European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 4, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Backwash from the Ell breakup by Calvin Sims new York times or the residential customer who does not make a lot of Long distance Calls the breakup of the Bell system has come to mean two things confusion and higher rates. Five years after a Federal District court ordered the breakup of the Bell system the vast . Telecommunications monopoly the Cost of local Telephone service has risen substantially. And although Long distance rates have fallen most customers do not make enough Calls to derive any Benefit from the lower rates. Many new services have been added and connections Are often clearer. But Consumers must also Cope with complicated Multi Page Bills that reflect the additional charges now built into Telephone service. There Are the frustrations of buying their own equipment and getting it repaired and the need to make numerous decisions about an aspect of daily life they once took for granted. Moreover Many people Are still confused by the breakup and View it As a mistake consumer advocates and some regulatory and telecommunications executives say. People continue to believe that we should have never tried to fix a system that was t broken said David Wagenhauser a staff attorney with the telecommunications research action Center a consumer affairs group based in Washington. Much of the confusion among Consumers stems from the increasing number of decisions they Are being asked to make about their Telephone service and equipment. Consumers must choose among the three Long distance carriers american Telephone & Telegraph Sci communications corp. And  sprint communications corp. And also among the various calling plans that each Carrier  divestiture you have to make so Many More decisions that most people just Don t want to be bothered with said Wagenhauser. For example Consumers have to decide whether to buy their telephones or rent them in a Market where dozens of Telephone makers offer equipment of varying Quality. A Case in Point occurred recently at an at to phone Center store in Manhattan. Rosa Garcia 65, waited in line for 20 minutes to have her Telephone repaired. When she reached the service desk the clerk informed her that although her Telephone was official at to equipment she would have to pay for the repair because she had neither a Bell system breakup mixed results Long distance charges have  of a 10-minute Call Between new York and other cities before and after deregulation during Day Devening e and night n hours. . . Hour 1983 1988 Chicago d $4.49 $2.64 Atlanta e 2.69 1.71 Detroit n 1.79 1.32 Dallas d Memphis e Miami n Boston d Wash. . E n 4.60 2.75 1.b4 4.09 2.45 1.63 2.64 1.17 1.32 2.34 1.52 1.17but local charges have increased the average Price of unlimited local calling service based on . S sampling of 95 . Cities. Does not include the Cost of telephones. $15.72 $10.13  d 5.15 2.75 los e 3.09 1.78 Angeles n 2.06 1.37 source Federal communications commission 1983 1988 includes line charges Magazine rental agreement with at to nor a warranty. This is so inconvenient she said. It used to be one Stop shopping a few years ago. I la never forgive them for tearing apart the phone  she threw the broken at to Telephone in a trash bin and walked Down the Street to a discount store where she bought a $15 Telephone. At to rents a push Button phone for $6 a month the same phone can be bought for $50 with a two year warranty. The Bell system was broken up on Jan. 1,1984, As part of a settlement of a government antitrust suit reached in 1982. Judge Harold h. Greene who handled the Case now has authority Over much of the telecommunications Industry. In the settlement at to agreed to divest itself of the regional phone companies. In return at to won the right to enter new Fields like computers. The regional companies provide much of the nation s local Telephone service. At to and its new competitors provide Long distance service. Industry experts and consumer advocates said the breakup had brought some benefits. Long distance costs have declined and there has been a proliferation of services particularly High capacity lines for transmission of computer data. Telephone connections Are generally clearer too. The Federal communications commission acc estimates that Long distance rates have dropped 38 percent since at to spun off the regional operating companies. But rates for Basic residential service have increased substantially in the period. Under the Bell system local rates were subsidized by Revenue from Long distance Calls to assure that almost everyone could afford a Telephone. The policy changes that have taken place since divestiture have fundamentally changed pricing patterns and undermined a tradition of declining local rates and Overall Telephone Bills said Gene Kimmelman of the consumer federation of America which has just released a study of phone costs. You get a terribly skewed pattern with the average consumer saving pennies on Long distance and paying Between 45 and 60 percent More for local  the acc estimates that the average Price of unlimited local calling service was $10.13 in april 1983, based on a sampling of 95 cities. That Cost had risen to $15.72 in april 1988, an increase of 55 percent. Most Consumers have higher Telephone Bills in general than they did before the breakup because about 80 percent of All Long distance Telephone Calls Are made by 20 percent of phone users mainly businesses. Randall l. Tobias at to s vice chairman said that All Consumers regardless of the number of Long distance Calls they make have benefited from the lower rates. You would have to say that the breakup has been Good economically for All Consumers when you look at the lower Price they Are paying for services that Are related to Long distance Tobias said. At to which controls about 75 percent of the Long distance Telephone markets said that customers who make at least $5.20 of Long distance Calls each month realize enough savings with the lower rates to offset much of the increase in local rates since the breakup. Tobias also disputes the Contention that Consumers Are confused. Our experience suggests that the vast majority of our customers have the ability to make very informed decisions and have adapted Well to the new competitive environment he said. The Quality of Telephone transmissions is higher today than five years ago and it is expected to get better As the Long distance companies install More digital equipment in their networks. Industry analysts attribute the technological improvements to the increased Competition created by the breakup. U s sprint communications which was formed in 1986 by United telecommunications inc. And get corp., built the first Long distance network completely composed of fiber optic Cable. The Cable provides voice and data transmissions that Are virtually free of distortion. At to and Sci followed us sprint s Lead announcing plans to convert their networks to digital technology. Digital technology has also made the Long distance network More efficient and has increased the number of High capacity channels that businesses can use to transmit computer data from one office to another. Widespread delays in the installation of business Telephone services that characterized the first three years of the breakup have subsided. Herb Linnen a spokesman for at to said that before the break up the company had a goal of 28 working Days for installing private lines that connect two locations. After the breakup the goal became 48 working Days. Service has improved and today the target is 17 to 23 Days. Before 1984, at to s goal for installing new toll free 800 service and wats lines a discount service for bulk Calls was 8 to 10 Days. After the breakup the target Date jumped to 22 Days but it has now returned to 8 to 10 Days Linen said. One dire prediction that preceded divestiture was that with rising local rates the concept of Universal service in which every american could have a Telephone would come to an end. That has not been the Case More households in the United states than Ever before now have Telephone service. There Are 85.3 million households with telephones or 92.9 percent of All households up from 91.4 percent five years ago. Just who we needed. Another Independent phone  Rynex new England t9l new York Telf a Frith Illinois Bell Indiana Bell Michigan Bell Ohio Bell Wisconsin Tol Kwest Mountain Bell Northwestern Bell Pacific Northwest be Bel Atlantic Bell of Pennsylvania Diamond stale Tel the Chesapeake and Potomac companies new Jersey Bell Pacific Telesis Pacific Ben Nevada Bell southwestern be corporation southwestern Bell Bel South South Central Bem Southern Bell wednesday january 4,1989 the stars and stripes Page 13