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With little fan fare AT&T raised their retail DSL
rates to consumers this month.
“Telecommunications Company AT&T Inc. announced
today that, starting next month, it will raise the price
of its most common broadband
Internet services in many of the states where it operates. The $5-per-month
hike
will apply in all but the states acquired with the
buyout of BellSouth and will affect customers who have the company's
three slowest broadband tiers,
ranging from 768 Kbps to 3 Mbps, said AT&T spokesman Michael Coe.
The company decided to raise prices for some of its
customers "to better reflect the
value of our broadband service"
as demand continues to grow for
high-speed Internet services.”
In addition, they also announced rate increases for
their phone services as well, effectively giving consumers a “double
whammy”
as the majority of DSL
customers opt to put DSL on their AT&T phone service rather then going
with an unbundled plan.
Rate increases were also announced for other products
such as MMS/SMS to customers who do not
subscribe to bundled messaging
plans on their wireless service. In December AT&T hiked the price of its
dial-up Internet connections
by $6 for existing customers.
It also set a price of nearly $23 a month for new dial-up customers in a
bid to nudge dial-up
customers to take up DSL.
However, you have to ask yourself, “Why the increases?”
Could it be because AT&T is not making enough? Let’s take a look at
that.
AT&T’s net income has more then doubled with last
year’s net income over 11 billion dollars! One just needs to do a Google
search
of “AT&T net profit” to find articles galore with
titles like:
Strong sales
growth lifts profit 63% at AT&T
(http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/25/business/techbrief.php)
AT&T Q4 Net
Profit Rises 17 percent
(http://cbs11tv.com/local/AT.T.cingular.2.499011.html)
AT&T Tuesday
reported net income of $1.45 billion for the first quarter of 2006
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/042506-broadband-wireless-att-earnings.html
AT&T, the
largest U.S. telephone company, said Monday that its third-quarter profit
jumped 74 percent…
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/23/bloomberg/bxatt.php
AT&T Profit
Soars After BellSouth Acquisition
http://www.teleclick.ca/2007/04/att-profit-soars-after-bellsouth-acquisition
And the list goes on and on....
So amid these huge profit increases AT&T
has been steadily raising rates on consumers and now their “partner”
wholesalers that must use them in order to
offer DSL and other value added products which are only accessible using
AT&T’s embedded copper wire infrastructure have been notified of increases as
well.
AT&T notified ISPs that use their wholesale
DSL loop products to expect increases of nearly 50% beginning in May!
These rates are rising regardless of whether
the ISP’s customer is on an annual term (which ISPs paid a premium for in
order t
o keep pricing fixed)
or a monthly term. What’s more disturbing when AT&T raised their retail
rates they did so claiming in a
statement that the popularity of video and music
downloads as well as photo sharing and online gaming are behind the
increase, citing the
"billions of dollars [AT&T invests] each year to stay ahead of
these trends" plus the current "market conditions".
This statement would indicate a rate increase due to
bandwidth issues. Well guess what? ISP’s that use AT&T’s wholesale DSL
products PROVIDE THEIR OWN
BANDWIDTH (and pay for it)! This increase has nothing to do with bandwidth
issues, but pure and simple
greed. It’s doubly obnoxious since bandwidth availability and costs have
gone down as whole with
technology advancements and infrastructure upgrades
(already paid for many times over) that have increased the bandwidth
capacity nation-wide. Like-wise
I’m sure you’ve all seen the hundreds of commercials that both Telco’s and
Cable Companies
run claiming how “fast” they
are compared to dial-up or in some cases each other? So what message are
they actually giving consumers?
On one hand they tout their products as “fast”, but on
the other hand when consumers actually start to use what they have been
paying
for they increase those rates
claiming they can’t handle the bandwidth!
Unfortunately, because profit margins are so
small for independent ISPs, increases like these would put us out of
business if we
did not raise rates to
match AT&T’s increases. As a result, effective May 1st our DSL pricing
will increase to offset
AT&T’s increases. Please visit our website
at http://www.calweb.com/dsl/dsl_products.html
for our new rates.
