 
fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
 ·Skype
| Hmm. . . Steve Davis, Qwest's senior vice president of public policy, said, "Prices in communications services over the last 10 years have been either down or flat."
So explain to me again why some cell providers just raised text messaging to $.20/msg from $.15/msg?
I'd genuinely like to see the explanation for why "sometimes prices do increase". rather than a generalized statement that they do.
Quest better be careful or they'll make an argument counter to the arguments used by some in the cable industry to justify clamping down on bandwidth usage and woefully inadequate upload speeds.
Would you like a side of greed with that customer raping?
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Tradition: Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid. --despair.com | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: Hmm. . . Its the same reason they can charge ~ $5/month for caller id. Its an easy profit item, used to subsidize profits or other items.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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| nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
 ·Comcast
| said by fireflier  :... So explain to me again why some cell providers just raised text messaging to $.20/msg from $.15/msg? ... same story - the cell business is not really that competitive. Little or no competition is very conducive to price increases and/or service degradation. | |
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| | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| Re: Hmm. . . The problem with the cellular business (and same with many telecommunication businesses) is that it's not elastic. Most people get hit with a 5c increase in text-messaging will just complain and pay up, or maybe get a text-messaging plan (which is what the cellcos want you to do), so there's no disincentive for other carriers not to do the same thing, no matter how many there are. | |
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wahoospa
join:2006-03-23
Charleston, SC
| "On July 1, Qwest raised" "On July 1, Qwest raised the rates of 44 different services and products (including caller ID and call forwarding) by between 7 and 28 percent"
And caller ID only costs the phone companies .005 cents per month in expenses for each customer. My caller ID has gone from $5.95 per month to $9.99 per month. They are making $9.985 per month off of me for just caller ID. | |
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gworkman7
join:2005-10-18
Vail, AZ | Haven't seen it yet.. I've got CID, CW, CF, unlimited LD and DSL for $90/month. The bill has not changed in two years. If they do increase the rates, I'll simply drop some services. Realistically, I like having the features, but I don't need them. | |
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Jerek
@iauq.com | Re: Haven't seen it yet.. Being in a package is not the same as individual services. The package will probably remain the same. | |
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DataDoc
My avatar looks like me. If I was 2D.
Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC
·Suddenlink
| A quibble "Earlier this year, Qwest hiked broadband service prices by as much as 11 percent, and tried (but failed) to pass buy legislation allowing them to hike basic phone rates by as much as 32 percent."
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KEN LEEEEEEE... tulibu dibu douchoo! | |
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Joe Schmo
@embarqhsd.net | Qwest: Things Are Just So Darn Competitive Look at it this way -- If I raise my CallerID prices from $5.95/mo to $9.95/month, I can offer you a "bundle" and say, "Look -- you're saving $4 over the regular price! Isn't that GREAT!!!" | |
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Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA | Yeah, things are competitive and their answer is price hikes Way to win customers dumbasses.
Raising rates isn't the answer given that POTS is already bleeding tons of subscribers to cable and other indy VoIP competitors. | |
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY | if.. if there ever was a case in which a telco should just up and die... it's qwest. | |
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| 20217732
join:2008-07-16
| Re: if.. said by tmc8080 :if there ever was a case in which a telco should just up and die... it's qwest. only if you have an alternative | |
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| | RogerADSL
join:2004-12-10
Lawrenceville, GA
·Comcast
 ·AT&T Southeast
| Re: if.. said by 20217732 :said by tmc8080 :if there ever was a case in which a telco should just up and die... it's qwest. only if you have an alternative Ever heard of Vonage? Hello? Please place your Water Pipe Hose back on the floor and leave it alone! | |
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greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN
| Re: if.. How would you feed your vonage addiction if you didn't have Qwest DSL? In my area its Charter, you know the Cable Co. that sucks at customer service. Yeah...Vonage or no Vonage I would still have to deal with Qwest pricing.
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Folding for our future!! | |
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| | | | RogerADSL
join:2004-12-10
Lawrenceville, GA | Re: if.. CABLE IS GOOD FOR HIGH SPEED INTERNET CONNECTIONS...VONAGE OR CELL FOR VOICE SERVICE. | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by tmc8080 :if there ever was a case in which a telco should just up and die... it's qwest. Couldn't have said it any better myself. c'mon verizon buy qwest!
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When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee | |
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| | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| Re: if.. The problem is debt- Verizon is already taking on a huge amount of debt with the Alltel acquisition, if they took on Qwest's debtload (which I believe is about $26 billion- by comparison, Q has a market cap of $6 billion) they'd probably be so deep in the hole that they'd have to postpone future FiOS deployment and other capital upgrades to pay it off, so no one benefits. | |
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voipdabbler
join:2006-04-27
Kalispell, MT
| LOL, the baby bells don't get it. Maybe it's their history--emergence from a monopoly. They just don't get it and still have the attitude of the old Lily Tomlin character, the phone operator--"We don't care, we don't have to--we're the phone company."
