Re: How to Avoid the $2/month for not making long distance calls

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
Date: May 6, 2007 11:43:21 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] How to Avoid the $2/month for not making long  
distance calls

Rob:

Your experience is the reason why so many of our users come to us,
a wireless ISP, for service. They wish to "cut the cord" to the
telephone company (which still swaggers like a monopoly) and to
the cable company, and can do this via cellular phones and
satellite TV. But to complete the wireless picture, they need
wireless Internet, and that's where we come in. While the telcos,
with their vast lobbying resources and deep pockets for political
contributions, are seeking to squelch us in every way they can,
we still get calls daily from prospective customers who are fed
up. Because we live in an area where winters are long (we had
an inch of snow just yesterday), we often can't get them online
as fast as we like and have a week or more of backlog. But we
certainly do our best to help them cut loose as soon as we can.

--Brett Glass, LARIAT.NET

> From: Rob Frieden <rmf5 () psu edu>
> Date: May 5, 2007 3:57:29 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: How to Avoid the $2/month for not making long distance calls
>
> Hello All:
>
> My monthly Verizon landline bill arrived with the new $2.00 (plus 11%
> Universal Service Fund contribution) for not making any long distance
> calls. Like many consumers I have migrated most long distance calls
> to my cellphone and know the "casual calling" or "dial around" 10XXX
> option to make inexpensive toll calls.
>
> I thought I had found a rate plan (at 40 cents a minute) that had no
> minimum and no charge to activate the presubscription when I departed
> from another company that had a monthly minimum. Verizon offered a
> rate plan I would never use, but one that coulf offer Verizon the
> chance to offer bundled services and other inducements.
>
> Now Verizon has a $2.00 minimum and apparently no way of knowing that
> I am paying an affiliate of the company a cool $120 a month. So
> wireline Verizon treats me like a low tier non-revenue enhancer not
> worth the bother.
>
> With an approach like that maybe I should join my college students in
> cutting the wireline cord and go wireless entirely. Something called
> the Missoula Plan (telcos like to name rate restructuring deals after
> the place the deal was first conceived) soon will cost wireline
> telephone subscribers $10 a month even before paying for a  
> subscription.
>
> The good news for me was a quite pleasant Verizon Customer Service
> Supervisor who waived the $2.19 and allowed me to eliminate Verizon
> as my presubscribed long distance carrier. I can still access long
> distance carriers, but not with the convenience of 1+ dialing.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> Rob Frieden
>
>
>
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