New Networks Institute
Telecom & Broadband Research for the Public Interest
================== ===================== SUMMARY OF CURRENT ===================== ===================== Phone
Bill Independence ================== The
Dirty, Little, Secret Lives of Phone Bills ================== The
Unauthorized Bio of the Baby Bells ====================== The Latest: October
29th,
The
FCC Is About to Raise Your Phone Rates and Taxes through
Back-Room Dealings.
While
the current presidential candidates tell us they won’t
raise our taxes, rumor has it that on Election Day, the FCC
will announce a series of increases to your phone rates and
taxes. It is a put on job by AT&T, Verizon and the other
local phone companies New
Study and Real-World Testing of Over-the-Air Television
(OTA) viewers DTV - Digital Tornado to Hit Rural Fringe Areas from
Antenna, Lack of Signal, and Technical Problems New Real-World Test of Hunterdon, County, New Jersey
Reveals 100% Loss of New York Stations, 100% Lost of Some
Stations Or No Reception with Current Antennas and Converter
Box Configurations. FCC's Wilmington Test Not Real-World Test for Most who
Are Impacted by the DTV Transition - Rural areas. Whole
Communities Are Expected to be Impacted =========================================== FCC
Ruling Strip-Mines the Requirements of Data Collection on
AT&T, Verizon and Qwest. Bad Data
Creates Bad Public Policies - Decision Being Made Using 6
Year-Old Data. Harms to
Small Competitors: FCC "Consequently, we estimate that the
majority of these firms are small entities that may be
affected by our action." ========================================================= Teletruth
Testifies: Is
New York City and Verizon trying to slip one by
you? Harvard
Nieman: Bruce Kushnick scoffs at the new FiOS ads in New York and
wants to know where all the billions earmarked for broadband
have gone. Digital
TV Time Bomb--Hiding the Whole Picture from the American
Public. A Real
World Test in Rural Area Reveals Additional Costs of
Hundreds of Dollars May Be Incurred for Over-The-Air TV
Viewers, Not Counting They May Lose Many of Their Prized
Channels. ================================== ======================================= Telco-Astroturf
Group --New Millennium--Critiques "Stink Tanks": We
Respond, ============================== =================================== New Series or How
the FCC's Deregulatory Policies are Harming America's
Digital Future. Part
One: 56%
drop in wireline competition since 2004. Telco-Astroturf
Group --New Millennium--Critiques "Stink Tanks": We
Respond, Harvard Neiman
Watchdog: The
Age of the Stink Tanks: Corporate-funded
research designed to influence public policy,
ATT
and Verizon Customers Hit with Major Phone Price Increases
in New York, New Jersey --------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple’s
iPhone Is Telecom Bling -- Reporters Missed: What's Hidden
in AT&T’s Wireless 'Fine
Print'? ======================================= Teletruth
to New York City Broadband Committee in Brooklyn: Get
$5-$12 Billion Back. =================================================== Harvard
Nieman Foundation for Journalism Watchdog
project At a
New Jersey utilities board hearing on cable franchises,
three guys from Verizon – the elephant in the room
– go unnoticed by the regulators, and by the
press. =============================================== Harvard Neiman
article: Verizon,
AT&T and the manipulation of public
opinion. Needed: Blacks,
Hispanics, disabled, deaf, low-income and the elderly to
support the telecoms’ positions on anti-consumer FCC
rulings and legislation. More
about the groups in the release:
Bell Skunkworks
101 --- Know Your Astroturf ======================================= Data
Quality Act Complaint: Bad FCC Data Created Bad Phone
Policies. Postcard: (Click to
Enlarge) FREE NEW REPORT:
=================================== Harvard
Nieman Watchdog article. For
low-volume users, phone costs have risen
sharply Despite
phone company pledges to reduce charges, millions of people
are paying more for long distance calls, sometimes as much
as $1 a minute. Meanwhile, the FCC chairman says rates are
in a free-fall. The FCC Should Not Attempt a
Run-Around of Congress to Pass Bell-Friendly Cable-Franchise
Plan. Teletruth files Summary
of Our Filings Verizon
Bilked Customers $5-$6 Billion for Fiber Optic Broadband
Cover-Up: Get $2000 Per Household In Refunds Before
Accepting Franchise Application. DENY
Verizon's Franchise Application. It Is in Direct Conflict
with Prior Opportunity New Jersey's Fiber Optic Broadband
Commitments. ==================================================== ================== NOW ONLINE: Moyers
on America Presents "The Net at Risk".
