AT&T charging long-distance fees to those without long-distance plans
by Steve Ragan - Aug 29 2011, 07:00AT&T landline customers who do not have a long-distance plan, or who make no long distance calls are paying for it anyway. The telecom has added a $2.00 USD fee to bills to offset costs.
According to AT&T, if a customer makes at least $2.00 USD worth of long-distance calls on their phone during a billing cycle, they can avoid this added charge.
“There is a cost to provide customers with basic long-distance service, including account maintenance, even if no calls are made,” commented AT&T spokeswoman Holly Hollingsworth.
Her comments were given to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the paper that broke the story.
The charge is said to cover the costs associated with the long-distance direct-dial service offered to customers without any long-distance calling plans. The added charge was announced on phone bills printed earlier this year. Many are taking issue with the fact that most people likely missed the early notice, and have been paying for something they don’t use for months now.
In addition to making at least $2.00 USD worth of calls, customers can also avoid the fee by adding a long-distance plan to their AT&T bill, or by using a rival long-distance provider. Also, for a $9.00 USD fee, they can tell AT&T to remove access to the direct-dial service; this too will remove the added $2.00 USD fee.
Fee waivers for removal of direct-dial or long-distance plan switches are being waived until August 31. After that, the additional $9.00 fees will apply, or one can opt to keep paying the extra $2.00.
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