What does AT&T/BellSouth mean for consumers?

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Worse?

Was it worse when a long distance call cost 30 times as much and salaries were less than 20% of current salaries, thus making them effectively 150 times more expensive? That was at the end of the monopoly when long distance prices were at a historic low. Was it worse when an aftermarket answering machine was $300 but the phone company would not let you use it? Was it worse when you had to pay extra each month to rent the second phone that you had in your bedroom so that you could have a second phone? Was it worse when you built your own home, paid for the wire and jacks that were put into it, but the phone company charged you to maintain your own wire and jacks, claimed ownership of them, and charged you extra each month for having them? Was it worse when you paid an extra dollar a month for touch tone even though it was cheaper for the phone company to use it, and it actually cost them extra to block it from your home? Was it worse when you were not allowed to buy a phone at a local store and plug it into a jack in your own home?

Even after the break up, things came slowly. They were slow to allow long distance companies to have "one plus dialing" (i.e., pick up your phone and dial the number instead of calling the long distance company, giving a PIN and then calling the number, or later by using a 10xxx number.) They were slow to allow added phone extensions, and even then, required you to notify the phone company, tell them the ringer equivalence number, and have it approved. They added rental charges and maintenance charges to dupe customers who were too intimidated not to pay them. The customers were threatened that if they did not pay, then it would cost a small fortune if it turned out that they had an inside wiring problem.

I don't see it as worse that my service improved, the cost went way down, and a long distance call went from being a luxury that I could afford only because of my high tech job to something that people no longer even think about.

Posted by: wresnick   Posted on: 03/07/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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