The Beaumont Enterprise has an online poll up to accompany its report on the end of AT&T’s Internet Overcharging scheme.  The poll is not well-written — I’ll write about that later.  In the meantime, let’s deliver a message to Beaumont that usage caps and other overcharging schemes are -not acceptable!-

The poll:

Should companies charge you based on the bandwidth you use?

• Yes.  You pay more for larger and faster in everything else.
• No.  Volume purchases should yield a discount.  <– Vote for this one.
  
• Hold on while I download this movie.

The first option is nonsense.  If you buy unlimited long distance plans from AT&T (assuming they bill you correctly), do you pay more for making 10 vs. 100 calls?  No you don’t.  The second choice is the one we recommend you choose, even though it’s poorly worded — it assumes you should still be capped, just not as extremely.  We’ll have to re-educate them on that.  The third option is simply insulting — playing into the stereotype that “heavy downloaders” are simply pilfering movies from the web.  That’s garbage.  We’ll educate them about that as well.

Thus far, with 75 votes in, the noes have it.  Let’s make that overwhelmingly so — here is the link.

Tired of paying that high Verizon Wireless bill?  Verizon’s handsome profits can translate into some great benefits, if you’re an employee.

For western New Yorkers, here’s your chance.

Verizon Wireless is hiring 200 call center employees in Rochester this year to bolster its existing 1,200 employee customer service department.

“As our customer base grows and the devices and services they use become more sophisticated, providing an outstanding customer experience becomes even more important,” said Russ Preite, president of Verizon Wireless’ Upstate New York Region. “We’ve been fortunate to continue to find top-quality, highly skilled talent in the Rochester area. Today’s announcement further endorses our commitment to Rochester and to maintaining superior customer service for our customers.”

Verizon can afford to pay employees some nice benefits:

• competitive salaries
• health, dental and vision coverage that begin on the first day of employment
• a 401(k) program with a 6 percent company match of the employee’s contribution
• annual bonus program
• profit sharing
• merit increases
• tuition assistance
• adoption assistance
• an on-site health and wellness facility, and more.

You can apply online.  If you land a job there, why not take a portion of your paycheck and send Stop the Cap! a contribution.  We’ll put their money to good use.

Belinda Horton, Clarksville, Tenn. speaks with AT&T customer service

Back in April, Stop the Cap! covered the story of Clarksville, Tenn., resident Belinda Horton, who found herself besieged by endless billing errors from AT&T.

She was not alone.  More than 15,000 customers in Tennessee alone have been suffering with an AT&T “unlimited” long distance calling plan that has billed every long distance call at non-plan rates.  At one point, Horton found herself staring at a bill for $1,350.

As of late April, more than three thousand dollars in erroneous charges had appeared on her phone bill over several months, when she was only supposed to have paid a flat rate amount of $25 a month for unlimited long distance.

Horton did secure credits from AT&T, but only after repeatedly calling their customer service department after every inaccurate bill arrived.

For her and other Tennessee customers in the same boat, appeals to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority were supposed to fix the problem.  AT&T’s legal counsel, Guy Hicks, apologized on behalf of the company and promised to make things right.

That lip service was apparently good enough for the TRA, which as we wrote at the time was just a bit premature:

It was disappointing to see the TRA praising AT&T at the end of Monday’s meeting.  This is an ongoing nightmare for some customers, and TRA officials seemed all too ready to applaud the company for its promises to fix the problem while Tennessee residents continue to be overbilled.  The time for praise comes after the company resolves the issue and every customer has been credited for every error.  AT&T has promised it would resolve these billing problems for nearly a month, with complaints still arriving even as the Authority met.

Long time readers can guess what happened next.

Belinda dropped a note to Stop the Cap! informing us she had enough with AT&T and decided to switch to Charter Communications.  But in one last indignity, her final bill from AT&T was loaded with inaccurate charges running over $100.

Now that Horton is a former AT&T customer, the company has been even less responsive than ever.  The TRA is reportedly involving itself in the matter once again, although it’s clear AT&T doesn’t exactly feel threatened by the Authority.

Had AT&T done the right thing, they would have not only credited back the inaccurately billed long distance calls, they also would credit back the $25 a month Belinda paid for a long distance plan she had to fight every step of the way to actually receive.  It’s the least the company could do for a customer who was forced to flee AT&T because they couldn’t resolve their own billing problems.

