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Bloomberg News covers Sprint’s increasingly aggressive pushback against the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.  But while Bloomberg points out consumer groups are using websites to help consumers file comments opposing the deal, they ignore the fact deal supporters are engaged in their own dollar-a-holler campaign to win the merger’s approval.  (2 minutes)

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The opposition to the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile is growing louder and more organized as smaller carriers join Sprint’s opposition efforts. Consumer groups roundly dismiss the proposed merger as anti-competition and anti-consumer.  Michael Nelson, a securities analyst, tells Bloomberg News the vote for the merger’s approval could be close and the company will probably have to agree to more concessions than it thinks.  But considering AT&T’s enormous lobbying power, Nelson still thinks the deal will squeak through.  Nelson, however, warns the merger will bring about a considerable reduction in the disruptive pricing T-Mobile has engaged in — pricing that benefits consumers and forces larger carriers to follow suit.  To Nelson, eliminating an aggressive competitor like T-Mobile will bring about what he calls “a rational competitive environment.”  That means higher prices, no surprises, and a stagnant marketplace.  Wall Street understands the implications of this deal, all while knowingly winking at AT&T’s marketing/lobbying machine that claims reduced competition = better service.  (4 minutes)

Comcast customers looking for some savings off their broadband service are getting some decent discounts when threatening to take their business elsewhere.  Depending on the competition in your area, customers are paying as little as $19.99 per month for Comcast Performance Internet, which delivers around 12Mbps download speed.  While the best deals often go to new customers, current customers can get some nice discounts just by using the word “cancel.”

Stop the Cap! has collected some examples from our readers about recent experiences with Comcast’s retentions and promotions departments.  Any customer can try any of these numbers and ask if promotions are available.  Comcast pricing can vary regionally, as do their offers.  If you don’t like the first one you hear about, ask them if they can do any better.  Very often they can.

Chicagoland

Call 1-800-934-6489, select option ‘4’ for downgrade or disconnect, then option ‘2’ for disconnect

Tell the operator you are considering dropping your broadband service because it is too expensive, but a friends of yours is getting a promotion for current customers offering $19.99 a month for Comcast Performance Internet.  Can I get that offer?

They will check for qualified offers for your area and may attempt to offer promotions for triple play packages.  In Chicago, the current Performance promo is $19.99 a month for six months, then $46.95 for the next six months.  But your pricing may vary.

San Francisco Bay Area/Seattle

Call 1-800-970-6405.  They will usually answer asking if you are calling about a special promotion.  Ask them about the Internet offer priced at $19.99 for first year, $34.99 for second year and verify what level of Internet service this provides (it should be Performance).  Some people report this offer is available to new customers only, others say it works for existing customers.  It is provided by an authorized reseller for Comcast.

Tennessee/Mid-South

Call 1-877-395-5388.  Ask about current promotions.

Expect at least five minutes of bad deals.  Hold out for 6Mbps service at $19.99 for six months or 8Mbps at $29.99 for 12 months.  You can often get them to extend the 6Mbps service pricing for 12 months.  Ask for any activation/installation fees to be waived.

Business Class Service (Usage Cap Free!)

Commercial (Business) HSI 12/2Mbps service is available for as little as $60 per month without TV or $65 with basic TV.  All installation fees can be waived.  Expect a 1-2 year commitment.  You may want to Google around for any third party Comcast Business Class resellers who can provide 12/2Mbps service for as little as $44 a month with a six month commitment and $35 activation fee.

General Advice

All promotions with Comcast are strictly “your mileage may vary.”  If a particular representative is not giving you a good offer, thank them, hang up and try another phone number shown above or call later.  You should get used to asking “is this the best you can offer” and “can this fee be waived?”  You won’t get it if you don’t ask.

With Comcast, you will also do much better buying your own cable modem and avoiding the monthly rental fee.  Perhaps some of our readers can join in the discussion in the comments with some modem recommendations.

When your promotion ends, getting an extension requires more work.  Many representatives will not want to offer you back-to-back promotions but some will when pressed.  You can also cancel service and then start a new account with the cooperation of a family member.

Some of the best pricing promotions require some level of cable television service.  If you want broadband-only service, let the representative know you want offers for that level of service only.