PBS,
(CLICK ON WATCH "NET AT RISK) Teletruth's Bruce Kushnick and Tom
Allibone are featured in "The New Digital Divide" segment.
============================================= Verizon
New Jersey Settles Class Action Alleging Overbilling for
Special Circuits. Teletruth
Sets Up Customer Hotline: Are You Owed Money from Verizon,
NJ? Circuits
Info Page: Press Release, FAQ, Fact Sheet, Other
Links NOTE:
This is the 2nd Verizon, NJ Class Action Suit Settlement
Teletruth has worked on. =========================== 426%
Increase in Verizon New York City Local Phone Service.
---Aunt
Ethel Was Harmed. Harvard
Nieman Watchdog Article. ==================== Ethics
in Telecommunications Awards Presented by Astroturf
Group. "United Church of Christ a Stooge for the
Baby Bells?" ==================== Bogus
New Surcharge on Verizon DSL Bills Harms Customers
Twice. ======================================= New
Series on America's Wrong Path in Telecommunications,
Internet, Broadband and Wireless
Services.
Harvard's Neiman School of Journalism Watchdog project is
publishing a series of articles about America's broadband,
Internet and telecom future written by Teletruth's Bruce
Kushnick. "The Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project grows from
this premise and this goal: to help the press ask
penetrating questions, critical questions, questions that
matter, questions not yet asked about today's news." Teletruth
Sends Letter to Judge Sullivan Regarding the
Bell-AT&T-MCI Merger Review. The Bell Mergers Harmed Broadband Deployment,
Competition and the Economy. The AT&T and MCI Deals Added New Harms to the
Public Interest - New Neutrality Concerns ============================================ Senate
to Raise Your USF Phone Taxes 200%? Stop this
Bill. --------------------------------------------------------------- "200
Billion Broadband Scandal" --- The week of June
20th, Teletruth gave away a free copy of the book. 45,000
free downloads were recorded. Thanks' to
reading. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Verizon's
FiOS, AT&T's Lightspeed - The Rise of the Crippled
Networks. Dear Senate:
Investigate this: ============================ Wireless
Spectrum Fraud by AT&T, Verizon, Cingular -- Are they
Very Small Businesses? Very Large Phone
Companies have been able to create 'fake fronts' to bid on
wireless spectrum as Very Small Businesses? Is this
fraud? ================================================ NEW EXPOSE:
Learn
More: Click
on the Cover. =================================== FTC
Complaint for Commercial Speech, Deceptive Practices in
Mergers, Teletruth files this Complaint with
the FTC, claiming that the previous Bell mergers were based
on a massive, 10-year pattern of misrepresentation,
untruthful and outright fraudulent statements made to
customers. How many misleading,
deceptive or fraudulent statements does it take to become a
case of fraud? ================================== FCC
to Kill Thousands of ISPs with 8 Year-Old Data! The FCC, on August 5th 2005, put out a
press release "FCC Eliminates Mandated Sharing Requirement
on Incumbents' Wireline Broadband Internet Access Services".
(link to release below). What this means is that the local
Bell phone companies no longer have to resell certain parts
of their networks to Internet Service Providers (ISP) —
It is the "Re-regulation" of the Internet. 38 Million
"Broadband Users" in the US? America Leads the Globe in
"Broadband Connections"? Teletruth
Files Against FCC's Data — Tell the Truth About
Broadband! Get Rid of "Garbage
Pail Statistics". Speed Matters. The AT&T-SBC,
Verizon-MCI Mergers. Death to
Competition. Investigate and Break Up
SBC, Break Up Verizon. ===================================== FAKE
PHONE COMPANY CONSUMER GROUP: INCREASE UNIVERSAL SERVICE
FUND (USF), TAX VOIP, INFLUENCE FCC ================================================ New
Site: With Updates Who
Controls the FCC? Read
more, including the press release and
Complaint. ======================================== To read our
analysis: To see our
cartoons: Teletruth and
New Networks Institute are proud to
endorse: This campaign is the
starting point to make customers and Congress aware that the
independent Internet Service Providers, (ISPs), the
country's innovation engine, are under attack from new
regulations that will put ISPs out of business. This harms
every consumer, every small business and in fact, the entire
economy. ================================================ Bad FCC
Data Results in Bad Laws -- And Harm to Broadband,
Competition and Customers. Teletruth and the
National
Internet Alliance
(NIA) filed three
Data Quality Act challenges and a Regulatory Flexibility Act
challenge at the FCC as part of our Triennial Review
comments. These challenges claim
that the FCC's data on broadband and competition is so
seriously flawed that it has given the American public a
distorted view of broadband deployment and has harmed
competition, competitors, customers, the economy, and the
public interest. Worse, this flawed data is being used to
create flawed public policies and regulations. Verizon's
Second Quarter Report, 2004 -- A New Comedy? The joke is on
us. It's the end of the summer and for light summer reading I
decided to pick up the Verizon second quarter report for
2004... Get
ready to be nickeled, dimed and quartered again!
