AT&T will raise its basic telephone rates for customers in California starting Jan. 1, 2009. Verizon is undecided.
Telephone companies in California haven’t raised basic telephone rates since 1995, thanks to the state Public Utilities Commission. The PUC wanted to prevent any sudden spike in fees. In 2006, the state agency decided the market had become competitive enough that the rate cap should end on Jan. 1, 2009. After that, telephone rates would be deregulated.
However, in September, the PUC postponed any changes for two years. In the meantime, the PUC is allowing telephone companies to raise rates by up to $3.25 per month in 2009 and up to another $3.25 per month in 2010.
Over at Verizon, Jon Davies, a Verizon spokesman, said, “We haven’t made any decisions yet on our pricing structure.”
AT&T chose to raise the price by $2.56, which increases the monthly fee to $13.50 from $10.94, said H. Gordon Diamond (corrected spelling of name at 2:43 p.m.), AT&T’s public affairs person.
“Slightly more than half of our customers in California will see a change,” he said.
For AT&T customers, it’s not a huge jump overall. But that’s a 23 percent increase from the existing $10.94. Still, AT&T’s basic service in California is currently the cheapest in the nation, according to the state’s Public Utilities Commission.
AT&T customers who are on the Lifeline plan for low-income users will see a 64-cent increase per month. The ‘measured rate’ plan, which offers a set amount of minutes, will pay an extra $1.45 per month beginning January. Those who won’t see any impact: customers who buy bundled services. Here are AT&T’s current plan prices.
“We want to have a competitive product in the marketplace. At the same time, we want to make sure our service is affordable in California. Even with our increase, we’re significantly below our competition,” Diamond said.
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Tamara 'the Gadgetress' Chuang
Here's a list of TV/mobile companies helping consumers one tweet at a time. 
bull
All things about AT&T sucks: predatory long distance pricing, worst-in-business customer service, higher priced cell phone service than their competitors, dubious quality and features with their u-verse video/dsl/voip system, I can go on and on.
I highly recommend T-Mobile $10/month unlimited residential VOIP - with tax it comes to $11.36/month. Try getting unlimited home phone service for that price from AT&T or Verizon!
Just get rid of your landline. That’s what I did. I use my cell phone now and with free nights and weekends I have plenty of minutes left. Basically the only people calling on my landline were telemarketers and I was paying for that.
No more landlines. Another industry bits the dust.
who uses landlines anymore? good riddance!
I agree 100000% wirth Dave? Landlines are for sucks and old people.
I have used VOIP for many years & LOVE IT!
Right here people check it out!!
http://www.viatalk.com/
Vonage - woo hoo, woo hoo hoo.
Isn’t this just marvelous? We’re in a recession & A. T. & T is going to increase their prices. They priced themselves right out of business & usefulness several years ago, so maybe they will do it again.
They’re geniuses. They’re almost encouraging us not to have a landline by increasing their prices. I haven’t had one since 2005, and I haven’t looked back. I use skype and the cell and have no trouble talking to everyone I want to.
I have been using A T & T. It is time for me to activate my “Life Line” option of which I qualify for. I resent the person who said Land Lines are for “old people.” Need I remind you: Too much cell phone use (could) cause Brain Cancer. A friend of mine has that now AND SHE USED TO USE HER CELL PHONE ALOT.. Just saying.. I will use my Land Line, Thank you very much… I was going to add phone service thru Time Warner but was told I had to pay $180 to have it installed. No thank you. Also I was told, in case of national emergency, the phone system might not work. Our power went off about 4 mos. ago. My phone worked; thru Time Warner, it probably wouldn’t have…
[...] landline services from AT&T and Verizon isn’t that expensive in the first place. AT&T just raised its rate to $13.50 a month, from $10.94. Low-income customers on AT&T’s Lifeline plan, [...]