What If The Phone Company Called Your Friends To Collect Your Bill?
Grok Headline matches for What If The Phone Company Called Your Friends To Collect Your Bill?
Checking Your Bill for a New Charge
Called 'Oops'
Checking Your Bill for a New Charge
Called 'Oops'
12/03/2003 10:55 PMNew York Times Dec 3 2003 8:56PM ET
Stealth Inflation: Checking Your Bill
For A New Charge Called Oops
Stealth Inflation: Checking Your Bill
For A New Charge Called Oops
12/04/2003 02:37 AMWe've had plenty of posts recently about all the extra
hidden
fees that show up on phone bills, credit card statements, bank
statements, etc. These are often named to look as though they're
required by the government, when the truth is anything but that. The
amount of money such fees generate is staggering: "$100 million for
hotels this year, $2 billion for banks, $11 billion for credit-card
companies - and an average of 20 percent extra on every phone bill"
according to this article in the NY Times, which refers to such
tactics as stage one of "stealth inflation." What's stage two? It's
all of the
billing mistakes these companies make - which
always seem to end up in their favor. Everybody, it seems, has
stories of companies incorrectly billing them, and having to waste
endless hours on the phone clearing up the charges. The article
suggests it's a sneaky way of getting more out of customers, but the
companies (of course) deny it - pointing out that it costs them much
more to handle the customer complaints and corrections. Of course,
that's only true if the customer notices the mistake - and, as someone
point out, if it's just a random error, wouldn't there be just as many
in the end-users' favor? While it is tempting to believe that there's
a grand conspiracy out there, my guess is that it's simply bad
processes in most cases, as poorly trained workers with bad systems
just do whatever they can, and don't really care about fixing mistakes
as they make them - and the systems aren't designed to catch these
mistakes themselves, unless they go in the wrong direction.
"Someone scanned in a 1940's Bell
Systems book called "How To Make Friends
By Telephone" that shows the proper
etiquette for using that new gadget, the
telephone."
"Someone scanned in a 1940's Bell
Systems book called "How To Make Friends
By Telephone" that shows the proper
etiquette for using that new gadget, the
telephone."
05/29/2004 12:07 AMPhone friends
Phone friends
09/27/2004 04:41 AMUSA Today Sep 27 2004 9:01AM GMT
Iowa phone company tries to block
incoming cell phone calls
Iowa phone company tries to block
incoming cell phone calls
08/16/2004 05:48 PMIowa phone company plans to block cell phone call in a dispute with
wireless carriers. The Iowa Utilities Board has prevented the plan for
now.
Big Nigeria phone deal called off
Big Nigeria phone deal called off
05/31/2004 02:09 PMSouth African mobile giant Vodacom pulls out of a $200m deal with
Nigeria's Econet Wireless,
Broadband Internet Phone Company,
VoIP2Save.com Announces Full Phone
Number Portability
Broadband Internet Phone Company,
VoIP2Save.com Announces Full Phone
Number Portability
07/22/2004 02:48 AM"VoIP2Save.com" becomes first broadband internet phone company to
offer total internet phone number portability to customers. VoIP2Save
accuses rivals of holding customer phone numbers hostage because they
cannot switch their phone numbers to other carriers. [PRWEB Jul 22,
2004]
Sentinare Messaging Solutions, an E-mail
Security Company Makes Spammers Pay With
a New Technique Called "Tarpitting"
Sentinare Messaging Solutions, an E-mail
Security Company Makes Spammers Pay With
a New Technique Called "Tarpitting"
07/28/2004 04:21 AMSentinare Messaging Solutions, an e-mail security company introduces
an anti-spam technique called "Tarpitting" in which Sentinare ties up
the connection of spammers and binds their resources. Tarpitting costs
spammers precious time and money, hitting them where it hurts: their
pocket book. [PRWEB Jul 28, 2004]
Voice-over-Internet called phone of
future
Voice-over-Internet called phone of
future
07/08/2004 01:49 AMCanadaIT.com Jul 8 2004 6:06AM GMT
Avon called with phone that didn't ring
true (Reuters)
Avon called with phone that didn't ring
true (Reuters)
07/28/2004 11:34 AMReuters - An Avon brochure promising a free mobile phone with the
purchase of skin cream earlier this year asked if
customers thought the offer sounded too good to be true.
Your New Phone Company Is The Cable
Company?
Your New Phone Company Is The Cable
Company?
05/03/2004 05:18 AMCable providers in the US took an early lead in the broadband market,
though they've lost a little ground lately due to cut rate prices for
DSL from the telcos. However, the cable providers are looking to pull
an ace out of their sleeve by promoting their ability to easily
provide the coveted "triple play" of voice, video and data through one
single company. Many cable providers have been able to do this for a
while, but they haven't spent much time promoting their phone service.
