Category Archives: Home Phone

AT&T Charges Poor Customers Heavily for Super Slow Internet Services

AT&T

AT&T, one of the premiere lifeline phone service providers in the USA, does not seem to be having good press in the market recently. On one side, T-Mobile is leaving no stone unturned to put AT&T in its sight, has strongly responded to AT&T’s decision to shut down its 2G services for IoT customers. Now the company seems to have decided to shoot itself in the foot by deciding to charge money to its lifeline phone service (low income) users for slow broadband services.

Let’s See What Issue Actually Is!

The Federal Communications Commission has clearly directed AT&T to ensure discounted high speed internet for lifeline phone service subscribers in Texas. The FCC mainly wants discounted high speed internet service for those users or families who are legally eligible for seeking food stamps.  In contrast to abiding by the directions issued by FCC (The Federal Communications Commission), AT&T is exploiting a loophole in the federal directive to perfection for refusing to deliver discounted high speed internet service to any qualified lifeline phone service subscriber.

What Else?

AT&T, a lifeline phone service provider for low income households in the USA, seems to be landing itself in hot water because the company had agreed to the discounts in order to receive the FCC’s approval for its DirectTV Purchase. In accordance to NDIA (National Digital Inclusion Alliance), a public interest group, this move has forced the company to ensure it would provide a $5 a month offer for customers to receive internet with speeds up to 3MBPS. The subscribers residing in low income neighborhoods have to pay for full service that also includes $30 introductory fees per month for using slow internet speed.

Now the company is not showing willingness to do so. AT&T has clarified its intention of not expanding its lifeline phone service beyond the terms of FCC directive, confirms NDIA.

AT&T Has Its Own Share of Solid Reasons:

The lifeline phone service provider has its own share of reasons in this regard. Let’s take a good look at all of them below:

  • Their broadband service in low income areas is much slower than one can ever imagine.
  • The program known as “Access from AT&T” hardly charges the amount of $5 or $10 fee on monthly basis. This fee entirely depends on AT&T’s network speed.
  • The lifeline phone services subscribers receiving 3 and 5 MBPS speed are charged $5 whereas those getting more than 5 MBPS speed are charged the amount of $10.

The Story Does Not Just End Here

To add more to it, the company has also confirmed that discounted high speed internet services are not available for the family’s residing in the areas with slow internet speed. This has certainly angered both cities and rural communities where the company has certainly failed very badly to upgrade its residential internet service with more speed. Moreover, the alliance finds AT&T’s response very negative for the users.

Summary:

Data filed with the FCC proves that AT&T is hardly providing more than 1.5 MBPS service in over 21% of the lifeline service blocks in Texas and Florida. Now it will be very interesting to see how the company deals with this self-created fiasco. It will also be interesting to find out whether the company provides discounted high speed internet services to the low income lifeline phone service subscribers or continues to exploit the loophole in an agreement signed with FCC.

AT&T Expands Coverage of GigaPower by Beginning Deployment in Louisville, Kentucky

AT&T

 

AT&T leaps another step forward in its gigabit services by initiating deployment of GigaPower in Louisville, Kentucky. Local news sources reported that AT&T confirmed installation of fibers by its technicians in the neighboring areas.

AT&T seems to be going toe-to-toe with the giant network and search engine Google Fiber, which is also planning to bring its 1 Gbps service to Louisville very soon. AT&T is moving in a pattern it established in other cities, starting from Austin, Texas and recently in California around the San Francisco metro area.

At present, the carrier’s technicians are concentrating on passing homes, rolling out fiber via pole attachments, or underground, reports WDRB. With AT&T GigaPower, users are able to experience considerably faster internet speeds over a 100% fiber optic network and play games online without any lag time for buffering. Additionally, customers can enjoy entertainment on any screen with AT&T and DIRECTV, with much faster internet speeds than ever.

As per the previous announcement made by the company, AT&T disclosed its intention to take GigaPower to Louisville back in March, after Google Fiber announced Louisville as its choice to be the next fiber recipient. But the move triggered a row over pole access. An ordinance was passed in favor of Google Fiber, approving attachment of its fiber optic cable to utility poles. As expected, AT&T reacted to the approval and filed suit against the city. As per the carrier, the city does not hold any authority to give approval to attachments to poles that are owned by the AT&T.

Hood Harris, AT&T’s Kentucky President shared with WDRB that the move is to meet consumer requirements for faster internet services.

The US carrier is planning to sail 1 Gbps services to a minimum of 56 metros in the nation this year. In this league, AT&T moves on to add GigaPower cities to its list while the Louisville project will advance in phases.

