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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2009 > October > 23 > Entry
Telephone customers may see rate increases
Millions of Ohio households with basic telephone service would face steeper monthly bills, larger security deposits, longer outages and potentially quicker disconnections if pending legislation becomes state law, consumer advocates warned Friday, Oct. 23.
“There are no benefits in this bill for consumers. It benefits the telephone industry,” said Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander, who represents the interests of residential utility consumers.
Two identical deregulation bills, which are supported by the Ohio Telecom Association, are pending in the House and Senate.
Charles Moses, president of the telecom group, said, “For our companies to remain competitive, we must change the way we do business. Traditional land line telephone companies have lost more than 40 percent of their customers since 2001. Consumers today have more choices and higher expectations for their telecom services.”
There are 9.1 million wireless subscribers and 5.7 million landline customers in Ohio.
The Consumers’ Counsel, AARP Ohio, Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies, and other consumer groups are marshaling forces to defeat the bills that they say will increase rates, weaken consumer protections and lower service quality standards.
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Comments
By Tracy
October 25, 2009 7:52 PM | Link to this
I will yank my telephone out so quick if rates go up any higher. I will just stick to my cell phone.
By Bigrig
October 23, 2009 8:49 PM | Link to this
to likemylandline: I dropped my landline after TWO YEARS of intermittent service for both phone and high-speed (expensive) DSL! And I am located right in Dayton (Walnut Hills). Plus I accumulated hours on my cell phone on hold trying to resolve the issues. Never again! Verizon and Cincinnati bell both have given me excellent service.
By daniel
October 23, 2009 7:28 PM | Link to this
we already pay for those how have phones and cant afford them ! yet many of the ones who get help on the phone bill have cable,cell phones and alot of other stuff yet we have to pay for them and its not a choice!!
By max
October 23, 2009 6:16 PM | Link to this
I keep my landline for security also - and if i call 911, they can tell exactly where i am at. While a cell can be “close”, it cant give an exact location..
By THOMAS J
October 23, 2009 6:08 PM | Link to this
I have used a cell phone for seven years and lived in TX,IL,GA,VA and now OH and have yet to have a dropped or lost call.
By landlinesuck
October 23, 2009 4:34 PM | Link to this
Land lines are for dinosaurs. Unless you need it for a fax a land line is a license for the phone company to ripppppppp you off.
By padre's island
October 23, 2009 4:21 PM | Link to this
That would be enough to tip the can for me. Rate increase equals ending my service. Cell phones here we come!
By Kevin
October 23, 2009 3:57 PM | Link to this
I have a landline for personal business. Or if I have to call a credit card company, or major business with personal information. You still should not trust using a cordless or cell phone for these type of calls. & people wonder why there is so much identity theft. Same goes with doing my payments online. Not going to happen. But hey, it makes a lot of sence to lower your standards of service and raise our prices. Taking one out of the books that Duke energy uses charging us more to cover the power outages, when we all lost power for days last fall.
By Delo
October 23, 2009 3:53 PM | Link to this
John actually it says 9.1 million…..duh
By Delo
October 23, 2009 3:52 PM | Link to this
John actually it says 9.1 million…..duh
By likemylandline
October 23, 2009 3:50 PM | Link to this
Why does anyone still have a landline? Reliability and quality. I live South of Dayton and in 4yrs can only remember once when my landline failed to work when I needed it. Cellphone call quality is generally not comparable and less reliable (i.e. dropped calls to/from) and during the last year’s windstorm, while my neighbors lost their VOIP because of lost power (up to 2wks), lost cellphone service, I was able to make calls as needed. That’s why I keep my landline - security.
By JP
October 23, 2009 3:32 PM | Link to this
Dale1: you are so full of it.
By dale1
October 23, 2009 2:59 PM | Link to this
I worked for telecom and they give alomst 100% of their lobbying money to the democrats. I guess the dems are also in bed with corporations. Why doesn’t the Government get rid of the high taxes on phone services. At least the phone company is giving you a service for their fees. I bet the increase in rates in nothing compared to the taxes on you bill.
By PWC032096
October 23, 2009 2:24 PM | Link to this
VoIP all the way!
By Super Cheapo
October 23, 2009 2:13 PM | Link to this
If you have a cell phone and internet connection, drop your land line! If you need fax service, use a service like eFax. Even cheap land line service is pretty darned expensive already!!!
By Linda
October 23, 2009 2:02 PM | Link to this
Who get the money? Your CEO’s! If this passes I will cut mine off too! What about the ones who are on a fixed income! People should boycot this crap, to make it stop! If people would stand together, they wouldn’t get away with what they do!
By PWC032096
October 23, 2009 1:58 PM | Link to this
A copy of the bill can be found at: “http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/analysis.cfm?ID=128SB162&hf=analyses128/s0162-i-128.htm”
By GS
October 23, 2009 1:47 PM | Link to this
So what are the details of this bill, where can I read if for myself?
By PWC032096
October 23, 2009 1:39 PM | Link to this
George - some of us need a land line because we cannot send faxes via cell phone. Just one example.
By Ike
October 23, 2009 1:28 PM | Link to this
So the telecoms are loosing customers and now they want a bill that will p**s off the rest of them. Hey that makes perfect sense to me.
By george
October 23, 2009 1:20 PM | Link to this
Why would anyone have a landline now-a-days anyway????
By UrbanDweller
October 23, 2009 1:12 PM | Link to this
“Two identical deregulation bills…are pending in the House and Senate.” Everyone thought regulation was bad so we all jumped on the degrulation bandwagon. Looks like it’s now biting us in the @ss.
By Calvin
October 23, 2009 12:45 PM | Link to this
If this passes, I will have my land line phone cut off as soon as possible, I should have done it a long time ago anyway.
By John
October 23, 2009 12:38 PM | Link to this
Does DDN have an competent editor? Check out the second to last paragraph where it says there are 9.1 wireless subscribers. Well DDN, 3 of those 9.1 are from my household. Proof reading is your friend DDN!
By Where's the...?
October 23, 2009 12:15 PM | Link to this
So, does the DDN support this bill? I’m curious to know if its flawed journalism, or just overall biased based reporting because there is no bill name, nor, detailed information about it. In truth, it would seem there is more detail on an auto accident as opposed to something to impact millions of Ohio residents. In conclusion, this article is useless and gives us nothing to go off of to make a more informed decision.