AT&T raises rates on features

AT&T RAISES RATES ON FEATURES
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James S. Granelli]
Millions of Californians will start paying several dollars a month more for land-line phone service after AT&T's second price increase for custom-calling features since the state lifted rate caps last year. The nation's biggest phone carrier this week boosted the cost of caller ID, call waiting and a host of other features for a la carte phone service. AT&T and other carriers want more people to sign up for bundles because those customers have proved less expensive to maintain and less likely to leave for rival companies. The price hikes could leave the phone companies vulnerable to customer defections because cable TV companies are aggressively wooing phone customers. Phone companies say the rate increases reflect their increasing costs, which they had not been able to pass on to consumers under decades of regulated pricing. But consumer groups complained that competition was failing to keep prices down, as promised, after the state Public Utilities Commission's decision in August to end rate regulation.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-phone17jul17,1,4224...
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