AT&T Pushing Bill to Discontinue Traditional Landline Service

No doubt the present age is the era of cellphones, but lovers of traditional landline phones are not yet extinct. A number of people are using traditional landlines for homes and businesses in California. But state lawmakers are going to pull plug on these old telephone services.

AT&T

“It is my connection to the world,” said Ruthanne Shpinner for whom her landline is her lifeline. But, in the near future, she might lose it.
A bill is being pushed by Shpinner’s phone company, AT&T, to let phone companies in California put an end to traditional landline service.
Customers could keep landlines if they want, but they may use alternate technologies such as voice over internet protocol, or VOIP, says AT&T.
Bill sponsor and San Jose Assemblyman Evan Low put forward that the old copper wires and switching stations used to route land line calls are quite exorbitant in terms of maintenance for a diminishing number of customers. He is of the view that money would rather be spent investing in new telecommunications technology.
“The plain old telephone system known as pots is rapidly approaching irrelevance,” said Low. “We’re modernizing with the times. We liken this from going to analog to digital.”
Mark Toney of the Utility Reform Network is of the view that the change would cause many to lose a trustworthy service in times of emergencies.
“We think it would be an absolute catastrophe. Our first concern is public safety,” said Toney. “The old landline telephone service will operate two weeks without electricity.” He is of the opinion that the substitutes such as cell services or VOIP are not so reliable in times of emergency.
But Ken McNeeley of AT&T holds a different opinion. As per him “The best phone in case of emergency is the phone you have in your hand”
There are state regulators who are against the bill, citing public safety and reliability. Some opponents believe that the real purpose is money.
As per records, AT&T has invested above $750,000 in lobbying at the capitol on a series of recent bills, including Lows AB 2395.
Among all this, the real challenge still remains in convincing people to stop using the traditional landline.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Shpinner.

Consumers Call on AT&T to Help End Robocalls

Despite of the best efforts to regulate and legislate the robocalls, still consumers complain about the unwanted prerecorded and auto-dialed robocalls. Now, this is not just one man’s problem- thousands of people have come together to curb this practice. Today, a petition signed by hundreds of thousands of people who want the nation’s telecom providers to do something about robocalls to the AT&T headquarters in Texas.

robocalls

Though there are tools that allow the individuals to put up robocall roadblocks on their own, but the telecom industry hasn’t taken any strict action to put a halt on such calls. The providers who offer options to block specific numbers generally charge a specific amount for the service or put limits on this sort of blacklisting. For example, AT&T allows their landline customers to pay a certain amount to block up to ten numbers and all anonymous callers. Likewise, Verizon also charges a specific price to block either six or twelve numbers or more. Generally, it depends on your service area.

However, the critics argue that- “this sort of customer-generated blacklist puts the onus on the consumer, and that such small blacklists are often pointless when dealing with scammy robocallers who use spoofed phone numbers and bogus Caller ID information to mask where they are really calling from.”

Consumers Union and concerned Dallas-area consumers delivered that petition to AT&T headquarters. “We’re calling on companies to step in and act and provide companies with free and effective tools to block these tools before they get to their homes,” explained Consumers Union End Robocalls campaign leader Tim Marvin.

In a statement to Consumerist, AT&T acknowledges that this is a problem that needs to be dealt with. “Robocalls are an industry-wide issue and we continue to work closely with the government and industry partners to make improvements,” reads the statement. “We appreciate Consumers Union’s input and will continue our work to help find solutions.”

Moreover,CU has already delivered this petition to Verizon and CenturyLink.

Seeing the current scenario where more than 800 robocalls are being made every second in US, the consumers hope that industry understands the problem and will look into the matter seriously.

 

Broadband Collusion by Verizon, Other Service Providers

Broadband Collusion by Verizon

This summer New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications reported in a finding that Verizon was evading all the build out commitment that it made under a 2008 video franchise agreement. The audit of Verizon’s FiOS rollout in New York City showed that Verizon failed to meet the desired network performance it promised its customers. Moreover, it was also unable to deliver high-speed fiber optic internet and television to everyone in the city. Previously, Verizon had promised during the negotiation for the city franchise that the entire city will be wired with fiber optic cables by June 2014 and anyone who wanted FiOS would get it within six months. The audit also found that despite declaring that the whole city had been wired in November 2014, Verizon constantly refused orders for service. The audit also claimed that it hindered the audit process. However, the final study concluded only 50-60% of the city was wired.

In the fall of 2015, the Communications Workers of America announced it was filing letters with the telephone regulators in six different states and Washington, DC calling for an open investigation because of deteriorated copper landline networks.

