AT&T Serves Up Six Rate Hikes In September
Sept. 27, 2010, Chicago— AT&T in September raised the prices of six services by up to 17 percent, yet another reason to drop those often useless extras and sign up for the CUB-created Consumer’s Choice calling plans.
AT&T originally was forced to offer the Consumer’s Choice plans—Basic, Extra, and Plus—under a legal settlement with CUB. The consumer group designed the plans the way most people use their landline phone, and this past summer they became an even better deal after the Illinois Legislature froze their prices through June of 2013.
So far an online tool called the Local Phone Cost-cutter has shown AT&T customers how to cut their annual bills by a total of $8 million, largely because of the Consumer's Choice plans. Those plans cover local calls, to places about 15 or fewer miles from your home. The latest AT&T rate increases shine a spotlight on Consumer’s Choice Plus, which offers unlimited local calls plus up to two calling features, including many of those that went up in price just two weeks ago.
As of Sept. 15, AT&T raised the prices of the following services:
Call Waiting: $6.50 to $7.50 a month, 15 percent increase
Speed Calling 8: $5.99 to $7 a month, 17 percent increase
Three-way Calling: $5.99 to $7 a month, 17 percent increase
Call Forwarding: $5.99 to $7 a month, 17 percent increase
Automatic Callback: $5.99 to $7 a month, 17 percent increase
Privacy Manager: $6.99 to $8 a month, 14 percent increase
At phone clinics across the Land of Lincoln, CUB finds consumers who are overpaying by hundreds of dollars a year, and a big reason is because they're signed up for extras that they hardly use or aren’t even sure what they are.
CUB recommends that most people drop the services. Consumers who do want them can buy some on a per-use basis, and they should consider signing up for Consumer’s Choice Plus. That plan covers up to two calling features, except Privacy Manager.
Privacy Manager is an AT&T service that screens calls marked “private,” “out of area” or “unavailable” on Caller ID. If consumers want to reduce their telemarketing calls, CUB recommends that they sign up for the free, federal “Do Not Call” list instead. For more information, go to www.DoNotCall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222.
For more information on cutting landline and cell-phone bills, visit CUB’s Phone Savings Center.