8/27/07

Thanks to an Act of Congress in 1996, significant dents were made in the protection from competition and government assistance that the monopoly telephone company had enjoyed since the telephone’s invention. With this competition, prices have gone down dramatically, and millions of Americans have voted with their pocketbooks to buy services from locally owned and operated companies like Aeneas. While well paid lobbyists are busy in Washington DC and every state capital trying to run off this competition and re-establish a monopoly, a small army of service-oriented competitors are providing more advanced technologies while the price of services holds steady - well below the monopolist’s charges. This fact is reflected in charges for Aeneas’ services on your statement. [We encourage you to tell your elected representatives that you favor lower prices and advanced technology made possible through competition!]

There seems to be a dizzying array of odd sounding charges and fees on everyone’s bill these days. They drive customers crazy; they drive us crazy too. But to support the communications infrastructure and to comply with the law, the charges remain.