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: March 15th,
2010 Harvard Nieman: Is
basic American telephone service in a death spiral? ========================================= ================================ FREE REPORT: Filed with the FCC to enhance CITI Report. The
Wiring of Homes, Businesses, Schools, Libraries, Hospitals and Government
Agencies Harvard Nieman: ============================================ And
now a word from our sponsors. ============================================ Concerns
and Next Steps for America’s Broadband Future. Kushnick
Speaks at Broadband Breakfast Club, “Setting the Table for the
National Broadband Plan,” Tuesday, Sept. 15th. ============================= ======================================= ======================================= Harvard Neiman: ========================================= "AT&T
Backs 100 Percent Broadband by 2014" -- Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire. Ed Whitacre,
former head of AT&T to take over GM... Oy Vey. ========================================== New Networks Institute Releases
Report: (63 pages) ===================================== NOW ON THE WEB:
Presented by Open Infrastructure Alliance and ISOC-NY. More about the event: =================================== Deregulation
and Consolidation have Harmed Telephone and Broadband Customers.
CA Phone
Bill Survey Reveals Market Failure: Less Choice Equals Continuous
Rate Increases. =================================== Has
Divestiture Worked? A 25th Anniversary Assessment of the Break Up
of AT&T.
========================== Harvard Nieman: ================================= ================================== ============================= ================================= 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 2002-2008
=============================
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..-