Verizon earlier admitted in July 2015 in a letter to the FCC that only $200 million had been spent over the previous seven years in order to maintain the copper landline network in eleven states and in Columbia. More recently, the New York State Attorney General’s Office began an investigation into the internet service providers in the state. Specifically, the subscribers were unhappy with the network speed that Verizon provided them. Similarly others providers like Time Warner Cable and Cablevision have also been misleading customers with slower speeds. Verizon had been asked to respond to

 

Cumberland County Wants to Know Verizon Network Issues from Customers

Are you having problems with your landline? If yes, Cumberland County officials want to know what the problem is.

network issues

The county has recently set up a form on their website for Verizon home phone subscribers allowing customers to submit any issues related to service or any other problem they may be experiencing. The county comprised of 16 communities in South Jersey announced that the reports compiled will help its consistent effort to ensure the telecom company Verizon New Jersey doesn’t abandon copper services in South Jersey.

Last month the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities filed a joint petition last month demanding that Verizon standardizes its network and maintains the copper infrastructure in its communities. The displayed form requires customer’s personal information and asks a few questions regarding the home phone service issues along with the date on which they encountered the problem. Other questions include, “what did Verizon do to resolve the problem?” and “Did Verizon contact you or come to your home to remedy your service issue? If so, what specifically did they do or say. Please be as detailed as possible providing this information.”

Once the user has finished the form he can submit it. The group of 16 municipalities, from Atlantic, Salem, Gloucester and Cumberland counties, have been engaged in a fractious battle against the major telecom company -Veri        zon. This battle has been fought for the past 2 years over basic home phone services in South Jersey. Plus, the group of municipalities hopes that BPU ultimately holds a public hearing where both sides will be given equal opportunity to present themselves in the case.

Ily is the New US Home Phone

If you are a parent who wants to keep in touch with your kid in your absence, then a new device called “Ily” might help you out.

Ily

Ily is specifically designed for family communication. The new device includes an 8-inch screen, speakers, camera and also a wireless handset. It is specifically built to make voice and video calls but only with your family members. So parents can check on their kids by calling them at home and similarly kids can call their parents or grandparents if they need any sort of help or advice. The device promises to provide affordable local home phone services. In addition, this might turn out to be the new residential home phone service in the coming years.

Other relatives can buy their own devices if they want to connect with their respective family members. However, adults can also connect via ILY’s iPhone, iPad and Android apps. Surprisingly, all the conversations made are saved so that you can relive them later. Despite voice and video calls, you can also send pictures, photos, messages and drawings via Ily. There is also a specific area in the device where you can share pictures within the family.

Ilan Abehassera, who is the founder and CEO of Ily stated, “In a nutshell, we are building the family communication platform.” When people asked why we would build a hardware solution and not just an app, the CEO answered that the biggest alternative is FaceTiming via iPad but most iPads are shared between families and parents don’t want their little ones to use them without their supervision. But with Ily, the whole family can come together and get connected. Moreover, with this device, you will be comfortable giving your kids access at anytime.

As far as the size is concerned, Abehassera confirmed that in the US alone, there are about 24 million families with children less than 10 years. So the startup is not just selling directly to consumers but also planning to work with carriers and retailers. This new home phone service will definitely go a long way.

FCC Wants Landline to Be Treated the Same Way as Broadband

FCC

The FCC heads back to the United States Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C to argue that it has the authority to regulate the existing internet providers with the ultimate goal of ensuring that all the legal content over the Internet is treated equally.

Users have a complaint against the company regarding net neutrality rules twice in front of the same court and beside one judge in particular, David Tatel. Previously, Tatel and his robed crew came to a conclusion that the FCC hasn’t had enough legal ground to regulate Internet access as if it is a public utility like electricity and water service and has sided with the opponents, internet access companies.

However, things are expected to go in a different way. Close sources revealed that Tatel’s previous ruling built a “roadmap” for the present ruling and a new Framework that the FCC can work with. The turning point, in this case, is that the FCC is defining “broadband” in a more unique way than before. It has now started including it under a statute known as Title II, that places broadband in the realm of telephone service. As the FCC has complete power to regulate phones, the agency argued that it had a solid case where it can attach most of the telephone rules to broadband.

In addition, the FCC is content as the Obama administration constantly supports the new rules to make another legal attempt if they lose this particular round. What matters the most is the FCC has promised it is not willing to set prices for high-speed Internet services and assured that new regulations will not allow them to that power.

Customers Ask CenturyLink to Help End Robocalls

century link

The FCC has confirmed that landline operators can now offer robocall-blocking technology to their users, but most of them have chosen not to do so. Recently, a petition has been filed where more than 500,000 customers have signed and sent their complaints to the company. This act is hoping to find a solution for the customers fed up with unwanted interruptions.

