Don't let AT&T mislead you about its $29 "privacy fee"

[Commentary] $29 isn’t actually the price that AT&T charges per month for privacy. After I tried to sign up for AT&T’s GigaPower service to find out more about the pricing and the disclosures associated with the plan, the actual costs were closer to $44 or even $62 per month. This time around the price differentials are $44 for gigabit internet and $66 for HD TV and HBO Go plus gigabit Internet.

AT&T also makes it tough to find the alternative to its Internet Preferences plan (the plan that monitors your web surfing). You have to read the fine print and click to search for options that don’t include the AT&T Internet Preferences plan (they don’t call it something straightforward like the “Ma Bell’s Watching You Plan”). So it’s tough to avoid the spying plan, but it’s even tougher to actually fact check AT&T to discover the associated fees that make the cost of privacy so much higher than the advertised $29 a month. The media may be lauding AT&T for putting a $29 monthly price on the value of consumer privacy. But when I look at the practice, I see a company that has little competition, manipulating consumers into choosing to give up their privacy.