If you feel it's important to have choices
other then just Big Telcos and Cable Companies, we urge you to contact your
local Congress
person, the FCC, the PUC, your neighbor, and
complain that something MUST be done to equal the playing field before it's
too
late for small businesses
such as ourselves! Consolidation obviously is not working, instead you are
seeing less choices,
less competition, and
higher prices! Ask them to address these issues and most importantly tell
them to implement the “Open” and “Fair”
access
that was supposedly guaranteed to consumers when Congress passed the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 (http://www.fcc.gov/telecom.html).
Thank you for your continuing support!
CalWeb Internet Services, Inc.
AT&T
Quarterly Net Income after paying all taxes:
September 2006 - December 2006 $1,938,000,000.00
January 2007 - March 2007 $2,848,000,000.00
April 2007 - June 2007
$2,904,000,000.00
July 2007 - September 2007 $3,063,000,000.00
August 2007 - December 2007 $3,136,000,000.00
2007 Net Income after taxes $11,951,000,000.00
FCC contacts:
http://www.fcc.gov/contacts.html
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554
Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322)
TTY: 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322)
Fax: 1-866-418-0232
E-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov
Chairman Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
Room: 8-B201 • Phone: 202.418.1000
Commissioner Michael J. Copps:
Michael.Copps@fcc.gov
Room: 8-B115 • Phone: 202.418.2000
Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov
Room: 8-A302 • Phone: 202.418.2300
Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate: dtaylortateweb@fcc.gov
Room: 8-A204 • Phone: 202.418.2500
Commissioner Robert McDowell: Robert.McDowell@fcc.gov
Room: 8-C302 • Phone: 202.418.2200
California PUC Contacts:
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/contactus/
President Michael R. Peevey
California
Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: 415-703-3703
Commissioner Dian Grueneich
California
Public Utilities Commission
505 Van
Ness Avenue
San Francisco,
CA 94102
Telephone: 415-703-2444
Commissioner John Bohn
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: 415-703-2440
Commissioner Rachelle Chong
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue, Room 5205
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: 415-703-3700
Commissioner Timothy Simon
Write to: Commissioner Timothy Simon
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue, Room 5213
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: 415-703-1407
Staff:
Marzia Zafar- Chief of
Staff
Write to: Marzia Zafar
California Public
Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue,
Room 5214
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: 415-703-1997
Timothy J. Sullivan, Ph.D.- Advisor
Write to: Timothy J. Sullivan
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue,
Room 5212
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: 415-703-5462
California Governor and Secretary of State
contacts:
http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
http://gov.ca.gov/interact
California Secretary of State
http://www.sos.ca.gov/
Debra Bowen
1500 11th Street
Sacramento, California 95814
http://www.sos.ca.gov/contacts.htm
Federal/State elected official
contacts:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=CA
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/defaulttext.asp
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset7text.htm
http://www.senate.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/districtmaps.HTP
http://www.senate.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/senators.htp
Sample Letter to the
FCC
Dear FCC Commissioners,
I am a resident of _____________, California. I wish to inform this
commission of my displeasure regarding AT&T’s recent rate increase of their
DSL products. An AT&T spokesperson stated the increase was needed
because of the “popularity of video and music downloads as well as photo
sharing and online gaming are behind the increase, citing the
"billions of dollars [AT&T invests] each year to stay ahead of
these trends" plus the current "market conditions". However,
I get my DSL access from an independent ISP which pays for their bandwidth
separately yet they too were given notice of a rate increase, in some cases
nearly 50 percent! This increase once again puts independent ISPs at a
disadvantage to AT&T’s constant predatory practices and what is
essentially a license for them to print money! There’s absolutely no reason
for this increase other then Greed. Last year your body removed the FUSF fee
from DSL services, but did we see our bill lower? No! Instead AT&T and
others turned this fee into a surcharge and like-wise passed this on to
independent ISPs. How can this commission continue to ignore these
practices? AT&T recently posted over an $11 BILLION net profit for
2007! Network infrastructure and bandwidth capacity has increased greatly
with technology advances and upgrades that have been paid for many times
over. I ask that your body re-address the provisions in the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 that call for “open” and “fair” access and correct this
injustice. This waive of consolidation is giving consumers less choices,
less competition and higher prices!