In a desperate bid to inflate subscriber numbers, dealer commissions, and attract additional investors, some Clearwire retailers slashed credit standards resulting in widespread approval of customers who would later skip out on paying the bill.  At least one dealer offered to override any failed credit check for even the most credit risky customers, according to a Bloomberg News investigation.

Those charges, made by three former dealers and distributors, bring additional controversy to a wireless venture already facing lawsuits for false advertising and misleading business practices.

From late 2009 until earlier this year, Clearwire dealers were strongly encouraged to sign up new customers for its wireless services, which include a home broadband replacement offering “unlimited wireless broadband” to customers.  In many markets, scores of would-be customers in urban and poor areas failed the company’s credit checks.  One former salesman told Bloomberg as many as 60 percent of his would-be customers couldn’t pass the credit check without a manual override, often done with a copy of a driver’s license and evidence of residence in the area, such as two consecutive utility bills.

Millions of new Clearwire customers were signed up for service during 2010, with dealers and salesmen earning significant sign-up commissions and parent company Clear winning favorable media coverage for its high subscriber growth, used to attract new investment.

One distributor called the lax credit standards “a time bomb,” one that began going off as customers reneged on their contracts, didn’t bother to pay the bills, or simply canceled service while ignoring collection efforts.  But the credit standards remained surprisingly loose for an industry that routinely profiles potential customers before signing them up to service.

By mid-2010, Clearwire dealers were no longer even required to pull a hard credit report with a Social Security number.  Scores of immigrants, many without documentation, could now sign up for Clearwire service showing proof they had managed to make at least one rent payment on time.  Even customers with no credit experience were signed up for service, some who paid exclusively in cash.

One Texas dealer reported as many as 80 percent of his customers were approved with credit overrides.

Much of Clear’s dealer network is independently owned and operated, especially now that the company faces financial challenges.  The company provides dealers with strong financial incentives, including bonuses, for new customer signups.  Several former salespeople report distributors and dealers routinely pressured salespeople to sign up new customers at all costs.

“I always hear from reps ‘I’m not selling because no one can pass credit checks’,” one manager wrote. “The time has come for you to call BS and on your reps (and yourself if needed!) and for the credit excuse to END now! I will personally enter in the credit overrides under your dealer code.”

“PS, you can thank me later for DOUBLING YOUR COMMISSIONS!” the e-mail dated March 2010 read.

Some customers even managed to skip out paying on one Clearwire account while establishing another.  The runaway growth propelled network traffic for Clearwire, leading the company to implement “fair use” policies that restricted the use of the service, despite being pitched as “unlimited.”  In addition to customers who simply refused to pay their bills, some creditworthy customers signing up for service were gone within weeks after finding the service unusable.

Bloomberg notes Clear’s own numbers suggest the company had 688,000 customers at the end of 2009.  As of the end of the first quarter of 2011, that number is now 6.15 million.  But Clear’s numbers show the churn rate — customers coming and going — is high for the wireless industry at 3 percent or higher for the past seven quarters.  Verizon Wireless, in contrast, has a churn rate of 1.33 percent.

A high churn rate is a major problem because it requires Clear to spend more in marketing and sign up promotions to entice a steady supply of new customers replacing those who have left or been shut off.

Most providers who find a would-be customer saddled with sub-prime credit scores ask for a substantial deposit for service, or encourage a prepaid calling plan instead.  But Clear shows no indications of moving in either direction.

The company has managed to protect itself from financial losses from the customer merry-go-round, often at the expense of dealers who over-enthusiastically signed up deadbeat customers.  If a customer leaves or is shut off within the first six months, the dealer commission is forfeited back to Clear.

For some, this has meant the end of their business.  One dealer lost more than $500,000 in “chargebacks,” while others owe tens of thousands in repayments to Clear.

Clear’s business depends on more than just its own Clearwire customers.  Several cable companies, including Time Warner Cable and Comcast, resell Clearwire service under their respective brand names.  So does Best Buy.

Gov. Purdue: I Was for More Competition Before I Was Against It

Democratic Gov. Bev Purdue from North Carolina has managed to twist her logic into quite a pretzel over two statements from her office in the past two weeks.  On the community broadband front, Purdue protested legislation to reduce competitive choices in broadband in her state (all underlining ours):

May 20, 2011:

“My concern with House Bill 129 is that the restrictions the General Assembly has imposed on cities and towns who want to offer broadband services may have the effect of decreasing the number of choices available to their citizens. For these reasons, I will neither sign nor veto this bill. Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.”