New
Proposed Taxes, Surcharges on Phone Bills and
Broadband. If the FCC's Intercarrier Compensation
Forum, (ICF) has its way, every residential and business
local phone bill will show an increase of the FCC Subscriber
Line Charge ("SLC" and other names) from a current cap of
$6.50 to over $10.00 a month, not counting hefty taxes. To
make matters worse, this industry group also wants to raise
customers' Universal Service charges on everything from
local service to even cable and DSL services -- new
broadband taxes. Universal
Broadband Service from Verizon--- Waiting for Godot is more
useful. Verizon's recent
announcement to deploy fiber-optic services is just another
ploy to remove regulations and make more money. It's a shame
Verizon never delivered on their original promises since
1992 to rewire most of their territories with fiber-to-the
home by now. FCC Line Charge
Should Be Removed from All Phone Bills, Teletruth
Charges. Teletruth Files
First Complaint Under the Data Quality Act at FCC — The
FCC Line Charge Increases Had Inadequate Cost Support —
Quintuple Taxed as Well. Teletruth Files
Second Petition with the FCC Over "Truth-In-Billing"—
FCC Line Charge Doesn't Go To Fund the
FCC. New
Report, New Novel/Expose, Class
Action Suit Settlement Against
Verizon No New Taxes on Any New
Service Until Congress and the FCC Do a Full Audit
and Investigation - An "End-Result
Test". -------------------------------------------------- Valerie Simpson, an
investigative reporter, is assigned the task of
answering: "Why are there all these little charges
on the phone bill?" Dirty Little Secrets covers how
to read your local phone bill, how to file a
complaint, and the good and bad about bundled
packages. It also examines the regulations
surrounding phone bills, the skunk-works and
astroturf groups that control the telecom and
broadband agenda, and numerous uninvestigated
scandals that have cost customers hundreds of
dollars in excess phone charges. Class
Action Suit Settlement In New Jersey Our survey found
multiple mistakes on customer phonebills. Teletruth has
helped to initiate two class action suits based on the
survey results. On Wednesday, March 30th, 2004, the first
case against Verizon was settled. Our survey found that 40%
of the small businesses under 5 lines in New Jersey were
missing their discounts. Our second case found that at least
10% of small businesses were paying for non-existent
'special circuits', such as an alarm circuit.
To
read about the cases and the settlement see: Nightmare
on "F" Street. --- DC Circuit Disses
Deregulation. We, customers who care about
competition and the future of broadband, got bushwhacked,
smeared, slapped in the face by the DC Circuit over
something called the "Triennial Review". Verizon
Lies
and Blames Teletruth for Pointing
Out
Facts About
The Pennsylvania Broadband Scam. Teletruth
Challenges Verizon to a Debate--- Anytime, Anywhere. Verizon
can you hear us? Join hundreds of
others to make the state investigate. Broadband
Fraud in PA? Are Customers Owed $1,135.00 for a Fiber Optic
Network They Never Received? Teletruth
Files New Complaint with the Penn. PUC to Investigate $3.9
Billion in Missing Fiber-Optic
Networks. Let’s face it. When you
examine the last 20 years of the Baby Bells’ reign, one
thing stands out — American customers were disconnected
by the monopolies that control the wires into US homes,
offices, schools and libraries. At this 20th anniversary, it
is now clear that America put its trust in companies who
essentially allowed corporate greed to overtake the public
need. Teletruth believes the Bell
monopolies stole your Digital Future, harmed competitors
that have been trying to give you new services, and
overcharged you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, in
numerous ways. Is
The Sky Falling For The Bells? Nah, It's Just “Dirty
Math" The Bells have
continually complained -- "Woe is us. We're losing phone
lines and we are losing business, right and left, and we
need to get rid of any regulations that allow competition."