As part of its current End Robocalls campaign, CU dragged plenty of boxes of petition pages to the CenturyLink’s front door at their office in Phoenix.

“What we wanted to do is deliver a petition from over half a million people, calling on CenturyLink to provide customers with free and effective tools to end robocalls,” explained Tim Marvin, who has headed up the anti-robocall campaign for CU.

“My husband and I are retired, so when we start getting calls at eight in the morning it’s very disruptive,” said Sarah, a CenturyLink customer who was on hand for the petition delivery. “My mother is 100 years old, and she gets the same call every day. She’s tried and tried to get them to stop, but they won’t.”

Marvin said, “Everyone receives robocalls.” Particularly pointing out that the Federal Communications Commission alone has received more than 3.5 million complaints about the issue last year. This statistic has evolved gradually after noticing that consumers take a lot of time to file a complaint with the regulators. While the option of the Do Not Call list and strict FCC rules prohibits multiple unwanted autodialed and various pre-recorded calls, most robocalls are actually scammers that don’t care about any kind of violation.

There are plenty of options available with the telecom company that can help customers to cut down such calls, but the company has been constantly dragging their feet in offering the feature. In a recently explained statement, any sort of contact number blacklist can result in the occasional legitimate call being blocked. So the company has given the customers the ability to use some third party device to moderate any suspicious calls.

“The onus right now is on the consumer to navigate these complex problems,” explained CU’s Delara Derakhshani at a recent panel discussion on the issue. “The options are limited in their capability to block calls and they cost money. Consumers are being forced to pay for tools to block calls they shouldn’t be receiving in the first place.”

Marvin said this isn’t about making call-blocking mandatory, but about giving consumers a simple option to rid themselves of these likely illegal nuisance calls.

“What we want CenturyLink to do is start to provide some relief to that annoyance,” he explained outside the telecom company’s office. “CenturyLink has the technology and the ability to give people free and effective tools to block these robocalls before they even get to their houses. I think it’s an invasion of our privacy,” said CL customer Sarah, “and if CenturyLink has a way to stop them, I think they should.”

This is the second petition delivered to CU in a row. The End Robocalls Team knocked on Verizon’s DC office door few weeks back where the whole company decided to sit and discuss the problem with CU. AT&T customers can now expect to hear some good news from the subscribers regarding robocalls in the coming weeks.

Towns Urges Verizon Investigation for Abandoning Networks

verizon

Sixteen cities of New Jersey have asked the state to investigate Verizon as it feels the telecom company has, through neglect, abandoned and retired its copper landline infrastructure in most of South Jersey.

In some regions where Verizon has not been able to upgrade to its fiber network, it has failed to maintain its copper wires that are used to provide telephone service and DSL internet. “In more affluent communities, Verizon has begun to phase out copper with more modern fiber” while “ignoring these issues in communities like ours,” Hopewell Township Committeeman Gregory Facemyer said in the towns’ announcement of their petition.

On the contrary, Verizon denies most of the allegations explaining that it is committed to maintaining a reliable service in rural and urban parts of the state. Verizon confirms that it continues to invest and enhance its network because of the fierce competition for communication services throughout the country.

Earlier, Verizon’s predecessor New Jersey Bell committed to a statewide broadband buildout in a 1993 agreement with the other state authorities in exchange for a price regulation overhaul requested by the telco. While most of the towns are still stuck with the aging copper networks, Last year Verizon had an agreement with the state to meet its obligations with the cellular network instead of wired broadband.

Thereafter, the town’s petition has asked the BPU to investigate and rectify Verizon’s lack of maintenance of copper landline services and facilities. Verizon is also asked to maintain its infrastructure until it completely builds its statewide fiber network. Cellular services are not the sole substitute for landline or fiber services. The town stated, “The failure of Verizon to comply with its obligations… to provide fiber optic service throughout the State of New Jersey,” combined with poor maintenance of copper landlines, “will effectively cripple the capability of customers in rural areas to maintain adequate telephone, data, and Internet service.”

The town claimed that home phone service, internet service, and 911 access have been interrupted most of the times due to bad weather, including fog and drizzle. “Literally hundreds of such complaints have been received in the Petitioners’ communities,” the petition said. The petition further claims that “Verizon has manipulated its customer complaint records” to make the problems appear less severe than they are in reality.

Verizon has elucidated that fiber is the most reliable platform to meet present customer needs. Further, the New Jersey towns said, “Yet for our struggling communities, Verizon refuses to even acknowledge there is a problem, much less offer to upgrade our copper to fiber. Rather than discuss these problems with us, Verizon’s representative has decried our concerns, comparing local government leaders to a modern day flat earth society.”