Bright House Networks charges a $20 “collection processing fee” when the cable operator calls customers to remind them they have a past due balance. The fee, charged in addition to the company’s traditional “late charge,” has some Bright House customers upset.

The cable company explains the $20 “collection fee” is levied when a customer is two months past due and represents the costs of contacting the customer and “paperwork” inside Bright House’s offices.  But some customers consider it gouging, especially because they already pay a late fee.

Bright House Networks’ Residential Services Agreement implies a “collection fee” may only be charged when the company dispatches a representative to your home to request/collect payment for a past due amount (underlining ours):

If my Services account is past due and BHN sends a collector to my premises, a field collection fee may be charged. The current field collection fee is on the price list or can be provided on request. I will also be responsible for all other expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs) incurred by BHN in collecting any amounts due under this Agreement and not paid by me.

Bright House charges a $20 "Collection Processing Fee" when it calls past due customers.

It also appears the “collection fee” has been a part of the Bright House experience since at least 2009.  We found one customer from Ocoee, Fla. complaining Bright House was charging a $20 “collection fee” for cable service billed at less than $21 a month.

If you have been charged both past-due and collection fees by Bright House, ask them to waive the fees.  We found several customers who successfully requested the company forgive one or both charges when an account is brought up to date.

Customers having trouble paying Bright House should consider dropping services to lower the bill or negotiate for a retention deal.  Customers threatening to switch to the competition are often able to secure a substantially lower price for service.

Bright House’s reasons for charging the $20 fee seem dubious to us, unless the company actually dispatches an employee to a customer’s home to seek payment.  But then we’d find it difficult to recommend any company that would send an employee to visit a customer’s home demanding money.  Cutting off service to deadbeat customers is often effective enough to prompt a payment arrangement.

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WOFL Orlando BrightHouse Late Fees 4-12-12.mp4[/flv]

WOFL in Orlando covers the case of one late-paying Seminole County man who is annoyed Bright House charges him $20 to let him know he is past due.  (2 minutes)

[Updated 3:59pm ET 4/19 — A Bright House representative reached out to emphasize the cable company charges a $20 collection fee only after not receiving payment for two months.  A collections agent is physically sent to the address to give notice of possible termination and at that time a collections fee is billed.  The company denies it bills this fee when calling customers to inquire about a payment.  This seems in keeping with the company’s residential customer agreement, quoted above.  We appreciate the additional information and are happy to pass it on to our readers.]

A man claiming to represent Comcast talked his way into a Huntsville, Ala. woman’s home last Wednesday, claiming he had to work with the cable line and do something about a bulk package. After gaining entry, he groped the woman, who was home alone.

“He decided when it was time to go he was going to try to put his hands on my breasts, and I told him that has nothing to do with Comcast – get out,” the woman told WAFF-TV in Huntsville. “Then he put his hands on my shoulders and sat me down in the chair like he was about to give me a massage and then touched my breasts. I said, ‘No, you have to get out.'”

The woman thought the man was a legitimate Comcast employee because he had company paperwork and seemed extremely knowledgeable about the company’s products and prices.  After she threw him out, he returned hours later, getting into what the woman thought was a personal vehicle.

“I didn’t know what to think but now looking back on it, I feel stupid because I’m always telling my friends check IDs, check their badge,” the woman told the station. “Look what happened to me.”

Comcast told the station they were cooperating with local authorities and shared this statement:

If anyone receives an unexpected visit by an individual claiming to be a Comcast representative, identification should be requested prior to allowing entry into the home. All Comcast employees and representatives are required to carry company-issued identification.

If there is any suspicion of a potential scam or other questions, the homeowner should call 1-800-COMCAST immediately to verify legitimacy.

Most telecommunications companies that do in-home work require employees to have clearly visible photo identification with the company logo.  Most companies will not send a repair person to a customer’s home without an appointment, although repair crews may conduct work outside of the home on nearby poles without prior notice.  If an unexpected technician arrives at your door, ask the individual to display credentials through a nearby window or peephole.  Call the provider for verification, and do not open your door until appropriate verification has been obtained.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WAFF Huntsville Woman groped by man claiming to be with Comcast 4-16-12.mp4[/flv]

WAFF in Huntsville talked with a local woman who was groped by a man claiming to work for Comcast Cable.  (Warning: Loud Volume) (4 minutes)

She’s back and wants to “set the record straight.”

T-Mobile’s familiar ad star is dropping her amazing pink dresses like these 2024 short pink prom dresses for some get-tough biker leather in a new series of commercials for the wireless carrier.

