INFORMATION POLICY NOTE March 9, 1996 Selected ISDN Tariffs Version 1.0b March 8, 1996 (corrected 3/10) James Love, Consumer Project on Technology [1] http://www.essential.org/cpt love@tap.org / 202/387-8030 Executive Summary This is a list of selected residential ISDN tariffs. It is not complete, and we will expand and update the list from time to time. The list compares tariffs among various local exchange telephone companies, based upon a purchase of 100 hours of 2B + D service, or a line which is in service full time, such as would be used for a Web server.[2] The full time connection is referred to as a "nailed down" line. Future enhancements will include more states, an executive summary of installation and distance charges, and a little fine tuning of the results. Comments or corrections are welcome. Here are the results: Company/State 100 hours 2B+D Nailed Down (Dollars) (Dollars) NATCO Arkansas 17.90 17.90 Ameritech Michigan 36.61 33.51 Ohio correction 3/10 32.20 32.20 Wisconsin 36.56 30.90 Illinois low 33.05 28.05 high 39.50 34.50 Indiana 314.83 1,828.59 PacBell California (current tariff) 63.62 268.32 (Proposed tariff) 173.88 1,106.17 US WEST Utah 68 184 Oregon 69 1,949.64 Southwestern Bell - SBC Missouri 104.30 104.30 Kansas 104.30 104.30 BellSouth Alabama 68.60 68.60 Florida 57.15 57.15 Georgia 63.75 63.75 Kentucky 60.05 60.05 Louisiana 71.66 71.66 Mississippi 65.51 65.51 N Carolina 75.10 75.10 S. Carolina 60.40 60.40 Tennessee 29.50 29.50 Bell Atlantic Delaware 198 1,206.48 District of Columbia Proposed 198 1,206.48 OPC Staff Recommendation 32 32 Maryland 198 1,206.48 New Jersey 198 1,206.48 Pennsylvania 198 1,206.48 Virginia 198 1,206.48 West Virginia 198 1,206.48 NYNEX New York 153.58 890.98 Massachusetts Area Code 617/508 226.39 1,419.41 Area Code 413 159.19 911.65 Northern Arkansas Telephone Company (NATCO) Voice: 1-800-775-6682 http://southshore.k12.ar.us/natco1.html Installation fee $25.20 Fixed Monthly fee $17.90 Usage Charges None. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $17.90 Nailed Down Line $17.90 Ameritech Voice 1-800-419-5400 http://www.ameritech.com http://www.ameritech.com/products/data/rates.html Michigan Installation fee $122 Distance Charges For homes more than 3 miles from the local telephone exchange office location, there is a repeater charge of $20.25 per month. Fixed Monthly fee $33.51. Usage Charges After the first 50 calls, a charge of 6.2 cents per call. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $36.61 Nailed Down Line $33.51 Ohio (corrected 3/10). Installation fee $116.50 Distance Charges For homes more than 3 miles from the local telephone exchange office location, there is a repeater charge of $26.00 per month. Fixed Monthly fee $32.20 (corrected 3/10) Usage Charges None. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $32.20 corrected (3/10) Nailed Down Line $32.20 corrected (3/10) Wisconsin Installation fee $113.05 Distance Charges For homes more than 3 miles from the local telephone exchange office location, there is a repeater charge of $20.75 per month. Fixed Monthly fee $30.90 Usage Charges No per minute charges. Usage charges based upon number of calls: 1-60 6 cents 61- 90 5 151-300 4 301-400 3 401-1200 2 >1200 5 Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $36.56 Nailed Down Line $30.90 Illinois Installation fee $113.05 Distance Charges For homes more than 3 miles from the local telephone exchange office location, there is a repeater charge of $22.50 per month. Fixed Monthly fee $28.05 to $34.50, depending upon area of state. Usage Charges Within local area, no per minute charges. Each call is 5 cents. For distances greater than 8 miles per minute charges apply. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $33.05 to $39.50 Nailed Down Line $28.05 to $34.50 Indiana Installation fee $127.00 Distance Charges For homes more than 3 miles from the local telephone exchange office location, there is a repeater charge of $22.50 per month. Fixed Monthly fee $94.83 Usage Charges Per minute charges apply. Nine cents for first ten minutes and 9 cents for each additional 5 minutes, per channel. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $94.83 + $220 = 314.83 Nailed Down Line $94.83 + $1,733.76 = $1,828.59 PacBell 1-800-4PB-ISDN http://www.pacbell.com http://www.pacbell.com/Products/SDS-ISDN/sds-isdn.htm California Installation $34.75 for conversion of POTS line, plus $125 for a new line. Under current tariff, PacBell waves installation fees with 24 month service commitment. Under proposed tariff, the $125 new line charge will no longer be waived. Fixed Monthly fee $24.50 per month. Usage Charges Under present tariff, PacBell meters usage from 8 am to 5 pm weekdays, at 3.33 cents for first minute and 1.05 cents for each additional minute. These charges are per B channel. Usage after 5 pm on weekdays and on weekends is unmetered. Under proposed new tariff, PacBell seeks to double additional per minute charge in prime time, to 2.1 cents per minute, and to impose a per minute charge of 2.33 cents for first minute and 1.46 cents for additional minutes from 5 pm to 11 pm, and 1.33 cents for first minute and .84 cents per additional minute for late night and on weekends. These charges are per B channel. There will be a 20 hour allowance for off-peak usage. Cost to Consumer [2] PRESENT TARIFF 100 Hours of 2B+D $24.50 + $39.12 = $ 63.62 Nailed Down Line $24.50 + $243.82 = $ 268.32 PROPOSED TARIFF 100 Hours of 2B+D $24.50 + $179.4 - $30.02 = $ 173.88 Nailed Down Line $24.50 + $1,116.71 - $35.04 = $ 1,106.17 US WEST 1-800-872-4658, ext 8903 1-800-PATHWAY http://www.uswest.com http://www.w3.uswest.com/isdn/index.html http://www.w3.uswest.com/isdn/pricing.html Utah Installation fee $110 Distance Charges Installation where loop is greater than 18 kilofeet (three miles from central office) is an additional $100. Fixed Monthly fee There are three options. The fixed monthly fee for the fully metered option is $39 per month. The option that includes 200 hours of B channel use (100 hours of 2B + D) is $68. The flat rate option is $184 per month. Usage Charges The usage charge is three cents per minute per B channel. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $68 Nailed Down Line $184 Oregon Installation fee $110 Distance Charges Fixed Monthly fee $69 Usage Charges The first 200 hours of B channel use (or 100 hours of 2B + D) is covered by the $69 fee. Thereafter there will be a charge of three cents per minute per B channel in the local change area, and 5 cents per minute per B channel for calls outside the local exchange boundary. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $69 Nailed Down Line $69 + $ 1,880.64 = $1,949.64 SBC - Southwestern Bell 1-800-792-4736 (for Texas, 713-567-4736) http://www.sbc.com/ http://www.sbc.com/kc/isdncost.html Kansas and Missouri Installation fee $457.40 for Kansas and $452.25 for Missouri. SBC will waive $400 of the installation fee with a 24 month committment for service. Distance Charges Fixed Monthly fee There are three options. The two metered options include a $57.30 rate with 10 hours included, and a $75.30 option with 80 hours included. The flat rate option is $104.30 per month. Usage Charges Additonal usage for the 10 hour plan is four cents per minute. Additional usage for the 80 hour plan is two cents per minute. According to SBC staff, this rate applies to 2B+D service. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $104.30 Nailed Down Line $104.30 Bellsouth 1-800-858-9413 http://www.bellsouth.com The Bellsouth Web page has some information on tariffs available, but it was out of date when I checked on March 8, 1996. All Bellsouth residential ISDN tariffs are flat rate. Installation Fixed Monthly Charge Alabama 190 68.60 Florida 190 57.15 Georgia 197.50 63.75 Kentucky 213 60.05 Louisiana 193 71.66 Mississippi 196 65.51 N Carolina 192.75 75.10 S. Carolina 212.50 60.40 Tennessee 41 29.50 Bell Atlantic http://www.ba.com Basic Bell Atlantic residential ISDN Tariff for Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. In the District of Columbia, the PSC is considering an Office of People's Counsel (OPC) proposal for a $32 flat rate tariff, with a $34 fee for installation. Installation Fee $125 Fixed Monthly fee $19.50 plus local measured service POTS, for an approximate $30 to $34 per month. Usage Charges Per minute charges apply. Two cents per B Channel from 7 am to 7 pm, and one cent per B channel from 7 pm to 7 am and on weekends. Notes: The tariff is designed to discourage use, first by charging by the minute, and then by basing the charge on the number of B channels being used. Consumers who can afford this service will have incentives to use the service at half its possible speed. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $168 usage plus $30 = $198 Nailed Down Line $1,176.48 usage plus $30 = $1,206.48 NYNEX http://www.nynex.com http://www.nynex.com/iixxxpg1.html 1-800-438-4736 New York Installation fee $225 for new line. Upgrade of POTS line is $24.05 + 35 = $ 59.05 Distance Charges The service is only available within 18 kilofeet from a central office. If that central office isn't equipped for ISDN, you must pay for "Virtual Service." This will add $75 for a residential installation, plus a fixed fee of $10 per month. Fixed Monthly fee $10.10 for POTS plus $14.00 for 2B + D, for a total of $24.10. Usage Charges Both per message and per minute charges apply. The NYNEX "Circuit Switched Data" charge is one cent per minute per B channel. Per call charges also apply. The per call charge is 10.6 per call, with a discount of 40 percent from 9 pm to 11 pm and a discount of 65 percent from 11 pm to 8 am on weekdays. On weekends the per call discount is 65 percent, except for 5 pm to 11 pm on Sunday. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D $24.10 + $9.48 + $120 = $ 153.58 Nailed Down Line $24.10 + $866.88 = $890.98 Massachusetts Installation fee $67.07 Distance Charges The service is only available within 18 kilofeet from a central office. If that central office isn't equipped for ISDN, you must pay for "Virtual Service." This will add $190 for a residential installation, plus a fixed fee of $32 per month. Fixed Monthly fee $14.39 for line charges plus $18 for BRI ISDN, for a total of $32.39. Usage Charges Voice calls are the same as the local POTS rates. Per minute charges apply for data. For data calls, in the 617 and 508 area codes, it is a one cent per "message" charge, which is applied to each B channel. Usage is also subject to a 1.6 cents per minute per B channel charge. A higher per minute per B channel charge of 5.5 cents per applies to "Zone 2" calls. In the 413 area code, calls are one cent per "message" plus 1.6 cents from 8 am to 5 pm week days and .8 cents in the off peak hours. Cost to Consumer [2] 100 Hours of 2B+D Area Codes 617/508 $32.39 + $2 + $192 = $226.39 Area Code 413 $32.39 + $2 + $124.80 = $159.19 Nailed Down Line Area Codes 617/508 $32.39 + $1387.01 = $1,419.40 Area Code 413 $32.39 + $879.26 = $ 911.65 -------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Thanks to Janice Shields of the Center for Study of Responsive Law for research on this topic. [2] The consumer's cost of 100 hours of 2B + D service is based upon the following assumptions. The time online is divided as follows: from 8 am to 5 pm 30 percent, from 5 pm to 7 pm 10 percent, from 7 pm to 11 pm 35 percent and from 11 pm to 7 am and weekends, 25 percent. This works out to 30 percent peak for the PacBell tariff, or 40 percent peak for the Bell Atlantic Tariff. Number of calls is 100. In practice, the number of calls will depend upon the pricing incentives, but generally this isn't a very large number, compared to the cost of the per minute charges. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INFORMATION POLICY NOTES is a free Internet newsletter sponsored by the Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP) and the Consumer Project on Technology (CPT). Both groups are projects of the Center for Study of Responsive Law, which is run by Ralph Nader. The LISTPROC services are provide by Essential Information. Archives of TAP-INFO are available from http://www.essential.org/listproc/tap-info/ TAP and CPT both have Internet Web pages. http://www.tap.org/tap http://www.essential.org/cpt Subscription requests to tap-info to listproc@tap.org with the message: subscribe tap-info your name TAP and CPT can both be reached off the net at P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036, Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax: 202/234-5176 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++