It's another smoke and mirrors campaign by the Bells. It's
all about "Dirty Math," the ability to play with numbers by
leaving out significant other facts.(featured on
TMCNet) Teletruth Files FOIA With FCC To
Obtain Chairman Michael Powell’s Contacts During
Triennial Review’s Sunshine Period. Did The Bell Companies And Their
Minions Have Undue Access And Influence Over The FCC Rule
Making Process? Press
Release and Backgrounder ============================================ Wireless
Portability? You
still can't take your local wireline phone number with you
when you move
-- or pay $558 plus $96 a month. The
Underbelly of the Proposed Verizon Strike--- And Why
Customers Should Care. The Verizon
Communications Workers of America (CWA) members are correct
in worrying about the future. In the last two decades,
there's been over a 50% decrease in the number of
employees-per-line, while there's been a 100% increase in
the Bell companies revenues. And construction in Verizon is
down over 53% in the last three years. However,
there's an another dark side of this discussion that no one
wants to talk about --- How customers are being affected by
staff cuts and slashes in construction budgets. Everyone
knows that service has been declining and prices have been
increasing, but the real scam is that instead of reinvesting
in the networks and staff, Verizon is using the profits to
fund excessive executive compensation and pay for massive
overseas losses from bad investments. Does Call
Waiting really have a 53,000% profit margin? Did
Verizon Write-off $25 billion in the last three years in bad
investments? How much money do the Executives make?
What is the real condition of the phone networks? If the
expenses for offering local service keep decreasing, why do
prices keep going up? Why should you support the
Communications Workers of America ---
To Read the Full
Article and Analysis, In 1984, as
the Bell Companies (BellSouth, SBC, Verizon and Qwest) were
being formed, the inventory of the local phone companies'
network equipment was transferred from on-paper records to a
new computer database known as "TIRKS", (Trunks Inventory
Record Keeping System.) And imagine
the surprise of one of the new staffers when they learned
that in some states, 30% of the equipment that was supposed
to be put into the database was missing --- or didn't
exist. You would
think that in the Commonwealth where the Declaration of
Independence was signed, the state regulators/fathers would
be against tyranny of a monopoly trying to snooker, unfairly
tax and harm its citizens. Instead of the Liberty Bell
ringing in the Keystone state, we now hear the sound of the
Liberty-Bell-disconnect and the Bell, in this case, is
Verizon. In a recent
decision by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the
agency that is supposed to be protecting the public
interest, freedom from Verizon's corporate greed has taken a
back seat to fraud, unlawful cross-subsidies, tax evasion
and a Digital Future that's closer to tin-cans and a
string. Instead of
rewiring the state for a fiber-optic future, Teletruth
estimates that by the end of 2002, every residential
customer had paid $785 per household in excessive phone
costs for services they will never receive. By the end of
2003, we estimate that an additional $175, or a total of
$960 has been charged to customers--- $2.7
billion. LARGEST
ACCOUNTING SCANDAL IN HISTORY! Teletruth
Releases Excerpts from Verizon's Equipment Records Revealing
Thousands of Accounting Violations that Inflated ALL Phone
Rates. Teletruth
Estimates that Every Residential Customer Paid Approximately
$600 Per-phoneline for "Vaporware", Missing Equipment Added
to Phone Rates. Teletruth
Requests Investigations by Verizon Audit Committee, IRS and
SEC, state Commissions, Files FOIA to Open All Bell
Accounting Books, Forget about
Enron, MCI or Global Crossing's accounting problems. Those
companies are small time compared to the Bell companies.
To
read more... Bruce
Kushnick has been dubbed everything from the "Leading
Visionary in the Telecom Industry" to another "Bitter Bell
Critic"; but what's certain is that nobody in the industry
is ignoring him. With decades of experience in the industry,
Kushnick has single-handedly taken on the telcos in recent
years for their convoluted billing practices, fuzzy math,
and failed promises to deploy high speed data services.