Canadian actress-model Carly Foulkes has appeared in “approachable”-wear designed by Debra LeClair since 2010, mostly chiding competitors like AT&T for tricky fees and “gotchas” that T-Mobile doesn’t charge. Typically amused by the antics of other wireless carriers, she promised relief for customers switching to T-Mobile’s value-oriented wireless plans.

Nearly a year after the failed merger-buyout by AT&T was first announced, T-Mobile this week unveils a “brand refresh” that promises wireless customers it is back in the fight for their business.  Traditionally, T-Mobile has positioned itself as a low-cost, value-oriented provider.  Often, the company’s service plans and pricing have forced other wireless carriers to follow suit.  AT&T’s buyout of T-Mobile would have eliminated that aggressive pricing.

T-Mobile will spend millions on the new ad campaign.

In the first ad in the series, Foulkes metaphorically tears up T-Mobile’s image over the past year, perceived as supine as the company waited to be absorbed into AT&T’s empire.  Ripping through her closet, Foulkes emerges in black leather and hops on board a motorcycle, demanding that visitors test-drive T-Mobile’s 4G network speeds against AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.

Before her biker phase

T-Mobile’s year-long courting by AT&T cost the company plenty.

At last 802,000 contract customers fled T-Mobile for the competition, many for Sprint and Verizon, some only to avoid dealing with AT&T.

Others left because T-Mobile is the last major carrier still not offering Apple’s popular iPhone.  

The company promises to invest at least $200 million in advertising its comeback and is keeping Foulkes front and center.  In fact, outside of Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now” campaign which ran for a decade, ending last April, no spokescharacter has proved as recognizable as Foulkes.

The motorcycle theme will focus viewers on T-Mobile’s 4G network speeds.  Customers perceived that T-Mobile stopped upgrading and expanding its network while it pursued a merger with AT&T.

T-Mobile continues to claim it operates the nation’s largest 4G network, operating with HSPA+ technology.

T-Mobile’s “4G” network does deliver speed improvements over 3G, but some have dubbed HSPA+ “3.5G,” because resulting speeds usually cannot compete with 4G LTE technology.

T-Mobile plans to spend $1.4 billion to build its own LTE network to launch in 2013.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/T-Mobile Relaunch Ad.flv[/flv]

T-Mobile’s “brand refresh” starts with this ad, “No More Mr. Nice Girl.”  (1 minute)

Downtown Leverett (Courtesy: Town of Leverett)

Life in Leverett, Mass. could get a lot faster as the community considers entering the 21st century by bringing high speed gigabit broadband to town.

For years, residents have had three relatively slow choices for Internet access: dial-up, wireless or satellite-delivered service.  Verizon and cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which have systems in western Massachusetts, have largely ignored Leverett’s need for speed.

Now the town is considering building its own fiber-to-the-home network to reach every home in Leverett starting in 2014.  The proposed $3.6 million network will also offer residents cable television and phone service — helpful upgrades in the western half of Massachusetts where Verizon has allowed their landline network to degrade to conditions declared intolerable by the state Department of Telecommunications.  Last year, the state agency ordered Verizon to assess and repair its landline network in almost 100 communities in the western half of the state.

Town officials will introduce their plans for the new municipal broadband network at a public meeting April 28.  The community would borrow the money to construct the network, paying it off over 20 years and outsourcing its construction and maintenance to outside companies.

The town originally planned a fiber-to-the-neighborhood network similar to AT&T U-verse, but quickly decided the benefits of a true fiber-to-the-home network were worth the extra investment.

Unlike some other community-owned networks, Leverett will raise taxes on local residents to cover the cost of the service, but Selectman Peter d’Errico says it will save most residents money if they currently pay a satellite provider for broadband service. Research shows the largest majority of Leverett residents get broadband from satellite providers.

“It will be a little more on their tax bill and a lot less on their Internet bill, so overall they will pay less,” d’Errico told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

d’Errico added the local community is done waiting for private companies to deliver modern telecommunications services in Leverett.  Those companies have repeatedly told town officials there isn’t enough profit or return on investment to justify expanding broadband in rural communities.

Leverett hopes to serve as a template to more than 40 other western Massachusetts communities who belong to WiredWest, a consortium of similarly-situated towns working together to build a regional broadband network.  Leverett’s network would leverage the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s 1,300 “middle mile” fiber backbone network that is working its way through 123 western and central Massachusetts towns.

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WGGB Springfield Internet Connection in Leverett 4-11-12.mp4[/flv]

WGGB in Springfield previews Leverett’s efforts for better broadband. Big commercial providers ignore the community so now they want to provide service themselves.  (2 minutes)

As AT&T joins Verizon selling off its Yellow Pages publishing unit and payphones keep disappearing from street corners, the media is writing the landline obituary once again.

CNN Money asks today whether we’re witnessing the death of the landline.

