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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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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.
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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..
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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.
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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.
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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
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Re: The new charges that are coming
I have been a Vonage Customer for over a year it has saved me a bundle they even have a forum dedicated to them www.vonage-forum.com
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Re: The new charges that are coming
ok well the link did not work on the last one sorry
vonage
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Re: The new charges that are coming
Now that a cool site! Daniel Connor
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