That's about to change. While the telcos are still struggling to
figure out their video strategy (TV over DSL? partner with a
satellite provider?), the cable companies are getting ready to
heavily promote
their VoIP phone plans in conjunction with their TV and broadband
connections. They admit that most people still don't know the cable
company offers phone service, but they aim to change that soon.
Beyond just getting more money out of each subscriber, it also means
much less churn for the cable companies, as studies have shown that
the likelihood of a customer switching providers drops drastically for
each additional service they receive from their provider. While the
article doesn't mention much about pricing, it would make sense for
the cable companies to cut the prices on the phone service
drastically. The additional cost to the companies isn't that high,
and undercutting the telcos in their core market has to hurt them.
Besides, as the article points out, choosing a phone company is much
more of an "emotional" decision than choosing a broadband provider.
If the cable companies can win over the emotions of people with very
low priced calling plans, they'll more than make up the difference in
new customers for their broadband and video services - and the
resulting lack of churn.
What Happens When Anyone Can Be A Phone
Company?
What Happens When Anyone Can Be A Phone
Company?
04/19/2004 12:26 PMForget Ma Bell or the Baby Bells. We're reaching a point where just
about anyone will be able to become a "phone company." We recently
mentioned the decision by Streamcast, the makers of the Morpheus file
sharing application, to
launch
their own phone service by private labeling a VoIP service -
effectively becoming a VoIP virtual network operation (a VVNO?). The
Morpheus phone service
is
now getting set to launch. The company claims that they don't
want to replace a traditional phone line, but just want to make long
distance cheaper (which, let's face it, means replacing the
traditional phone line). Still, what strikes me is that there's
really no logical fit between a file sharing program like Morpheus and
a phone-based VoIP service (there's is quite similar to Vonage).
However, they're still offering the phone service, because they found
a company (i2Telecom) willing to let them brand their service. This
basically means that we're reaching a point where
anyone could
theoretically create their own phone company offering similar, branded
VoIP. The potential there, is what could become incredibly disruptive
for the phone companies. While they're still focused on providing
their own VoIP services, what do they do when
everyone can
become a competitor? Especially when others start offering VoIP as a
loss-leader for something else? What if Amazon provides me free phone
service if I keep up a pace of buying a certain amount every month?
How does a phone company compete? It's increasingly looking like
phone companies may have to follow a similar path and simply realize
that their phone service (using VoIP) should be a loss leader for a
broadband connection into the home.
It's Not Enough to Be Just a Phone
Company
It's Not Enough to Be Just a Phone
Company
02/19/2004 01:29 AMThe telecommunications industry is moving into an era of megacarriers;
smaller operations are likely to feel pressure to find partnerships
and joint ventures.
Your $600 Cell Phone Bill
Your $600 Cell Phone Bill
06/01/2004 12:02 PMFamily cell phone plans have a lot of hang-ups, especially when a
teen's on the line.
Iridium is not a phone company
Iridium is not a phone company
08/31/2004 08:19 AM
A
Blog
entry about a guy who melted a kilo of Iridium in New Jersey with
Oliver Sacks. There are also pictures and movies of the
200,000 eV electron beam furnace in action.
Theo Gray,
co-founder of
Wolfram Research
was there too (the pictures are all his). For any laymen who may have
wondered in,
Iridium is not a phone company, it is a precious metal that
shares an element group with the likes of Platinum and Rhodium.
AT&T: the hollow phone company
AT&T: the hollow phone company
05/25/2004 03:43 AMKevin Werbach has a cool perspective on the fact that AT&T has
divested itself of its physical and cellular networks: it has become a
"virtual" phone company. (Remember the spectrum docket where AT&T
was
all about the open spectrum? Maybe this virtual telco thing makes
phone companies less evil?)
AT&T is hollowing itself out -- and that's a good thing. Under
Dave Dorman, AT&T has invested heavily in building a true all-IP
backbone and deploying VOIP offerings. Following the sale of AT&T
Wireless to Cingular and AT&T's subsequent deal with Sprint PCS,
AT&T is poised to offer a full suite of wireless offerings without
the cost of owning a cellular network. And it is still the biggest
player in the lucrative business services market, with a national
brand second to none.
Link
Company Car, Phone and ... Porn
Company Car, Phone and ... Porn
05/26/2004 03:29 PMAn IT company in Denmark has an interesting philosophy -- spend about
$5 per employee per week on a fringe benefit that will make employees
more relaxed and more efficient on the job. With that thought in
mind, the sensible thing to do, obviously, is to
provide
what the employees want: free porn. That's right, porn on the
company's bill. The catch is that porn is blocked during office
hours, so no one surfs porn at work. Sounds like a good deal.
