. I've got to be one of the few remaining residents of the state of Connecticut to rely solely on my landline. I do this because, being out of work and trying to shave expenses, I gave up my prepaid cell phone last year.
So I was perturbed and frankly pissed to receive two new charges on the phone bill I received today:
1.Minimum Usage Charge: $2
2. Carrier Cost Recovery Fee: $2
The AT&T rep explained that because I made no long distance calls last month, I'm being charged $2. Say what???
AT&T is determined to make more money after losing customers left and right who prefer their cellphones. So someone in marketing came up with the idea of creating a new charge for a service people don't use. Brilliant! Give that person a raise!
The rep told me that the only way to avoid that charge (aside from making phone calls) is to sign up for a long distance plan which carries no monthly fee, but bills any long distance calls you make at .41 a minute, which is rather steep.
However, I remembered that I always use a prepaid calling card to make long distance calls from my landline (using a toll-free number to access it) so that's how I'll get around their stupid $2 minimum charge. I switched to the .41/minute plan.
The other charge is a federal fee they say they have no control over. Funny, I never paid it before.
Speaking of prepaid calling cards, I was very excited a few months back to find a very good card at a good price at Costco: It was a Verizon card for 700 minutes and the cost came out to 2.9 a minute. Now, Costco no longer carries the card.
UPDATE: I called Verizon, and he told me that yes, Costco carries their cards in every state except Alaska.
So then I called costco. While they don't carry them in the store anymore, I can still buy them online.
There's a 15% surcharge if you simply refill your existing card, so it's definitely better to buy a new card; shipping is free.
Why I hate AT&T
August 18th, 2011 at 06:32 pm
August 18th, 2011 at 06:52 pm 1313693552
August 18th, 2011 at 07:08 pm 1313694514
August 18th, 2011 at 09:23 pm 1313702618