Teletruth News Release: March 13th, 2009 (CONTACT INFO BELOW) UCAN http://www.ucan.org
Read the Report: http://www.teletruth.org/docs/UCANteletruth.pdf Read a Summary of the Report and Implications. http://www.newnetworks.com/ucanstudy.htm Survey of San Diego, CA Telecom and Broadband Users Reveals Serious Increases Since 2004 Caused by Deregulation and Consolidation. FCC's Phone Bill Data Costs are a Political Myth. It's 25-years after the breakup of AT&T, and many consumers are paying more for long distance and wireless services than they should. An exhaustively researched audit of over 700 San Diego long distance and wireless phone bills is challenging long-cherished myths about deregulation and phone competition. The study was sponsored by Utility Consumers Action Network, a San Diego-based consumer group and conducted by auditors with Teletruth, New Networks Institute and LTC Consulting. It found that many San Diego consumers are paying far more for long-distance and wireless service than they -- and regulators -- believe. Teletruth reported that Unlike Federal regulators, who have evaluated phone bills with number-fiddling and third-party data, we used true cost accounting to examine every charge for more than 700 San Diego phone bills. Some of the surprising findings in the 87-page report include: Since 2004: - Deregulation has increased phone costs for low-income families. Not only has basic service been increased 25%, but other services, like unlisted numbers are up 346%, while Directory Assistance is up 1630%. - For the past 8 years, the FCC has used deceptive statistics from questionable third-party sources to create an illusion of lower phone prices and regulatory success. - Long distance charges have increased, on average, to 55¢ a minute. Only about 8% of land line customers pay less than 10 cents per minute for long-distance calls. The majority pay well over 10 cents per minute, with 20% of people paying more than 50 cents per minute and 10% paying more than $1.00. - The average cost for a wireless call is $3.02 per minute. Wireless costs have increased for many customers because customers are only utilizing 32% of their plan allowance. - 90% of all AT&T and Verizon phone bills are improperly taxed. - Unreadable phone bills make more money for phone companies. - There is no meaningful phone competition for San Diego households. The results of the full 87-page TeleTruth report can be found at http://www.teletruth.org/docs/UCANteletruth.pdf Read our Article: "Deregulation and Consolidation have Harmed Telephone and Broadband Customers: Phone Bill Survey Reveals Market Failure: Less Choice Equals Continuous Rate Increases". http://www.newnetworks.com/ucanstudy.htm Learn more about our cost-per-minute methodology vs the FCC: http://www.newnetworks.com/Methodteletruthsurvey.htm For more information contact Teletruth experts; the authors of the report: Bruce Kushnick, New Networks Institute br...@newnetworks.com Tom Allibone LTC Consulting t...@teletruth.org _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-requ...@digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