When 60% Of Your Phone Bill Is From
Unadvertised Fees
When 60% Of Your Phone Bill Is From
Unadvertised Fees
09/20/2004 04:56 AM
We've had plenty of stories about phone companies and all of the
additional fees they add to your bill, but the Miami Herald has a few
examples where the situation clearly goes beyond any reasonable level.
Take, for example, a simple plan from BellSouth, advertised at
$11.04/month. What they leave is out the
extra $16
in fees and taxes (BugMeNot required) that turn the $11 plan into
a $27 one. Then, there are companies like Primus which is adding a
$15 "
low usage" fee for anyone who doesn't make $25 worth of
long distance calls per month. The telcos come back with their usual
refrain that they somehow "need" to collect this fee "to recoup normal
business expenses." That, of course, is a ridiculous statement. Any
normal business prices their "normal business expenses" into their
advertised prices. This is simply a way for the telcos to
advertise lower prices than they're really charging. Perhaps other
companies should get into this game as well. Want a pizza pie? It's
just $3, but there's a $3.50 "crust fee," a $9.38 "oven fee," a $4.50
"service fee," and a $2.18 "cleanup fee." Plus tax.
UK.biz hit for £250m in phone bill
blunders
UK.biz hit for £250m in phone bill
blunders
08/05/2004 07:06 AM'SMEs get worse deal'
Phone, DSL Company Bills Getting Sneaky
Phone, DSL Company Bills Getting Sneaky
05/14/2004 06:17 PMTelephone companies are passing their own cost of doing business to
their customers with an array of surcharges that one might easily
mistake for taxes being collected on behalf of the government.
Phone Scam Company Sued By FTC
Phone Scam Company Sued By FTC
10/31/2003 07:27 PMBack in April we had the story of a Florida company, Epixtar, accused
of
some
really sleazy phone scam, where they would call up businesses to
offer them a "free internet yellow pages listing", and would ask a
bunch of basic questions to get people into the habit of saying "yes".
Then, they would cram a bunch of questions into a single question,
with the last one being an obvious yes. The example given is: "You
are authorized to make changes and incur charges on your business
phone bill and are over the age of 18. I also have your main telephone
number as 202 ... Is that all correct?" All of this would be said
incredibly quickly, so that it was impossible to understand. They
would say this proves that the recipient knew they were authorizing
charges on the phone bill. The company is also accused of slipping in
the fees at the very end of the call in a matter-of-fact way and then
altering recordings of the calls if someone complained, to pretend
that the person had approved the charges. After all of that, it still
took the FTC some time, but they've now
been sued by the
FTC and had all of their assets frozen. The company, of course,
denies it did anything wrong, saying they provide unnamed "internet
services" that companies ask for. Of course, in shutting down this
company, I'm sure plenty more will rush in to take its place.
Phone company censured over photo
Phone company censured over photo
04/28/2004 07:35 AMManchester Online Apr 28 2004 11:23AM GMT
Your cell phone company knows you hate
it
Your cell phone company knows you hate
it
06/05/2004 03:00 PMSan Jose Mercury News Jun 5 2004 6:06PM GMT
Speakeasy Going Naked With Their DSL --
Who Needs A Phone Company?
Speakeasy Going Naked With Their DSL --
Who Needs A Phone Company?
07/01/2004 06:37 PMSpeakeasy, continuing to cement their reputation as the
customer-friendly broadband service provider, is apparently getting
ready to
announce a
nationwide "naked DSL" offering that won't require a local phone
line. It won't be cheap, but that seems to be the price of having a
DSL provider that really tries to give customers what they want. In
this case, that's the ability to have DSL without a local phone line.
The company reports that many of their subscribers use mobile phones
instead, and only have a local phone line so they can get DSL. Also,
with an increasing number of people replacing landlines with VoIP,
there's simply less need for a true local phone line. However, as the
Broadband Reports article points out, this may necessitate a truck
roll for installation, making it a bit more cumbersome and costly.
It's still surprising that other broadband providers haven't started
targeting the same audience. Speakeasy has shown that they've been
able to get plenty of business, while charging something of a premium
to let customers do what they want with the connection, including
running servers or sharing their connection via WiFi.
Internet Phone Company Sued Over 911
Internet Phone Company Sued Over 911
03/23/2005 04:51 AMCRM Assist Mar 23 2005 9:45AM GMT
First Bill of Rights for Cell Phone
Users
First Bill of Rights for Cell Phone
Users
06/01/2004 06:35 PM“More than four years after it was first proposed, the
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) adopted a
Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights to provide updated basic
protections for telephone customers, including for the first time
millions of cell phone users throughout the state. But the new rules,
which were aggressively opposed by the politically powerful wireless
industry, fall short of what consumer groups maintain are necessary to
counter common marketplace abuses.”