Their models--price & service have driven a huge number of young people to cellular only. Some of us older people who like to dabble and aren't uncomfortable with dropping the landline have moved to VOIP + cellular. (Heck, if I still lived in the densely-populated east coast and had better cellular coverage, I might go to all cellular, too. At least VOIP is a reasonable alternative for me.) RLECs are even worse--I couldn't believe how much more the NY-based RLEC here charges for services than Verizon did back east. Signed up for them but dropped them within the first 6 months when I found that they had sold my name to telemarketers even though I was paying a monthly feed for unlisted. I've been satisfied with VOIP, although you have to be comfortable with trouble shooting and need cellular for back up during power or system outages. But then, with the deteriorating condition of the copper POTS systems in some areas, cellular is needed for back up everythwere. | |
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CopperMonkey
join:2007-12-18
united state
| Hmm... I wouldn't mind this sort of thing so much if they weren't afraid of investing in FTTH (it would cost too much, wouldn't it?). If the time came that Verizon or AT&T bought out Qwest, I'd jump off. AT&T's incompetent and Verizon's DSL in my mind isn't as good as Qwest's, so I'd be turned to somewhere with reliable cable or FiOS. | |
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travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Santa Fe, NM | What's Wrong With This Picture? quote:
This week, the telco announced they'll increase price caps
Hmmmm... What's wrong with this picture? | |
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Dave42
@bridgeband.net
| They are just trying to get out of haveing Wholesalers Qwest just dropped the price of there DSL for end users who go with there Qwest/MSN ISP to $14.99 for the 1.5meg service.
If you choose your own ISP (go with a Qwest wholesaler) your line cost is $22.00 then you have to add your ISP charges on top of that. I Call BS on them needing to raise prices to Wholesalers if they can drop the direct to Qwest price below our cost. This is just a move to put the Qwest Wholesalers out of business so they don't have to deal with us or have any competition.
Ya too Competitive my A**...... this is all about removing competition not adjusting for it. | |
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annon34
@qwest.net | 21st century They are so far behind with technology(specfically internet) they just don't know what to do. | |
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yup
@cox.net
| The scariest part The scariest part is that Qwest is my only hope for any competition and that's not a big hope as I live in an older inner city neighborhood (they are only interested in serving new areas). That allows Cox to charge and do whatever they want -which they do and I'm stuck with no choice.
Qwest was also the only one that didn't turn records over to the feds. I wanted to stay with them (Cox is that bad here) but they made it impossible. Qwest would rather compete with cable in new developments than open new markets in underserved areas. That's a stupid business decision.
The fact is MOST people don't have any choice. I'm tired of hearing politicals imply there will be on some imaginary day. This "rural" stuff is garbage. I'm in the 5th largest city of the U.S. and the way the books are cooked are if even one person was served in a zip code, they could report to Congress the whole area was served. I don't have to look far to see large neighborhoods that share my zip code with dial up options only. That's creating another growing economic divide.
There's a bigger issue here than just Qwest and in comparison, Qwest isn't the worst of the evils. What happened to privately developing wifi the industry was trusted to develop? That should be a good clue that none of them have any interest in taking the risk of running a real business that is actually competitive and provides value for service.
The end result is stifling internet access and lack of competition has huge economic impacts for everyone. And it keeps getting worse. | |
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midstatepc
Premium
join:2006-02-26
Oxford, FL | ...we must raise prices.....? Huh? This says to me that Qwest has a problem being creative in peddling their services. | |
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pabster
join:2001-12-09
Waterloo, IA
·Mediacom
| Only a monopoly... ...Believes that raising prices in a "competitive" market is a grand business plan. 
Of course the truth is there isn't much competition. Where there is, Qwest is forced to be reasonable. Where there isn't...well, bend over. | |
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Qwest: Things Are Just So Darn Competitive, We Must Raise Prices
Qwest wants to grow up and be like the wireless carriers.
Local Telephone Company Management wants to service their customers just like the bull services the cow. They want to be like the wireless carriers and take advantage of their monopoly position and lack of regulation to move price levels from gouge to rape. Actually landline carriers should be prohibited from offering DSL Service directly to customers. DSL Service should be provided to customers by independent ISP's. Rates ILEC's charge to carry DSL service should be regulated just like local telephone service. The local public service commissions should remember that DSL is synonymous for no new wires.
