After Bad News of ‘99, Things Are Bound to Get Better for Phone Users
1999 was filled with mostly bad news for telephone consumers. The good news is that things are bound to be better this year.
On the national level, the last year brought a big hike in the fees buried in the fine print of phone bills; U.S. phone giants got larger and more powerful through mergers; and long-distance carriers continued to block tough new federal rules against slamming (the illegal practice of switching a customer’s long-distance carrier without their permission).
In California, one of the biggest blows was the decision by state regulators to let Pacific Bell reduce the number of free directory assistance calls and at the same time almost double the per-call fee for local “411” requests to 46 cents.
A record number of consumers complained about the planned increase to the Public Utilities Commission, but the regulators were unmoved. Most likely, GTE will soon press for a similar increase for its directory assistance fee.
Many key statewide telecommunications matters were stalled in 1999, as the PUC went nearly six months with two vacancies on the five-member commission. Gov. Gray Davis finally appointed two new commissioners midyear (although one has since left). But Davis has not yet filled the top job at the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, the independent arm of the PUC charged with protecting customers.
And the state’s largest local phone company--PacBell--continued to be dogged by charges that its aggressive sales methods resulted in customers buying add-on phone features that they did not need or want.
Nearly two years after the first formal complaint was filed, the PUC deemed PacBell’s tactics illegal, and in a scathing decision issued in late December, the commission ordered the company to pay more than $44 million in fines and other compensation. PacBell said it will appeal the ruling.
Meanwhile, in the state legislature a consumer protection bill sponsored by Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) failed amid heavy opposition from PacBell and others. Bowen’s bill would have prohibited phone companies from disconnecting local service for overdue long-distance charges and would have given customers the right to cancel orders for new services within five days without being charged for them.
“It was a dismal year for consumer telecommunications issues, with the consolidating, the marketing abuses and the lack of new entrants in local phone service,” said Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers’ Action Network, a San Diego-based consumer group. “The only bright light was the area code issue.”
Indeed, consumers scored an unusual victory in the area code debate. After a public outcry against a planned overlay code in West Los Angeles and the South Bay, this led to the cancellation of the 424 overlay plan within the 310 area code.
An overlay area code serves the same geographic region as an existing code, but affected residents and businesses must dial extra digits to get through.
Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) was instrumental in the area code revolt, having backed a state bill aimed at making much-needed changes to the wasteful way phone numbers are dolled out.
But so far the results are mixed. In West Los Angeles, the only local phone competitor--MediaOne Group--has postponed expansion plans because it can’t get enough phone numbers. In the long term, though, the efforts will slow the onslaught of new area codes statewide.
In the coming year, Shames and others expect the telecom spotlight to be on PacBell’s entry into long-distance phone service in California; on consumer privacy and protection matters; and on the stepped-up availability of high-speed Internet access for consumers through cable modems or on phone companies’ digital subscriber lines.
