TRACNotes
Vol. 2 # 18 --
May 7, 2004
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Start of Summer to Bring Big Price Hike for MCI Customers - June 1 won't be very sunny for MCI "Friends and Family" subscribers. Effective June 1, MCI Friends & Family, MCI Friends & Family SureSavings and MCI Friends and Family Free plan subscribers will see their state-to-state long distance rates increase by 5¢ per minute. Additionally, using MCI operator assistance to place calls (by dialing "00" or by dialing 0 + area code + the 7-digit number) will become even more expensive on June 1. The per-minute rate for operator assistance will increase from 99¢ to $1.15. The per-call surcharge for Station to Station, Station to Station Collect, Station to Station Third Party Billed, Station to Station Non Company Issued Card Calling, and Person to Person Non Company Issued Card Calling calls will increase from $5.99 to $6.50. Finally, the per-call surcharge for Person to Person, Person to Person Collect, and Person to Person Third Party Billed calling will increase from $6.50 to $7.00. For the price of one of these calls, consumers could buy a low-volume prepaid calling card for emergency use. Low-cost prepaid cards are available for purchase at many discount retailers such as Sam's Club, Costco, and BJ's. For more information on these MCI rate increases, click here(iii).
WIRELESS WATCH
Verizon Wireless Bills to Become Less Detailed - Beginning June 30, Verizon Wireless customers will no longer see their calls detailed on their monthly bills. To see a detailed bill, they will need to register on the Verizon Wireless website, where they can view their detailed bills free of charge. Existing Verizon Wireless subscribers who wish to continue to receive a detailed paper bill should contact the Verizon Wireless Detailed Billing Hotline before June 30 by calling (800) 894-3504. Customers requesting a detailed paper bill after June 30 will be charged a $1.99 monthly fee. According to Verizon, customers in New Mexico and those that receive paper bills with large print or Braille type will not be affected by the change. For more information, please click here(iv).
Sprint PCS Overage Plan Falls Short of the Mark - Sprint PCS this week announced a new plan aimed at reducing the cost of going over monthly minute allotments. The Sprint PCS "Fair and Flexible" plan does not charge subscribers on a per-minute basis for overage minutes (typically 40¢ per minute). Instead, subscribers are charged $2.50 for a "block" of 25 overage minutes. This means that a subscriber who goes even one minute over their monthly minute allotment would pay a hefty $2.50 charge. The break-even point would be when the consumer exceeds their limit by 6 minutes, with minutes becoming progressively cheaper up to, but not exceeding, the 25-minute block. The "Fair and Flexible" would probably be useful only for users who don't buy many minutes to begin with or whose usage patterns vary a lot from month to month. As with any "block-of-time" plan, consumers should look at their wireless plans on a per-minute cost basis. The effective per-minute rate of using 350 minutes of a 1000-minute plan, for example, is likely to be much higher than going 50 minutes over the limit on a 300 minute plan. For more information on the Sprint PCS "Fair and Flexible" plan, click here(v).
INTERESTING LINKS
FCC Main Page - http://www.fcc.gov
FCC Complaint Form - http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
List of State Regulatory Commissions - http://www.naruc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=15
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©2004 Telecommunications Research and Action Center. TRAC grants unlimited rights to reproduce TRACNotes or any information contained in it provided attribution is given as follows: "Source:Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org"
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