Belinda writes she has better things to do than spend endless hours fighting with the phone company.  She has been devoting as much free time as possible caring for an ailing friend.  Many people would have simply paid AT&T’s final bill just to be rid of them, but it was Belinda’s friend who encouraged her to stay in the fight and not pay AT&T one penny more than they deserve.

Stop the Cap! is attempting to get Horton in touch with the executive office customer service department at AT&T to get this resolved once and for all.

An Associated Press report gave credit to Stop the Cap! for getting first official word that AT&T ended its Internet Overcharging experiment in Beaumont, Texas and Reno, Nevada.

Stop the Cap! reader Scott Eslinger managed to get an AT&T customer service representative to read aloud a confidential memo distributed by the company terminating the experiment effective April 1st.  Because AT&T never disclosed the end of the experiment to impacted customers, the coverage by the wire service should help spread the word to residents that the rationing is over:

The phone company confirmed Tuesday that it is no longer holding DSL subscribers in Reno, Nev., and Beaumont, Texas, to data consumption limits and charging them extra if they go over.

With AT&T’s retreat, no major Internet service provider is championing the idea of charging subscribers for their data usage. Time Warner Cable Inc. was a major proponent of the idea and also conducted a trial in Beaumont, but backed away last summer after its plan to expand metered billing to other cities met fierce resistance from consumers and legislators.

AT&T’s trial started in November 2008 in Reno, and was later extended to Beaumont. It ended on April 1 this year, said AT&T spokeswoman Dawn Benton.

“We’re reviewing data from the trial, and this feedback will guide us as we evaluate our next steps,” Benton said.

AT&T should carefully review feedback from customers who despise usage limits and overlimit fees.  Studies show the overwhelming majority of customers do not like their broadband usage artificially limited with arbitrary allowances and overlimit fees, and customers will dump providers who ignore their wishes.

AT&T’s experiment never saved consumers a penny — the company simply slapped allowances as low as 20 GB per month on existing speed-based tiers.  Customers already face practical usage limits from Internet providers.  Those purchasing slower speed tiers are usage limited by those speeds.  Those who pay for higher priced, faster tiers benefit from naturally greater allowances those speeds provide.  Adding a new layer of limits only discourages customers from using the service they already pay good money to receive.  Besides, as profits explode in the broadband sector, the costs (and investment) to provide the service have declined, wiping out the justification for these schemes.

Stop the Cap! opposes all of these Internet Overcharging schemes.  While many providers seek to demagogue some broadband users as “data hogs” or “pirates,” the fact is today’s “heavy user” is tomorrow’s average consumer.  High speed broadband has the potential to revolutionize education, health care, private business, and entertainment, but not if a handful of major providers decide to end innovation by rationing the service to its customers.

North Carolina: the fight against S.1209, the municipal broadband moratorium bill that stops communities from building their own broadband alternatives now moves to the House Ways and Means/Broadband Connectivity Committee.

All 15 members are listed below.  You need to call and e-mail them and let them know you vehemently oppose this anti-consumer legislation as it stands.  Let them know you want that one year moratorium out of this bill at all costs.  Better yet, considering the study group mandated by the bill doesn’t include any consumers, just throw the whole thing out.  The only study that needs to be done is why North Carolina is near the bottom of the 50 states in broadband rankings.  Municipal providers can change that and revitalize local economies, create new high-tech jobs and help advance health care and education.  You can accomplish none of these things with a one-year roadblock on broadband progress.

Some of our allies on this legislation have been forced to mute their opposition, trying to avoid an even worse bill that could make a municipal broadband moratorium permanent.  That means North Carolina residents have to be on the front lines of opposition more than ever.

Let legislators know you understand some groups representing towns and cities in the state may have stopped fighting against the bill, but that doesn’t mean they endorse it.  More importantly, as a voter, you oppose the bill.  If you are personally served by one of these 15 representatives, let them know their vote is being carefully watched.  Will they stand with the people of North Carolina who want better broadband and believe local government should be able to provide it, or do they stand with Time Warner Cable, AT&T and other telecom companies seeking a one year moratorium that guarantees another year of high prices, inadequate broadband, and no alternatives for towns and cities that want better options.

As always, be polite, persuasive, and persistent!  Phone calls work wonders, but at least send an e-mail.  Doing both is even better.  You can click the e-mail addresses in bold to launch your e-mail software.  Please do not carbon copy legislators.  Send an individually personalized e-mail to the representative(s) of your choice.

House Ways and Means/Broadband Connectivity Committee