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from: SF Gate

David Lazarus

AT&T gets more for less
06/07/2006

If you're an AT&T long-distance customer and you don't make a lot of calls, there's a good chance your monthly bill will be going up as a result of new "minimum usage" fees.

AT&T says on its Web site that long-distance customers "enjoy great rates usually with a small or no monthly plan fee." It says it needs to charge (or in some cases increase) monthly minimum usage fees "in order to keep these rates low and still recover our costs of providing basic service."

from: TMC Net

Lodi residents may lose yard space to AT&T cabinets: Boxes contain equipment for phone, Internet and video services

(Record, The (Stockton, CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jun. 3

Julie and Sean Whiteley have a nickname for the hulking gray box in the front yard of their Grand Fir Drive home. But it's not an affectionate one.

By JAY GOETTING, Register Staff Writer
Saturday, April 15, 2006 1:12 AM PDT

Cable television battles being waged in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento may have a profound effect on Napa TV -- the two cable access channels full of local programming -- and hurt the bottom line of local government.

Two pieces of legislation raise questions about who has the right to award cable and other communications franchises, and who collects the related fees. One would give the state the control, the other would give it to the Federal Communications Commission. Right now, cities award cable franchises.