-
- If you make 50
minutes of long distance calls a month,
did you know that AT&T's
heavily advertised "One Rate 7¢
will actually cost you
24.7¢ a minute? Or that MCI's "Five Cents
Any Day rate will
actually cost you 25.0¢ a minute if used during
working hours? And
how about Sprint's Sense 10 cents per minute rate? Bite
your tongue...
that'll cost you 77.8 cents!
-
- This mini-series of reports will help you understand
how all carriers, but in particular AT&T, MCI, and Sprint, have
manipulated
changes brought by the 1996 Telecommunications Act to
deceive the public
and line their pockets. Specifically, it will show
how the major carriers
have been masquerading their rate increases as
"Federally Mandated
Taxes" and shifting some of their costs
onto the consumer. It will
also show how you can counteract these
manipulations and achieve savings
in your phone bill whether you use
long distance or not.
-
- Years ago, when AT&T (Ma Bell) ruled the roost,
actual
expenses involved with providing local and long distance service
were muddy
at best. There really was no need to isolate different
components since
they all ended on the same bottom line.
-
- After "Ma
Bell" was broken up into AT&T
and the "Baby Bells",
things began to change. The "Baby
Bells", which were
restricted to carrying local service, complained
that FCC regulations
forced them to absorb part of the expenses associated
with the long
distance component. In 1996, the Congressionally passed
Telecommunications Act began to address this concern by isolating phone
costs into different components including those associated with carrying
traffic between the user and their long distance carrier's line.
-
- Once these costs were
identified and isolated, the FCC
issued rules changing the method in
which the "Baby Bells" could
charge long distance carriers
for usage of their lines. The old method,
charging so much per minute
for usage of the local lines in completing
a long distance call, was
replaced by a combined LOWER per minute rate
PLUS a flat monthly line
charge called a Presubscribed Interchange Carrier
Charge, or PICC for
short. The combination of this replacement cost structure
was actually
LOWER than the previous flat rate per minute charged to the
long
distance carriers.
-
- But the FCC didn't stop there.
-
- To help the "Baby
Bells" to make up for any
loss of revenue from the lower combined
charges to the long distance companies,
they were also allowed to
charge the consumer a new item called a "Subscriber
Line
Charge". In essence, the FCC allowed part of the long distance
carrier,scost to be shifted to the consumer. And this is where the
"smoke
and mirrors" begins!
-
- The "Subscriber Line
Charge" generally appears
in the local section of your phone bill
as the "Federal Subscriber
Line Charge", the implication
being that it is some new type of federally
mandated item. In reality,
this in no way is a federally mandated charge:
it is an allowed charge.
The "Baby Bells" claim they call it
a "Federal
Subscriber Line Charge" because it was allowed by
federal
regulators as oppose to state regulators. But by doing so, the
- consumer is led to believe it is just another federal
tax, which of course it isn't. Not one cent goes to the federal government
or any governmental agency. The local companies do not have to charge any
amount!
-
- But this is only the beginning of the "smoke and
mirrors" game!
-
- Not to be outdone, the long distance companies were just
as quick to capitalize on the confusion. They took the flat monthly line
charge (the PICC), and placed it in the long distance section of your bill
as the "National Access Fee". Once again, especially with all
the "Gore Tax" talk, consumers were led to believe this was just
another federal tax. But once again, it "ain't so"!
-
- This whole charade
has been nothing less than a shell
game in which both the local and
long distance carriers shifted part of
their costs onto the consumer
while transparently raising their rates.
It's been a "win
win" situation for the phone companies and a
"lose lose"
situation for the public.
-
- And this is why, despite all the hoopla about AT&T's
"One Rate 7¢" or MCI's "5¢ Any Day rate"
(actually MCI's is the greater lie because it only applies to calls
between
7pm and 7am), your phone bill is getting larger. It appears
that the leaders
in this "Fogging of America" were AT&T,
MCI, and to a lesser
extent, Sprint. Unfortunately, all of the other
carriers had to follow
suit or they would be left in the dust for being
honest!
-
- ___________
-
- Part two of this report will focus on the second
component
in the "Fogging of America, the "Universal Access
Charge. It
will also discuss how you can cut your phone bill regardless
if you do
or do not use long distance.
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