Review of regulatory local telephone service prices.

Dear Secretary General CRTC,

I have read the literature (small pamphlet) provided with my most recent Bell

Telephone statement and I have a few questions/ comments.

1)Can the CRTC give me a list of companies that provide competitive local

telephone services? I have never seen any advertisements and would appreciate

being informed of any companies that make this service available.

2) The literature states that "Bell Canada has filed proposals with the CRTC

that are intended to":

"Ensure that competition is maintained and encouraged..."

QUESTION: What competition does Bell Canada have for its local telephone

services?

COMMET: As far as I know, Bell Canada owns the telephone lines. This means

that other companies would have to "lease" the lines to provide local service.

How can their prices be competitive if they have to pay Bell to use the

lines?

3) It states in the "Highlights of the Bell proposal" that they want to change

prices based on the following:

"Monthly prices for basic service in rural and remote areas - where prices

today are far below the cost of providing service - could increase by no more

than $2.00 each year to a maximum monthly charge of $29.65 at the end of the

four-year period"

QUESTION: What is the basic cost of providing service to rural and remote areas?

COMMENT: I live in a rural area and my telephone service is very poor. On

windy days, I hear a lot of static noise when using the telephone. That is

because

the telephone lines are on poles and not buried in the ground and I am

sure that the lines are very old. Why would Bell charge more for this poor

service?

"On-going monitoring of the effects of price increases on affordability would

continue"

QUESTION: What does this mean? This is so vague, it sounds like it means a

whole lot of nothing. Does it matter if people can afford telephone services?

COMMENT: Most people rely on having a phone service everyday. Almost everyone

I know thinks their local service rates are too high. They just keep

paying because they need the service. I know some people who have

considered canceling their local service and instead, use their cellular

phones. This way, only people they want to talk to can call them

because their number would be unlisted. And therefore no more telemarketers!!!!

We only need yellow pages for businesses and therefore, we could

eliminate the white pages. The book would not cost as much money to make

(which we pay for through our local service charges). Bell operators

could still provide the 411 service (which we pay for anyway) so Bell would

save money. Maybe that savings could be passed on through

"competitive" prices?

Customers would receive rebates if CRTC-mandated quality of service

indicators were not met"

QUESTION: How is the CRTC going to make sure that Bell is providing "quality"

service. Define quality. How do you test for this? How do you know if a

customer is making a feasible claim?

COMMENT: My phone has static noise on windy days. Do I have to call the CRTC

every time it is windy? And who would I call?

4) In the summary it states "Through gradual and moderate increases in basic

residential service prices, service would remain affordable, while encouraging

greater competition and innovation."

COMMENT: This is an oxymoron -- "encourage greater competition" and "increases

in... prices". Competition is suppose to keep prices down.

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I would also like to request that when a price increase is approved, that Bell

Canada be upfront about it and put it in sizeable print on the statement. In

the past, Bell Canada has used fine print to indicate a CRTC-approved price

increase. I don't know of any other companies that practice business this way.

It almost seems deceitful. Like they are hoping people don't read the fine

print because they don't want any complaints.

It is really hard to truly judge a company unless you can see their financial

statements. How many local service accounts does Bell have? What is the

average charge for local service? What are Bell Canada's expenditures? How

much profit do they make? I would like to know how often prices have been

increased and by how much. I doubt I will ever see Bell Canada's financial

statements, but I would hope the CRTC does.

Thank you,

Michelle Wessel