Costs Skyrocket for Low Volume Long Distance Consumers Posted by Bob at 01/18/07 03:01 PM

Telecom companies are fond of claiming the cost for long distance calling and other services they offer have plummeted in recent years, largely due to new competition spurred by the government’s wholesale deregulation of their industry.

But a new study by a group called Teletruth says the long distance rates for millions of consumers have actually risen sharply in recent years.

For example, AT&T’s long distance charges have gone up 237 percent for low volume users since 2000, the study says. Low volume users make less than 15 minutes of long distance calls per month. They are typically older customers on fixed incomes, according to the study.

And it’s not as if Grandma and Grandpa can cut their bills by making fewer long distance calls. That’s because AT&T and other phone companies have implemented so-called “minimum usage” fees, which actually penalize customers who don’t use many long distance minutes. For AT&T, that fee is $9 or $10 a month for most low volume users – and that is in addition to other fees charged by the company, which have also been on the rise.

After all is said and done, Teletruth estimates AT&T’s basic rate for long distance calling is now an average of 42 cents per minute, compared to just 19 cents per minute in 2000.

Teletruth estimates 20 million to 30 million AT&T and MCI customers have had increases since 2000. Of those, at least half are seniors and other low volume users.

You can click here to see an article on the study and you can click here for some additional background on the study from Teletruth.

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