Telephone Customers

The state Public Utilities Commission's consumer staff has accused Pacific Bell of "abusive marketing," including pressuring telephone customers into buying expensive features and not telling them that cheaper service is available. In a report made public, the staff said Pacific Bell had deliberately violated state regulations and recommended a penalty of a $49.5-million rate cut, or three times the revenue needed to pay the salaries of the company's marketing managers.

I've always admired the way phone companies charge a monthly fee for people not to be listed in a phone book. I mean, talk about chutzpah -- charging customers to not receive a service they didn't even ask for in the first place. But Time Warner Cable takes the cake. The company charges 99 cents a month for its telephone customers to not be listed in a directory that the company doesn't even publish. Time Warner outsources the entire operation.

Sprint Nextel Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc. posted lower second-quarter sales amid heightened competition for telephone customers. Sprint, the third-biggest U.S. wireless carrier, said Wednesday that it recorded a $344-million loss as sales declined 11%. Qwest, No. 3 in the U.S. local-phone market, said profit fell 24% and sales slipped 2.3%. The carriers are losing subscribers to Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. and are looking for ways to revive growth.

Sprint Nextel Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc. posted lower second-quarter sales amid heightened competition for telephone customers. Sprint, the third-biggest U.S. wireless carrier, said Wednesday that it recorded a $344-million loss as sales declined 11%. Qwest, No. 3 in the U.S. local-phone market, said profit fell 24% and sales slipped 2.3%. The carriers are losing subscribers to Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. and are looking for ways to revive growth.

The California Public Utilities Commission reluctantly acquiesced Wednesday to a federal ruling that telephone customers must be randomly assigned to a long-distance carrier if they fail to choose one when so-called equal-access service starts in their communities. This "random allocation" plan will apply to about 8 million telephone customers in the state. The fewer than 1 million California customers whose lines have already been converted to equal access are not affected by the ruling.

Even though the telephone company breakup occured a few years ago we are still feeling the effects. Not too long ago the phone company began charging us for directory assistance calls (current Pacific Bell charges are five free calls per month on a residence phone and 25 cents a call thereafter). Those of us who are library users knew that we could still call or go to many of our local public libraries and get this information for free, using their extensive collections of telephone books from many parts of the country.

The party line helped make great friends and great enemies and once even helped derail a presidential campaign. Now, for rural telephone customers in West Virginia, the party's over. Reflecting a national trend, the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. is hanging up its party lines after stringing them throughout the countryside for the first six decades of this century. "The 16-party line service was basically used as an intercom.

Only about half of California's eligible households took advantage of cut-rate basic telephone service for low-income residents in the program's first year, the Public Utilities Commission reported Wednesday. As of June 30, the PUC counted 493,768 telephone customers who had signed up for so-called Lifeline service. The service was made available in July, 1984, to households with total income of $11,000 or less--a threshold raised to $11,500 this year.

It's there, and Dick Africano knows it's there. So do 590 other Pacific Bell employees who work in the featureless industrial building. But the public at large--about 4.5 million Pacific Bell customers located between the Tehachapi Mountains and the Mexican border--doesn't know it's there. And Africano, area manager of Pacific Bell's Cost Recording Information Systems, wants to keep it that way.

Local phone companies will be able to recover the costs of letting customers keep their phone numbers if they switch phone companies, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday. The 1996 Telecommunications Act requires phone companies to put in place expensive computer systems that let customers switch local phone companies without changing their phone numbers. The plan was meant to ensure that new local phone rivals could compete against the existing Baby Bells and GTE Corp.

Telephone giant SBC Communications Inc. owes California customers about $1 billion in refunds for excess profits it reaped in 1997-98, two administrative law judges at the state Public Utilities Commission have decided. But a last-minute move by the agency's new chief has thrown the status of the proposed refund into doubt. On the eve of public release of the decision, PUC President Michael R.

Local phone companies will be able to recover the costs of letting customers keep their phone numbers if they switch phone companies, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday. The 1996 Telecommunications Act requires phone companies to put in place expensive computer systems that let customers switch local phone companies without changing their phone numbers. The plan was meant to ensure that new local phone rivals could compete against the existing Baby Bells and GTE Corp.

A proposed service that would allow Pacific Bell customers to automatically trace threatening phone calls drew some criticism at a public hearing Monday of the Public Utilities Commission. The proposed "Call Trace" option would cost $10 for installation and $10 and $20 respectively for the first two traces to the same number. After that, there would be no charge to trace that number for 30 days.

The party line helped make great friends and great enemies and once even helped derail a presidential campaign. Now, for rural telephone customers in West Virginia, the party's over. Reflecting a national trend, the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. is hanging up its party lines after stringing them throughout the countryside for the first six decades of this century. "The 16-party line service was basically used as an intercom.

The state Public Utilities Commission's consumer staff has accused Pacific Bell of "abusive marketing," including pressuring telephone customers into buying expensive features and not telling them that cheaper service is available. In a report made public, the staff said Pacific Bell had deliberately violated state regulations and recommended a penalty of a $49.5-million rate cut, or three times the revenue needed to pay the salaries of the company's marketing managers.

It's there, and Dick Africano knows it's there. So do 590 other Pacific Bell employees who work in the featureless industrial building. But the public at large--about 4.5 million Pacific Bell customers located between the Tehachapi Mountains and the Mexican border--doesn't know it's there. And Africano, area manager of Pacific Bell's Cost Recording Information Systems, wants to keep it that way.

Telephone giant SBC Communications Inc. owes California customers about $1 billion in refunds for excess profits it reaped in 1997-98, two administrative law judges at the state Public Utilities Commission have decided. But a last-minute move by the agency's new chief has thrown the status of the proposed refund into doubt. On the eve of public release of the decision, PUC President Michael R.

Prompted by the surging demand for new phone numbers, Orange County cities bordering Los Angeles County will get a new area code on Saturday. The change will affect telephone customers from Seal Beach to La Habra currently listed under the 310 code. Beginning Saturday, the new code for those customers will be 562. It will mark the second code change in six years for the area, and telephone industry officials predicted another change will become necessary in 2007.

Even though the telephone company breakup occured a few years ago we are still feeling the effects. Not too long ago the phone company began charging us for directory assistance calls (current Pacific Bell charges are five free calls per month on a residence phone and 25 cents a call thereafter). Those of us who are library users knew that we could still call or go to many of our local public libraries and get this information for free, using their extensive collections of telephone books from many parts of the country.

Only about half of California's eligible households took advantage of cut-rate basic telephone service for low-income residents in the program's first year, the Public Utilities Commission reported Wednesday. As of June 30, the PUC counted 493,768 telephone customers who had signed up for so-called Lifeline service. The service was made available in July, 1984, to households with total income of $11,000 or less--a threshold raised to $11,500 this year.