Sincerely,
_________________________
Sample Letter to the
PUC
Dear PUC Commissioners,
I am a resident of _____________, California. I wish to inform this
commission of my displeasure regarding AT&T’s recent rate increase of
their DSL products. An AT&T spokesperson stated the increase was needed
because of the “popularity of video and music downloads as well as photo
sharing and online gaming are behind the increase, citing the
"billions of dollars [AT&T invests] each year to stay ahead of
these trends" plus the current "market conditions". However,
I get my DSL access from an independent ISP which pays for their bandwidth
separately yet they too were given notice of a rate increase, in some cases
nearly 50 percent! This increase once again puts independent ISPs at a
disadvantage to AT&T’s constant predatory practices and what is essentially
a license for them to print money! There’s absolutely no reason for this
increase other then Greed. Last year the FCC removed the FUSF fee from DSL
services, but did we see our bill lower? No! Instead AT&T and others
turned this fee into a surcharge and like-wise passed this on to
independent ISPs. AT&T recently posted over an $11 BILLION net profit
for 2007! Network infrastructure and bandwidth capacity has increased
greatly with technology advances and upgrades that have been paid for many
times over. I ask this commission to examine the practices of the
Telecommunication Companies under your jurisdiction and force them to give
independent ISPs open and fair access to an infrastructure paid
for by the Citizens of this State.
Sincerely,
___________________________________
Sample Letter to State
Official
To the Honorable _____________________
I am a resident of _____________, California living in your district. I
wish to inform you of my displeasure regarding AT&T’s recent rate
increase of their DSL products. An AT&T spokesperson stated the
increase was needed because of the “popularity of video and music downloads
as well as photo sharing and online gaming are behind the increase, citing
the "billions of dollars [AT&T invests] each year to stay ahead of
these trends" plus the current "market conditions". However,
I get my DSL access from an independent ISP which pays for their bandwidth
separately yet they too were given notice of a rate increase, in some cases
nearly 50 percent! This increase once again puts independent ISPs at a
disadvantage to AT&T’s constant predatory practices and what is
essentially a license for them to print money! There’s absolutely no reason
for this increase other then Greed. Last year the FCC removed the FUSF fee
from DSL services, but did we see our bill lower? No! Instead AT&T and
others turned this fee into a surcharge and like-wise passed this on to
independent ISPs. AT&T recently posted over an $11 BILLION net profit
for 2007! Network infrastructure and bandwidth capacity has increased
greatly with technology advances and upgrades that have been paid for many
times over. I ask you to examine the practices of the Telecommunication
Companies operating in California
and force them to give independent ISPs open and fair access
to an infrastructure paid for by the Citizens of this State.
Sincerely,
___________________________________
Sample Letter to
Federal Official
To the Honorable _____________________
I am a resident of _____________, California living in your district. I
wish to inform you of my displeasure regarding AT&T’s recent rate
increase of their DSL products. An AT&T spokesperson stated the
increase was needed because of the “popularity of video and music downloads
as well as photo sharing and online gaming are behind the increase, citing
the "billions of dollars [AT&T invests] each year to stay ahead of
these trends" plus the current "market conditions". However,
I get my DSL access from an independent ISP which pays for their bandwidth
separately yet they too were given notice of a rate increase, in some cases
nearly 50 percent! This increase once again puts independent ISPs at a
disadvantage to AT&T’s constant predatory practices and what is
essentially a license for them to print money! There’s absolutely no reason
for this increase other then Greed. Last year the FCC removed the FUSF fee
from DSL services, but did we see our bill lower? No! Instead AT&T and
others turned this fee into a surcharge and like-wise passed this on to independent
ISPs. AT&T recently posted over an $11 BILLION net profit for 2007!
Network infrastructure and bandwidth capacity has increased greatly with
technology advances and upgrades that have been paid for many times over. I
ask you to examine the practices of the Telecommunication Companies
operating in California and to
re-address the provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that call
for “open” and “fair” access and correct this injustice. This waive of
consolidation is giving consumers less choices, less competition and higher
prices! Please act now before it’s too late!
Sincerely,
___________________________________
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2001-2008 CalWeb Internet Services, Inc. All rights reserved.