US West, DSL, and long distance ?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I have DSL and my long distance service (AT&T) has again been switched to a business account. This has happened every month since June of this year. I have been way too patient (or lazy) in trying to solve this. US West says that I have residential DSL; you'll have to talk to AT&T. AT&T says we show you as having business local service; you'll have to talk with your local phone company. Has anyone with this problem been able to straighten it out? If so, how?

A. This kind of nonsense makes me glad I'm using Qwest as my LD carrier, since they merged with US West, I know the problem will get resolved. And I thought I was the only one. I called about this three straight months and supposedly every time it was all cleared up. Now I get the AT&T bill and throw it away. I am still paying my LD, because now I get a personal AT&T billing on my USWest statement, and I also get another bill from AT&T for some fictional business account. Soon I'm going to send them a bill and charge them for all those hours I spent trying to clear up their mistake. Not only that. Prior to this fiasco I was paying a fixed $5 a month and $.10 a minute anytime including in-state calls. Well that's all gone now. All their new plans charge more for in-state calls, which, of course, are where 95% of my LD calls are placed. I might be turning to Quest as well. I signed up with Qwest through American Express. The per minute rate isn't the best, but there aren't (for now anyway) any monthly minimum fees, federal and state taxes and charges excluded. The charges go on my AMEX bill. I don't make many LD calls and there were times when the total monthly cost for a $.90 long distance call would cost me over $10. AT&T has said several times in past that there would be no minimum monthly charge. And, then a month or two later, the charges start showing up. Qwest will be divesting its LD operations in the 14 states USWest is the dominant carrier due to FCC issues in not allowing the bells into long distance until many stringent unbundling rules are met. could happen as soon as 1Q00. It's quite possible that US West was responsible for telling AT&T that your line was changed to business class, and that they keep doing it every time they report your long distance useage to them. Since US West has only just now started charging me for my DSL service (even though I've had it since July), all signs at AT&T still show me as a residential long distance subscriber, so there's nothing to fix yet. One thing though, is that AT&T's business long distance rates aren't that terrible. There's a $7.50/month ->minimum

Ask Edwards a Finance Question

Other Questions:

Bell Telephone Company

Cingular (a independant company owned by SBC and BellSouth) bought AT&T Wireless, which at that point in time was an independent company spun off from AT&T (the long distance company left over by the Ma Bell breakup,) months before, and lost th...

Are FCC regulated surcharges, which may be separately stated as a recurring monthly charge on a retail customer's telephone bill, subject to the Massachusetts sales and use tax on telecommunications services?Local telephone companies recover some...

Anyone know of some good, unbiased sites where I could do some research on this topic? I just got a voip line and intend to use it for all my long distance; However, I want to keep two lines, so would like to pair my landline down to a prett...

Can a Home Alarm System work over VoIP? If so, how? My home's alarm system is monitored by a company that requires phone connection. I've been attempting to come up with a solution, but without success. Any assistance you can provide would ...

Manufacturers are not licensed to operate their gear. Radio Hams are qualified to design, build and then operate their own pieces of equipment. They do this with gusto, and also repair and modify their own equipment. This is a privilege wel...

Edwards Finance Menu

Ask a Question
About Us / Me
Contact Me
Privacy Policy

Sitemap

My Favorite Sites

PFBlog
Google Finance
Yahoo Finance
Motley Fool
Nveille's Financial Blog
AllFinanceMatters
Free Money Finance
2MillionBlog
The Terror Finance blog

Q&A Subjects