===================================================== Teletruth Urges Senate Commerce
Committee to Investigate FCC’s Failure to Comply with
Small Business Law and Bush Executive Order
13272. Customer Alliance Applauds Small
Business Administration's Office Of Advocacy's Opposition to
FCC’s Media Consolidation And Broadband
Proceedings. ===================================== TeleTruth to FCC -
The Current Telecom and DSL Laws are Not Being Adequately
Enforced, Harming US Broadband and Internet Customers as
well as ISPs and CLECs. New Networks
Institute's 4th Annual ISP Survey Reveals an Industry in
Crisis. Teletruth Proposes
That The FCC Adopt The "Broadband Bill Of Rights"As Part Of
The Solution To Broadband Customer Service
Issues. The
Tell-The-Truth Broadband Challenge vs. "The Verizon 100
Megabit Challenge" Like a broken record
on an old record player, Verizon is once again trying to
convince customers, regulators, reporters, and anyone else
who will listen that they will be delivering fiber-optic
based broadband services to customers...very
soon. It's time for Verizon
to Tell The Truth about their failed fiber optic
plans and how much money customers paid for services they
will never receive. Idiots
Delight on the Animal Farm. A Personal Perspective About the
FCC's New Local Competition and Broadband
Rules. Five monkeys with typewriters may have
been able to come up with a more coherent and useful plan
for the future of telecommunications and broadband than the
rotten bananas of regulation being proposed by the
FCC. SBA's
Office of Advocacy and NFIB Independently Confirm
Teletruth's Complaint. February 5th,
2003 FCC's
Own Info on Triennial Review ============================================== TeleTruth
Files Complaint with the FCC =============================================== TeleTruth
files with the FCC Over Commissioner Martin's
Statements pertaining to
the FCC's proposed broadband rules. This Commissioner wants
to block competition for broadband. Read
the Summary Presentation to the
New York City Council This
presentation to the City of New York makes the claim that
there are two broadbands -- a fiber-optic based service
which the city never got, as well as a 75+ year old copper
network that is deterioating. Also, in
1991 Verizon (then NYNEX) presented a proprietary report to
the NY Public Service Commission that they would rewire
the state --- 100% fiber-optic upgrades, which would be used
for their fiber-optic broadband plans. The price for service
to competitors was set based on this information. New
Networks Institute also proposes New York City go after
Verizon for billions of dollars in missing equipment and
mistakes on phonebills, which could generate billions of
dollars. TELETRUTH
LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO HELP VERIZON
CUSTOMERS
RECOVER
PHONE BILL OVERCHARGES. Teletruth is now offering
FREE Phonebill Auditing Services to Verizon (East
Coast) customers. Based on our original survey of
Verizon New Jersey customers, 50% of all Small Business
customers have serious mistakes --- NOT in the favor of the
customers --- and they are entitled to refunds. Three New
Reports: These new reports clearly
demonstrate that the Bells are misrepresenting their
business problems so that they can receive regulatory relief
from Congress and the FCC, and higher prices for local phone
services. The Bells are still some of the richest companies
in America, and prices, for both local phone customers as
well as competitors, should be declining. Let the facts
speak for themselves. Will
the FCC Allow Paper Shredding of Bell
Records? Teletruth files with FCC. ==================================================== SBA
Joins TeleTruth in Defending Small ISPs and Criticizing
Proposed FCC Broadband Rulings. The FCC
has proposed 6 inter-related broadband rulings that will
essentially will harm small business telecom
competitors,
including Internet Service Providers,(ISPs) and Competitive
Local Exchange Companies. (CLECs) and millions of their
small business customers. On August 27th, 2002,
the
Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy filed
with the FCC requesting
that the Agency take into account the thousands of Small
Internet Providers who would be harmed by these new rules.
This filing independently
corroborates some of the findings of TeleTruth and New
Networks Institute. In May 2002, TeleTruth
filed Comments with the FCC
pointing out that the FCC is in violation of the Regulatory
Flexibility Act, which requires the FCC to do a small
business mpact study. ====================================== By April
2002 SBC was supposed to be competing in 30 cities outside
their region. The commitments were set because SBC merged
with Ameritech, another Bell company. According to the
agreement, the FCC can "Divest" SBC of Ameritech and it is
required to pay $1.2 billion in penalties. Therefore,
TeleTruth (with New Networks Institute) is calling on
Congressional hearings. This failure has raised the rates of
every local subscriber because competition did not come into
the markets to lower prices. To read more
about this situation read our exclusive article
"Liar,
Liar, SBC's Pants on Fire"
in "TeleTruth News" the TeleTruth Newsletter: ====================================== Have you read this
yet? Are you a
co-signer?
=================
LINKS 2002-2004
Press
gives a free pass to citizens groups allied with telecoms
May
07, 2007
Broadband Put
Up or Break Up: 19 Million Homes by
2008
What about the Upcoming June
Auctions? 
Break
Up SBC, Break Up Verizon
Garbage-In, Kill-Competitors-Out.
How many ISPs will be put out of business? How does this
help innovation in the US when you kill off thousands of
innovative companies?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phone
Bill Independence:
Missing Discounts, Hidden Revenues to the Phone
Companies, Quintuple Taxation..-