AT&T increases my bill 70% in a single year
I sat down the other day to pay my bills. My AT&T landline bill was for $30.96. That seemed strange as it had been running between $24 and $25. So I looked at my billing history and screamed some obscenities at what I found.
Thirteen months ago I took a close look at my bill and was appalled to realize that for several years I had been paying for services (e.g., long-distance) that I didn’t need or use. So I called AT&T customer “service” (in the George Carlin sense of the word). That got my bill dropped from $42 to $18 (a decrease of 57%).
Note that I never use my landline. In fact I disconnected the sole phone a few months ago because the only incoming calls were telemarketers and I never used it for outgoing calls. The $18 was for a measured rate plan with no long-distance service. Which is perfect since I only use the connection for DSL Internet connectivity via ISP Sonic.net.
That $18 dollar bill was increased to $22 dollars the second month after I negotiated the lower rate. The extra $3.28 was for long-distance service which I neither requested, authorized or was notified was being added to my service.
There was another $3 increase (going from $22 to $25) two months after that. Apparently due to a measured service rate increase. Again with no notification other than a larger bill.
Then this month my bill jumped another $6 (going from $25 to $31). Apparently a promotional discount expired.
So in a single year my bill increased 70%. I called AT&T customer service and asked for an explanation. The representative unsurprisingly couldn’t provide an explanation. I think the rep was working in a call center in India (based on both his name and accent). I think he said my bill would be reduced $6 but he was hard to understand to I really have no idea what my next bill will be. And why it requires calling to complain to keep from being screwed is itself an obscenity.
Frankly at this point I should just take my chances and switch to a Comcast Internet only plan. It would cost me almost exactly what I’m currently paying AT&T and Sonic.net and, in theory, provide significantly faster download and upload speeds. Yes, I realize Comcast is run by minions of Satan. But they can’t possibly be worse than AT&T.