[Gllug] Combined phone and broadband in the Barnet Area

[Andy Farnsworth]

Christopher Hunter wrote:
> Is it just my perception, or are telecoms charges outrageous in this
> country?  
>
> In the 'States, two years ago, I wanted a phone line (and ADSL)
> connected to a newly built property.  There was no "connection charge",
> it was installed next day, and the "cellular option" (which allowed
> diversion of your home line to a mobile phone at no charge as long as
> you were in the same city) cost an additional $75 deposit for the 'phone
> (refundable) and $9 per month.  Mobile call charges were the same as the
> land line ones as long as you were in the same city - if you left, you
> were charged at mobile rates.  Line charge was $5.75 per month, local
> calls were free, and long distance and international calls were
> significantly cheaper than European prices.
>
> In this country, the telcos just seem to charge "what the market will
> bear" and their arbitrary pricing has nothing whatsoever to do with the
> actual costs of providing infrastructure or the cost of conveying calls!
>
> Chris  
>   

Disclaimer: I am an American living in the UK.

  I agree with your assessment here.  One thing to remember is that the 
telephone companies in the US are heavily regulated by the government in 
what they can charge for various things.  One thing you will have 
noticed is that you are charged a small fee (something like $2 / month) 
for touch tone service.  This means that if you don't pay this fee you 
cannot use touchtone on your line.  This is strange because it actually 
costs the phone companies more to limit you to pulse dialing and to 
support pulse over touchtone.  The reason they do this is that the US 
goverment has designated telephone service as an essential service and 
have highly restricted what they are allowed to charge you for this 
service.  Charging for touchtone is one way to raise the price without 
breaking the regulations.  To see just how tighly they regulate it, 
check out this site:  
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/phonebills/samplePhonebill.html.
  As telephone service is viewed as an essential service, when new 
houses are built in the US, they are often pre-wired to the telephone 
system especially if they are built by a company to be sold rather then 
by an individual.

  I can understand the phone company wanting to charge to wire a house 
for the first time as they have to send a team out and physically run 
the wire, however, if all they have to do is turn on the switch via a 
computer keyboard, I think the charge is too high.  Remember though, 
that once a house or flat has been hooked up to the phone network, the 
maintenance required on that line is extremely low thus making the 
profit off the normal line fees easily cover any installation charge.

Andrew
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