In as little as 20 years, the concept of a wired phone line may become the novelty a rotary-dial phone represents today.  Yes, traditional phone lines will still be found in businesses and in the homes of those uncomfortable dealing with a mobile phone, but America’s largest phone companies are well aware the traditional telephone line is in decline.

[flv width=”412″ height=”330″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/ATT Archives What is the Bell System.flv[/flv]

The Bell System, as it was known until the 1980s, used to comprise AT&T, Bell Labs, Western Electric, Long Lines, and two dozen local “operating companies” like New York Telephone, Mountain Bell, etc.  This AT&T documentary, from 1976, explores how “the phone company” used to function.  New innovations like “lightwave” are showcased, promising to deliver voice phone calls over glass fibers one day.  

Much of the technology seen in the documentary may be unfamiliar if you are under 30 (and check out how customer records were maintained back then), but those who remember renting telephones in garish colors from your local phone company will recognize the phones that occupied space in your home not that long ago.  The only part of the landline network that hasn’t changed much in the last 40 years is the wiring infrastructure itself, which has been allowed to deteriorate as customers continue to depart.

Why was the company so darn big back then?  Because it had to be, the documentary says, to serve a big America.  Hilariously, the company defends its then-status as a “regulated monopoly” telling viewers “[a] regulated monopoly works well in communications because you don’t duplicate facilities and you produce real economies over the long haul.”  (14 minutes)

CNN reports nearly one-third of all American homes no longer have landline service, double the rate from 2008, triple that of 2007.  Verizon is feeling the heat the most, with revenue down 19% over the last five years.  AT&T has seen their revenue drop 16.5% over the same period.

But things are not all bad for phone companies willing to spend money upgrading their networks.  Verizon’s top-rated FiOS fiber to the home service is a compelling competitor to Comcast and Time Warner Cable.  AT&T’s U-verse has gotten a respectable market share larger midwestern cities and draws customers who like its DVR box and the chance to stick it to the local cable company they’ve hated for years.

But where both companies have decided against investing in upgrades — notably in their rural service areas — the traditional phone line is trapped in time.  Only the network it depends on is changing, and not for the better.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/ATT 1993-1994 You Will Ad Campaign Compilation.flv[/flv]

Back in 1993, AT&T produced seven advertisements dubbed the “You Will” series, showcasing future technologies AT&T would “deliver to you.”  Eerily, the vast majority of these predictions came true, but mostly from companies other than AT&T.  While the phone company predicted what would eventually become E-ZPass, Apple’s iPad, Apple’s Siri, the smartphone, Skype, Amazon’s Kindle, the cable industry’s home security apps, video on demand, and GPS navigation, most of those innovations were developed and sold by others.  

AT&T spun away Bell Labs and became preoccupied selling Internet access, cell phones and reassembling itself into its former ‘hugeness’ through mergers and buyouts. With limited investment in innovation, AT&T risks being left as a “dumb pipe” provider, selling the connectivity (among many others) to allow other companies’ devices to communicate. (Alert: Loud Volume at around 2 minutes) (4 minutes)

Verizon decided to ditch its rural service areas to FairPoint Communications in northern New England and Frontier Communications in 14 other states.  The results have not been good for the buyers (and often customers).  FairPoint went bankrupt in 2009, overwhelmed by the debt it incurred buying phone lines in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  Frontier has watched its sales fall ever since its own landline acquisition, and the company has gotten scores of complaints from ex-Verizon customers about broken promises for improved broadband, billing errors, and poor service.

Analysts predict AT&T will start dumping its rural landline customers in the near future as well, letting the company focus on its U-verse service areas.  But who will buy these cast-offs?  CNN reports nobody knows.  CenturyLink and Windstream, two major independent phone companies, don’t appear to be in the mood to acquire neglected landline facilities they will need to spend millions to repair and upgrade.

One thing is certain — both AT&T and Verizon are tailoring business plans to favor Wall Street approval.  The companies’ decisions to temporarily boost revenue selling pieces of its operations has helped stock prices, but has also made the companies shadows of their former selves.  Nearly 30 years ago, customers still paid the phone company to rent their home telephones, relied extensively on the companies’ lucrative White and Yellow Pages for directory information, and discovered new technology innovations like digital switching thanks to Bell Labs, the research arm of AT&T — today independent and known as Alcatel-Lucent.  Today, people in some cities cannot even find a telephone company-owned payphone.

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WJBK Detroit Quest to Find a Working Pay Phone 4-10-12.mp4[/flv]

WJBK in Detroit this week ventured out across Detroit to see if they could find a pay phone that actually works.  That old phone booth on the corner is long gone, and some admit they haven’t touched a pay phone in 20 years.  (2 minutes)