In article <telecom26.179.5@telecom-digest.org>, T says:
> In article <telecom26.178.6@telecom-digest.org>, mrc@cac.washington.edu
> says:
>> On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, John Mayson wrote:
>>> Did telephone service become cheaper before or after 1/1/1984? It's a
>>> serious question, I don't know.
>> In general, long (both regional and national) distance and
>> international calls become MUCH cheaper. Pre-1984, we used to worry
>> about how much a call to a relative in another state would cost and
>> we'd keep the call as short as possible. International calls would
>> cost a goodly portion of the national debt.
>> However, a POTS line for local (or incoming) calls only has become
>> more expensive; it's now $20 or so instead of $6 (and that's assuming
>> that you have long distance disabled or you have to pay an additional
>> set of fees for the long distance privilege).
>> Fortunately, the advent of DSL, cable modems, etc. have eliminated the
>> need for modem lines. I once had four POTS lines (voice + three
>> data); now I have just one.
>> I understand why many of the kids choose not to have POTS service at
>> all. The argument about POTS being more reliable than cellular/VOIP
>> doesn't hold in my neighborhood; POTS *always* goes down during a
>> power outage (an event that happens several times a year).
> Where the hell can you get basic unlimited service for only $20 a
> month? I'm sorry but I consider all the little 'fees' to be nothing
> but legal extortion.
> Here in RI a basic line will run you $45 a month.
My total bill here in Iowa through Qwest is $54, including taxes and fees. I
get basic service, plus caller ID, call waiting, and unlimited long distance.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And here in Kansas, (or wherever people
subscribe to Sage Telecom, (but these are Kansas rates), I pay $24.99
for 'Simply Savings Essentials', which includes my choice of two FREE
'optional' services, I chose 'Anonymous Call Rejection', and the
'Call Waiting ID Pack' as my two FREE features. 'Personalized Ring' (a
separate, seven-digit number to dial for my fax 'ring-ring' line costs
me an additional $2.75 per month. Then there are charges like
Interstate Subscriber Line charge, $9.50, 'Public Switched Network
Recovery Charge', $1.33, '911 Emergency Service Fee', 75 cents,
'Kansas Universal Service',$1.14, 'Federal Universal Service
Reimbursement' also $1.14, 'ITSP Regulatory Fee Reimbursement', 3
cents, 'Federal Excise Tax' 36 cents, and 'State & Local Sales Tax',
$2.03. On the 'Free and Optional Services' part of the bill (the
total bill is 5 full size pages long) there is also a 'Kansas
Universal Service', a 'Federal Excise Tax' and State & Local Sales
Tax' which between them total 36 cents. But Sage does provide me with
ten dollars per month of 'free long distance' (which does NOT include
any calls to 555-1212 services) and they say I received 95 cents of
free long distance service this month on my 'actual' calls; not the
Directory Assistance calls which between them came to $7.47 which
were labled by date as 'local D/A' and 'national D/A', in each case
to the 'number' 316-411-0000. So that $24.99 turned out to be a
total of $56.34 when the bank's computer (through it's relationship
with Sage's computer) makes payment sometime Wednesday afternoon or
evening. I suppose I cannot blame the calls to Directory Assistance
in any kind of 'extortion' scam by telco, so that would leave $44.39
in actual practice based on an advertised price of $24.99. Sage did
announce however, that as a 'preferred customer' I will recieve
_free_ LD service all day on Wednesday, July 4. We will see how that
actually works out also. PAT]
Josh (uhf@*newsguy.com)