continued to bill me for an account cancelled in 1999, despite numerous complaints to them (yep, its on the credit report and they won't take it off). AT&T... Hell, don't even get me started with those jackasses (I can say that because I am doing contract tech support for them... they suck royal). Sprint, I think named themselves such as they only want to take your money and run... Alltel just plain old sucks. My verizon wireless has typically been great until recently (but its more a product issue with Samsung than a provider problem). So.. whats it all come down to? You're as damned with one as you are another, be it phone service, cable or internet. So grumble and complain and release the stress because simply put... the corporations don't care.
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bellsouth outrageous
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new charge on bill
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Greed and Dishonesty is the norm
Government would get out of this charging their stupid fees it only adds to the misery of it all...if they was doing anything to earn that money they would at least have set prices
for all states and not let each state charge what they want ,this way phone bills would be easier to read. more standardized. The way they list the charges is evident that they try to hide them so as not to look so obvious Go to verizons website and short of actually calling them(and you still wont find out ) see if you can find all those hidden charges I couldn’t they do not tell you period until you get your first bill and then its to late to cancel…greed and dishonesty prevails in all the monopolies the billions they make goes a
long way towards lining crooked politicians pockets. its a vicious circle in which the only ones who suffer are the individuals. Even though it will go on my credit report I refused to pay them I will still suffer for it but ill be dammed if I will play their game. I can live just fine without a cell phone.
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Bellsouth sucks
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help!
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