25 years after the breakup of the AT&T monopoly, a comprehensive audit of more than 700 San Diego phone bills challenges the long-cherished assumption that "phone deregulation has reduced costs for all customers." The ugly reality is that for the majority of wireless and landline telephone bills studied, customers pay unjustifiably high per-minute charges for long distance and wireless services. Get an overview of the 87-page report here. Get the full report in PDF format.
Cable & Satellite TV
Defunct "ComCast Must Die" Web site rises from the ashes ...
The Web site Comcastmustdie.com, created by AdAge writer Bob Garfield is history, but now it has been reincarnated as customer-circus.com. Full story.
San Diego citizen journalism and media discussion forum
UCAN's affiliate New Media Rights is hosting a discussion forum on the future of media and journalism in San Diego. Join in on the discussion now!
This is the report that AT&T does NOT want you to see: Phone Bill Survey of UCAN Members
This analysis of consumer phone bills in PDF format has spurred an intense reaction from AT&T and its cronies in the mainstream media. This report dares to suggest that the deregulation of phone services has increased the cost of communications for low-income consumers. GET IT HERE.
Consumers overspending on telecom bills
INFORMATION WEEK - According to an audit of 703 consumer phone bills by TeleTruth, long-distance charges have increased on average to 55 cents a minute, and just
8% of landline customers pay less than 10 cents a minute. Full Story. Read the full 87-page report here. <!-- / teaser (dek) copy -->
Study shows many customers pay way too much for "cheap" cell phone plans.
Los Angeles Times, David Lazarus - Coverage of the UCAN TeleTruth study of 700+ "deregulated" phone bills finds that the average cell phone bill costs about $3 a minute when you factor in all the hidden fees, taxes, and surcharges. Full story.
You say competition, I say oligopoly: Time Warner has "effective competition" in San Diego according to FCC
The FCC has revoked any need to regulate basic cable rates in many parts of San Diego for Time Warner.
TV Stations go digital tonight - thousands will not be able to get a signal.
NORTH COUNTY TIMES As many as 10,000 North County residents will not be able to get a free over-the-air TV signal at midnight tonight because their TV sets are too old to get an HDTV signal More.
Digital TV Conversion Delayed Until Mid-June
Editor's note: On February 11, President Obama signed legislation delaying the DTV conversion.
The digital TV conversion scheduled for February 17 will be delayed to June 12 once President Obama signs the bill approved by the House on February 4. Millions of consumers currently on a waiting list to get $40 coupons toward the purchase of converter boxes will benefit from the delay if Congress allocates more money for additional coupons
Read more in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.
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