Phone rates rising at blistering pace. Long-distance costs surge 55% in 4 years

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | February 2, 2004 | Todd Wallack

[John Jorsett]

The nation's largest long-distance carriers have raised their basic rates by an average of more than 55 percent during the past four years, socking consumers who haven't signed up for special calling plans, according to a report released today by Consumer Action, a San Francisco consumer watchdog group.

[dep]

these people are on drugs. anyobe with the brains of a leopard-striped garden slug can get extremely low long distance rates or, as in my case, a very cheal flat-rate long distance service.

[KantianBurke]

people use the phone for long distance? Its called e-mail or IM folks. If you want to waste ur cash, send it my way.

[evaporation-plus]

LOL..... My phone and long distance bill is probably the ONLY bill that has gone down......

[Wolverine]

Alternative

[only1percent]

This is kind of like saying, "Regular prices at Macy's have gone up 25%" when only the brain-dead or desperate ever buy anything not on sale...

[Lokibob]

I cancelled ALL my long distance service on my home phone.

This means that I don't pay the connect taxes and long distance taxes and service charges from them.

I have an AT&T calling card I got at Walmart that charges 5 cents a min. It is simple to recharge the card at Walmart.

Speed dial 1 on my phone is the AT&T 800 number, with another speed dial for the access code and I'm off and running. I carry the card in my wallet for those time when I'm away from the house. That is all the long distance I need.

[Hank Rearden]

I completely cancelled LD service at my house too; it got to the point where I hated those MCI/Worldcom crooks with the fury of 1,000 suns. I can call anywhere for 2.9 cents/minute. www.onesuite.com is what I've been using for over 2 years now. Yer welcome, fellow FReepers.

[mass55th]

Cable rates have done the same.

[Noumenon]

I want my VoIP!

[drgnwrks]

Reliable Low Cost Alternative

[Wright is right!]

An alternative worth looking into for SOME pipple is VoIP - long distance via the Internet. It's a flat rate per month for all your calling, local or long distance, because the transport is via your broadband Internet connection.

Like I said, it will work for SOME popple. But there are drawbacks.

If you get a power outage, your land-based phone will, in likelihood, still work. Your IP phone won't, since it won't have power.

If you have a cable modem, your phone service is at the mercy of the cable TV provider. Cable TV, for instance, is not considered a "lifeline" provider in case of natural emergencies. They aren't required to restore it as fast as, say, power and regular phone lines.

If you use DirecWay (DirecTV high-spped Internet), you will have "satellite lag" in all your calls. I'm sure you know what satellite lag is.

DSL speeds vary, and might not always be fast enough.

A spine problemo in your area will knock out not only your surfing but your phone as well.

As soon as IP Telephony hits the big time, the hackers will have a heyday. You think you're getting spammed now?

Now, VoIP will work best when in a LAN intra-office environment, removing the requirement for separate cabling runs from the office's switch to each user telephone. Instead, the phones will be ON the LAN along with the user's PC. Avaya (used to be Lucent) will have a Small Office VoIP out this spring that does this. I know, because phone systems are my bidness.

Michael

[MinuteGal]

I just got my LD rate increase notice from Sprint in the mail Saturday.

I have to keep long distance service for a number of reasons, but from now on, all my social communication will be done by email or IM. Except for my elderly relatives, if family and friends don't have a computer, tough. They can call me.

Leni

[Wright is right!]

You may or may NOT want your VoIP. See my caveats about it above.

Michael

[Ditter]

I just paid my phone bill yesterday & was thinking, "what a bargain". I have talked to people all over the country for almost nothing. I could drop that much at the grocery store & never give it a thought.

[newgeezer]

3.47 cents per minute

...using the AT&T card available at Sam's Club. No connect charge, no minimums, no catch whatsoever. There is a low surcharge for calls from payphones, that's all.

[goodnesswins]

Does that work for LOCAL long distance, also?

[Orangedog]

In addition, phone companies have also quietly raised the price of collect and calling cards. MCI has increased the rate for a 10-minute calling card call to $14.25, up 25 percent in just the past year.

These people need to put away the crack pipe. Who intheir right mind is is going to buy long distance calling cards at a rate of over $1 per minute?!

[Natural Law]

The answer is VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol. There is no reason a call, like an email, to anywhere on the planet should cost anything.

[Library Lady]

Your alternative sounds fine, if all of my long distance calls were out of state. Our calls are probably about half and half. So... we use a Sams AT&T pre-paid card. It's less than $35 for 1,000 minutes. But we still have to pay about $30 a month to connect to Sprint. Does anyone have a better deal?