siliconvalley.com reports how Verizon imposes a "new surcharge on high-speed Internet service just as customers were set to receive lower bills thanks to a [US government] decision last year to deregulate the service."
Techdirt chimes in, "Verizon and the other telcos have a long history of misleading doublespeak when they try to explain their actions — and we have yet another example today."
Reminds me of our local telephone monopoly, Telus. A number of years ago, they got the regulators to boost local telephone rates from $121 to $324 a year -- the service includes calling two adjoining towns toll-free. The excuse for the increase? So that competition could afford to enter the market. Guess what? No POTS [plain old telephone service] competition ever emerged for local residential calling. But the competition surcharge remains.
A few years ago, Telus tried to lock out all long distance providers by offering to make the entire region toll-free -- along with a whopping further increase in the local rate. Fortunately, we locked-in customers refused the offer. It's frustrating when the local bill is 2x-4x larger than my long-distance bill (with Primus).
Recently, however, Telus was forced by regulators to drop rates about $2/month as punishment for poor service. And competition is arriving in the form of cell phones (I can see my kids never owning a POTS land line) and VOiP.
When Telus telemarketers call to get me to switch back to Telus long distance, I have no incentive. Why feed the hand that bites me? Last time, the telemarketer actually got mad at me for refusing to "come back." Sheesh, guys, smacks of monopoly behavior.
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