Just 11 days later, Purdue inferred the exact opposite in her letter of support for the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, which will reduce most of North Carolina to choosing among AT&T, Verizon, and in some cases Sprint.  One of her reasons?  The city of Raleigh is getting a new area code:

May 31, 2011:

The proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile presents another development in the marketplace which can benefit the people of my state.

The communications market in North Carolina, particularly in the wireless arena, is dynamic. Recently, the NC Utilities Commission announced the Raleigh area will soon implement a new area code, the eighth in the state, due primarily to the tremendous growth in wireless service.

In North Carolina we are committed to stimulating investments in advanced technology, and encourage quality service for the public. We look forward to working closely with AT&T to foster these important goals.

On behalf of the people of North Carolina, I appreciate your strong consideration in favor of the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.

Allow AT&T and T-Mobile to merge because Raleigh needs a new area code, proving wireless growth.  That may account among the most novel of all reasons to support a merger that will further reduce competition in the wireless market.

Sharing your Netflix account with your spouse or your son at college? Under a new Tennessee law, both you and the other party could spend up to a year in jail for “theft of entertainment services” if Netflix, or any other entertainment service says that is not okay.

Eyebrows were raised in Tennessee this week as Republican Gov. Bill Haslam admitted he signed the new copyright protection bill into law while telling reporters “he wasn’t familiar with the details of the legislation.”

Rep. Gerald McCormick (R-Chattanooga), who worked last summer to completely deregulate AT&T’s phone service in Tennessee spent this spring pushing for adoption of a bill sponsored by Nashville record labels to up-end state copyright law in favor of content producers.

The entertainment industry, having failed to win wholesale support of its copyright protection agenda in Congress has now taken to lobbying individual statehouses for new state copyright laws.  Tennessee is the first among 50 states to extend its long-standing cable-TV theft statute to include content over the Internet.

Under the law, anyone other than the account owner who uses their account name and password, even with permission, is a violator and subject to a criminal misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $2,500. If the username and password opens access to content collectively worth more than $500, the charge becomes a felony with correspondingly harsher penalites and fines.

Some reporters questioned whether the law could mean sharing your Netflix, iTunes or Rhapsody account with an immediate family member meant you were breaking the law.  The answer is, you might, although bill supporters doubt it would be prosecuted.

“What becomes not legal is if you send your user name and password to all your friends so they can get free subscriptions,” McCormick told the Associated Press.

Currently, most online content providers don’t have a problem with immediate family members sharing accounts.  Netflix allows at least two concurrent video streams of its online content.  Music services often recognize three or more “authorized devices” on which content can be shared and accessed.

But if attitudes change, content providers can file complaints when they realize their service is being accessed by multiple parties at the same time or in multiple places.

"Gerald McCormick will support anything if you staple a big check to your cover letter."

The music industry in Nashville openly admits it strongly advocated for passage of the bill, claiming the music business loses millions from account sharing.  But critics of the new law attack it as overly broad.  One defense lawyer suggested it is so broad, it could be used to prosecute people who share magazines.

Proving a case to hard-working law enforcement officials could also present a problem says Jeff Polock, a Knoxville-based law enforcement and consumer advocate.

“We have enough trouble fighting crime on the streets,” Polock tells Stop the Cap! “While law enforcement officials appreciate the dilemma of copyright theft, many officers are not going to be technically skilled in building a case over who shared what password in the dorms at the University of Tennessee.”

Polock suspects the new law will be wielded against larger wholesale copyright offenses, if only to avoid the threat of negative publicity.

“Can you imagine what the local evening news would do if they arrested some father in Chattanooga for sharing his iTunes account with his daughter at school here in Knoxville?,” Polock wonders.  “It’s not like these people are downloading stolen copies of content they are not paying for — they are running a single iTunes account so the parents can monitor what their kids are buying, watching, or listening to while away from home.”

As for McCormick, Polock has choice words.

“Gerald McCormick will support anything if you staple a big check to your cover letter,” Polock says. “The man is never too far away from corporate interests trying to win favorable legislation in the state legislature.”