Cell Phone Company Allows Call Limits
Cell Phone Company Allows Call Limits
05/17/2004 08:51 AMAP via Daily Press May 17 2004 1:29PM GMT
Phone Company Mergers Win on Capitol
Hill
Phone Company Mergers Win on Capitol
Hill
03/14/2005 04:32 PMHouse telecom leaders praise consolidation of resources.
Cell Phone Company Allows Call Limits
(AP)
Cell Phone Company Allows Call Limits
(AP)
05/17/2004 07:30 AMAP - How would you like to curb your gabby teen's mobile chats or your
employee's cell calls about fantasy football? Boston Communications
Group Inc. might have something for you.
Canadian Phone Company Wants VoIP
Deregulated
Canadian Phone Company Wants VoIP
Deregulated
09/22/2004 09:00 PMTechWeb Sep 22 2004 11:48PM GMT
Howdy Corporation - Your Internet Phone
Company!
Howdy Corporation - Your Internet Phone
Company!
09/01/2004 02:41 AMFree Internet calls for IP to IP phones using Howdy's unique VoIP and
IP telephony technology for unlimited international phone calls
overseas. Can use with normal mobile phones and IP phones too! [PRWEB
Sep 1, 2004]
New York classifies Vonage as phone
company
New York classifies Vonage as phone
company
05/19/2004 10:23 PMNYC's No Public Mobile Phone Use Bill
Not Enforced
NYC's No Public Mobile Phone Use Bill
Not Enforced
09/14/2004 05:25 AMYou may remember that New York City passed a completely unenforceable
law a few years ago saying that it was
illegal
to use a mobile phone during a public performance -- such that you
could receive a $50 fine. Well, it turns out that not only is it
unenforceable,
most people have
no idea the law exists, which kind of kills its purpose. The
police claim they really have better things to do with their time (and
they do), but the original supporter of the bill claims it was meant
to be unenforceable all along. The idea was that it would convince
people to put more peer pressure on those around them, should a phone
ring in a theater or museum. Right now, though, it looks like only a
few theaters are really trying to do anything about the law by posting
warning signs everywhere.
New York State Classifies Vonage As
Phone Company
New York State Classifies Vonage As
Phone Company
05/20/2004 08:30 AMSlashdot May 20 2004 12:44PM GMT
EasyMobile: a mobile phone company
without phones or towers
EasyMobile: a mobile phone company
without phones or towers
08/11/2004 09:48 AMThe EasyGroup (who provide the discount EasyJet airline and the cheap
EasyInternet cafes) have launched a mobile phone company called, what
else, EasyMobile. EasyMobile -- which leases capacity on other
carriers' networks -- won't give away free phones with their plans;
instead, they'll just sell you a SIM card and rely on you to find a
phone somewhere. Given that most mobile phone carriers give you a new
phone annually if you threaten to quit, a lot of Easy's ptoential
customers have a wealth of easily unlockable phones kicking around,
ready to be used with an Easy SIM. And since Easy isn't giving away
phones, it can roll those savings back into cheaper airtime and
services.
EasyMobile is to be launched in December at the latest on the British
market and if all goes well the service will be expanded to the Czech
Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the
Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Link
(
via Engadget)
Consumers challenge phone company
'regulatory' surcharges
Consumers challenge phone company
'regulatory' surcharges
08/20/2004 02:09 PMSiliconValley.com Aug 20 2004 6:29PM GMT
Analyst Claims Some Phone Companies
Intentionally Over-bill Customers
Analyst Claims Some Phone Companies
Intentionally Over-bill Customers
06/22/2005 02:30 AMA telecom services analyst warns that he sees similar errors on phone
bills so often that he believes some phone companies intentionally
allow errors to continue, making adjustments only when a customer
requests it. [PRWEB Jun 22, 2005]
Smart, Piltel oppose entry of 3G mobile
phone company
Smart, Piltel oppose entry of 3G mobile
phone company
03/08/2004 11:21 PMPhilippine Daily Inquirer Mar 9 2004 3:42AM GMT
Skype taking a bite out of real company
phone bills
Skype taking a bite out of real company
phone bills
06/17/2005 03:50 PMSeeing that I have started a company this year and we are trying to
make sure this ones stays in th black from the start, everyone is
using Skype as much as possible. Chantal has a Skype Account with
Voice mail I have a Skype In Number along with Voice Mail and I spend
a lot of hours on Skype not giving a red cent to the phone
company.
Am I happy well for a guy that lived in Guam for 7 years and
endured $3.50 a minute phone calls back to the United States, you can
imagine I am quite happy when I can stick it to the phone company and
bypass them. That goes for the cellular folks also. Seems some other
companies are on the Skype bandwagon and pretty happy about it
themselves. [Business Week]
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What If The Phone Company Called Your Friends To Collect Your Bill?
