ATT Taxes Vs Verizon

I just switched to ATT from Verizon. Just got my first bill from ATT.
My Verizon acc had 300 minutes for $35. My ATT acc has 400 min for $40.
My Verizon bill has $1.54 for Verizon surcharges plus another $.93 for
Gov't taxes.

The shocker was the added taxes on the ATT bill.
$0.89 Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge
$1.21 Federal Univ Service Fund
$0.07 Other ATT surcharges

$5.44 State and Local Tax
$3.05 911 Fee

So, ATT has managed to add $10.66 to a monthly bill compared to only
$2.47 for Verizon.

Wow!! Can somebody explain why ATT has so many add on's over Verizon??

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› See More: ATT Taxes Vs Verizon

Mellowed wrote:
>
> I just switched to ATT from Verizon. Just got my first bill from ATT.
> My Verizon acc had 300 minutes for $35. My ATT acc has 400 min for $40.
> My Verizon bill has $1.54 for Verizon surcharges plus another $.93 for
> Gov't taxes.
>
> The shocker was the added taxes on the ATT bill.
> $0.89 Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge
> $1.21 Federal Univ Service Fund
> $0.07 Other ATT surcharges
>
> $5.44 State and Local Tax
> $3.05 911 Fee
>
> So, ATT has managed to add $10.66 to a monthly bill compared to only
> $2.47 for Verizon.
>
> Wow!! Can somebody explain why ATT has so many add on's over Verizon??

Most of the add-ons are not taxes or government fees, but junk fees
added by the carrier. Verizon has a history of charging lower junk fees.
But that $5.44 for State and Local Tax must be a mistake, unless the
taxes on the first bill include some taxes on equipment that are only
charge one time.

Looking at my last Verizon bill, the "Verizon Wireless' Surcharges, and
Other Charges and Credits" are $1.46, and "Taxes, Government Surcharges,
and Fees are $1.50. There is no separate 911 fee. This is on a
$35/month, 300 minute plan that is discounted to $28.70/month.

It's possible that AT&T has to charge higher 911 fees because they don't
have the more accurate GPS for pinpointing the user's location. Geez,
just the AT&T 911 fee is more than twice all the Verizon fees put together.

On Sun, 11 May 2008, SMS posted:
> It's possible that AT&T has to charge higher 911 fees because they don't have
> the more accurate GPS for pinpointing the user's location. Geez, just the
> AT&T 911 fee is more than twice all the Verizon fees put together.

Here's something really stupid about AT&T billing; I have an AT&T
data-only plan (for a built-in EDGE modem) and they charge me 911 fees.

They have yet to explain how a modem can make use of 911.

Verizon's junk fees are definitely lower than AT&T.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

On Mon, 12 May 2008 00:22:31 GMT, Mellowed <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>I just switched to ATT from Verizon. Just got my first bill from ATT.
>My Verizon acc had 300 minutes for $35. My ATT acc has 400 min for $40.
> My Verizon bill has $1.54 for Verizon surcharges plus another $.93 for
>Gov't taxes.
>
>The shocker was the added taxes on the ATT bill.
>$0.89 Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge
>$1.21 Federal Univ Service Fund
>$0.07 Other ATT surcharges
>
>$5.44 State and Local Tax
>$3.05 911 Fee
>
>So, ATT has managed to add $10.66 to a monthly bill compared to only
>$2.47 for Verizon.
>
>Wow!! Can somebody explain why ATT has so many add on's over Verizon??


Cause they can get away with it?

At 11 May 2008 19:52:43 -0700 SMS wrote:

> Most of the add-ons are not taxes or government fees, but junk fees
> added by the carrier. Verizon has a history of charging lower junk fees.
> But that $5.44 for State and Local Tax must be a mistake, unless the
> taxes on the first bill include some taxes on equipment that are only
> charge one time.


Could be. Or perhaps the first bill is a bill for more than a month
(typically Cingular, back when I used them, billed a pro-rated first
partial month and your first "full" month together on the first statement.)


> Looking at my last Verizon bill, the "Verizon Wireless' Surcharges, and
> Other Charges and Credits" are $1.46, and "Taxes, Government
> Surcharges, and Fees are $1.50. There is no separate 911 fee.
> This is on a $35/month, 300 minute plan that is discounted to $28.70/month.

>
> It's possible that AT&T has to charge higher 911 fees because they
> don't have the more accurate GPS for pinpointing the user's location.

For starters, AT&T's 911 system, while not as accurate as Verizon's, is
fully FCC-compliant and legal, and generates no extra fees. More
importantly, no one "has to" charge a 911 fee- it's a cost of doing
business- not a government-mandated fee. AT&T could just as easily charge,
say, a $4 "Human Resource" fee, to reflect the portion of the bill that
pays employee salaries, or "Executive Mobility Access" fee to cover the
corporate jet's expenses. All of the line-listed fees (except actual
government-imposed taxes and fees) are ridiculous and exist just to claim
that their $43.72 monthly plan costs "$39.99."

> Geez, just the AT&T 911 fee is more than twice all the Verizon fees put
together.


Yep. AT&T and Sprint certainly lead the league in fake junk fees. T-Mo
whacks me a single $0.86 fee per line each month for "Regulatory
Compliance." (When T-Mo, the last of the four national carriers to add a
junk fee, first added it, they offered a cancel without penalty escape
clause to all contract customers due to it being a change in terms. I
remember thinking then, who could one cancel and switch to that charged
LESS than $0.86?)

"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Most of the add-ons are not taxes or government fees, but junk fees added
> by the carrier. Verizon has a history of charging lower junk fees.

Yeah, AT&T and Sprint certainly lead the league in junk fees. T-Mo hits me
up for an $0.86/line/month "regulatory compliance" fee.

> But that $5.44 for State and Local Tax must be a mistake, unless the taxes
> on the first bill include some taxes on equipment that are only charge one
> time.

Could be. Either that or AT&T (like Cingular when I used them) still bills
ahead and the first bill includes a pro-rated first month and the customer's
first "full" month as well.

> It's possible that AT&T has to charge higher 911 fees because they don't
> have the more accurate GPS for pinpointing the user's location.

Not, it's not. For starters, AT&T's 911 system is in full compliance with
the FCC, who holds carriers that elect to use satellite-assisted GPS (like
Verizon and Sprint) to a higher accuracy than those who choose
tower-location only (like AT&T and T-Mobile.) If anything, AT&T should be
able to charge less because their system, while less accurate, is also
cheaper, because it doesn't require any on-handset hardware like Verizon's.

> Geez, just the AT&T 911 fee is more than twice all the Verizon fees put
> together.

Junk fees are just costs of doing business that carriers try to pass off as
government-imposed fees in an attempt to get $42-45 a month in revenue from
a $40 plan. Why not a "Human Resourse" fee to pay for employee salaries, or
an "Executive Mobility" surcharge to cover the expenses of the company jet?

In message <[email protected]> Todd Allcock
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Yep. AT&T and Sprint certainly lead the league in fake junk fees. T-Mo
>whacks me a single $0.86 fee per line each month for "Regulatory
>Compliance." (When T-Mo, the last of the four national carriers to add a
>junk fee, first added it, they offered a cancel without penalty escape
>clause to all contract customers due to it being a change in terms. I
>remember thinking then, who could one cancel and switch to that charged
>LESS than $0.86?)

Anyone who otherwise wanted out of their T-Mobile contract would take
this opportunity to switch.