My AT &T rant

[pinkytoe]

I dropped our land line long distance years ago but noticed a sneaky minimum use fee of $2.00 plus fees to total around $5.00 added to every bill. Pretty ridiculous considering we use AT&T for ld calls on the cell. I see on the web that there are many disgruntled land line customers trying to cancel the fee with no luck. They either have ways to keep it on your bill, take it off and put it back on each month or charge a $9 fee to completely remove your ability to make a ld call from your land line even in an emergency. The only other way they won't charge the min use fee is if you actually make a ld call that goes over $2.00 (which at their rate would be about 15 seconds). I tried to call and discuss but the robot said there was a 15 minute wait. I guess this is the last straw on keeping the land line. Greedy so and so's...

[Zigzagman]

I dropped our land line long distance years ago but noticed a sneaky minimum use fee of $2.00 plus fees to total around $5.00 added to every bill. Pretty ridiculous considering we use AT&T for ld calls on the cell. I see on the web that there are many disgruntled land line customers trying to cancel the fee with no luck. They either have ways to keep it on your bill, take it off and put it back on each month or charge a $9 fee to completely remove your ability to make a ld call from your land line even in an emergency. The only other way they won't charge the min use fee is if you actually make a ld call that goes over $2.00 (which at their rate would be about 15 seconds). I tried to call and discuss but the robot said there was a 15 minute wait. I guess this is the last straw on keeping the land line. Greedy so and so's...

I agree Pinkytoe - we live in the land of oligarchy. The telecom divestiture of '84 (Reagan administration) resulted in what would end up with instead of 9 or so baby bells to 4 or so. So much for competition. Like much of the large companies in this country they are quick to gobble up any competition and then use their market cap to even further establish their dominance. I think that telecom, and oil/gas are a perfect examples of business influence on government. In the very old days - prior to Reagan - the impact on consumers was a big issue when it came to competition. After the 80's most voters thought that BIG was good.

I suggest that you don't expect too much from our political heroes - they really do represent our mostly uneducated, religious oriented, and naive conservative population. I personally think that we must stop the homeschooling, the charter schools, and demand that our children get a GOOD education (paid for with property taxes) not based upon on religious dogma, not based on Teabaggers, but mostly based on learning and competing with the rest of the world as we try to desperately compete with our global economy.

PEACE

[Spartana]

I had this same thing happen with my Verizon landline. I had dropped the long distance and just had local area only. It was suppose to be around $10/month. But I noticed they tacked on a $6/month "no-use" fee for long distance. It basicly said that any LD calls I made up to the $6 were covered by that fee and any LD calls above that would be chared at a per minute rate. If I didn't make ANY LD calls I still had to pay the $6 fee. I was outraged!! Called them and ranted and raved and told them I didn't want any LD at all and to remove it. They said they couldn't as "something" was required. Huh? I cancelled my phone and just used my cell phone - which is almost impossible for me to use because I'm near deaf and had a special home phone for people with hearing disabilities. Anyway, I eventually moved and got a new home phone with a different company and just got a low cost flat fee nationwide package ($20/month). Verizon is as crazy as AT & T!!

[ApatheticNoMore]

Yes realistically a landline with no long distance is coming in around $30 a month. That's more than my gas bill some months. That's more than my electricity bill some months (and that's green power). Um gas and electricity are real resources. Sure a landline requires some resources to maintain it, but yea the whole thing seems a ripoff. Of course there are so many different fees and taxes added to every bill that who even knows where the money goes anymore. I don't think I am being charged this particular fee.