The High Cost of Phone Service

Phone Service Wants to Take you for a Ride

I have discovered that the breakup of the phone services and the advent of cellular telephones has not really helped the average consumer. I'm not saying cell phones are not useful - becuase they are very convenient. I am saying that with all these advances and the so-called competition, prices should not have skyrocketed as they have. Twenty years ago when there was one phone company the average phone bill was pretty reasonable if you did not make many long distance calls. Bills over one hundred dollars were extreme, today bills like that are commonplace - even if your phone is the same twisted pair (pstn) style that existed since the phone was invented.

Cell phones - Residential phones

Today an low end cell phone with local service gives you a limited number of minutes for about 40 dollars. Unless you are single, a single cell phone in a household will probably not do. So most homes that have a cell phone will likely have two or three of them, and maybe a land line for internet. Having several phones in your home crank your bill up drastically.

Land based phones are not much better, with all the fees that are added on them, including monthly fees just to have a long distance service provider (or to disable long distance service). Local bells have also devised what I like to call the "not really long distance, long distance" or your extended calling area. This short range long distance "service" will charge you at special long distance rates even though you may be calling just down the road. The phone companies do give you a way around this however - with a "metropolitan", "city" or "extended service area" line - which you will pay a premium for of course.

Choices

The break-up of of the phone monopolies was supposed to give us a choice - however, if you have a residential line, you may realize you don't have a choice. In some areas you may still only have one provider; in places where you are lucky enought to have two large providers (Verizon, SBC, Qwest...) - you can't choose. They have already choosen for you - the city is divided up between the various companies. you likely live in an area that is serviced by only one of the companies, but both.

Sure there are the other smaller phone companies - but often these services only serve business customers, or you have to get a an existing phone line through the big companies before you can switch to one of them.

Finally if you wish to have DSL, you probably have to get it throught the same company that your phone service is with. Most of the smaller companies, which can only givve you phone service after you have been established by one of the big companies, are incompatable with DSL.

Does this sound like you have been given a choice? - not really

On top of this, if you don't have a relationship wit one of the big ones, you often have to pre-pay your first month or may have to setup automatic payments by giving them access to your bank account. Such practices are ridiculous for anyone who wishes to maintain control over their finanaces. This brings to mind the recent lawsuit where a large Internet Service Provider had a similar arrangement with its customers. After customers reqested the service be discontinued, the were still being charged monthly fees a year later.

Internet Phone

With the advent of the intenet phone and VOIP you have another option - The phone service may be a bit cheaper than other phones but you have to pay for overpriced cable internet and then get internet phone on top of it. This fast internet solution will start you out at a minimum of around seventy five dollars a month for the internet and the phone. Excluding price, the downside? - when the cable goes, so does your phone.