Offers you can refuse

As I opened my Frontier statement for our cabin phone, I was shown an ad for High-Speed Internet for "$19.99 No Contract, 3-year price guarantee".  The tiny, grey, fuzzy print is "per month with qualifying phone service".  I have yet to find "qualifying phone service" explained in detail.

Fine print on another page states "Limited time offer to new or current Frontier customers who subscribe to a qualifying package of Frontier local service with features, long distance and new High-Speed Internet with speeds up to 6Mbps."

Ah!  When I clicked on "bundles" then I got a list of packages that include high-speed internet.  The minimum bundle is "Digital Phone Essentials" which includes 30 minutes of long-distance per month, caller iD, and call waiting; all features we do not have and do not need.  The price is $47.98; taxes are not mentioned.  Our basic dial-up service is $18.00 including extended area service* and $16 taxes and other charges.  So, we would be paying at least $64/month for internet and phone we use only one or two nights a week.

I think I'll stick with the poky 25kbps dial-up.

But I may have no choice.  Last time I knew, the faster phone cable hadn't been laid as far as our cabin.  Even faster Frontier service is being provided in the area with fiber-optic cable, but it ends about 1-1/2 miles from our cabin.  I assume any extension of that cable will continue on the main paved road and not come down our gravel road.

* Surprisingly, we can make a local call to our house in Duluth that is 46 miles away, but we can't make a call to Two Harbors about 35 miles away.

Always throw away unidentified mail?

Last week we received a letter that only had my name and address and something like "Important Update Inside" on the envelope.  Normally such mail goes straight to the recycle box.  But my curiosity got the best of me.

It was from a regional manager of Frontier Communications, the telephone company for our cabin.  It was about a recent 13 hour outage because a fiber optic cable was cut in Duluth.  The cable was not Frontier's but supplied lots of its traffic.

The letter said that Frontier was working on (or had installed) a second fiber optic cable to provide redundancy.

Well, that was nice to know.  I sympathize with Frontier with a problem outside its control and that it has taken steps to reduce the possibility of future outages.

The letter did have the name and email of the manager, and I did send him something about identifying mail.

This really comes under the third point of a free market - complete information (see "GMO producers don't want free markets").  Was Frontier trying to hide something by not identifying itself on the envelope?  Was it outsourcing the mail to a firm that used a standard envelope for "hidden purpose" mass mailings?  I'll probably never know because the Frontier manager never responded.  We do know that this is another example of corporate "efficiency" at the expense of effectiveness.

Corporate customer service efficiency?

Why do large corporations continue to disprove the myth of the efficiency of the free market?

Last week I sent feedback to Frontier.com because their login box was below the visible part of the opening page. I got back the usual long-winded, formulaic message of "glad to help me" and detailed instructions on how to log in. Doesn't customer service read the messages? If I said that I found the hidden login box, shouldn't they assume I logged in and thank me for my suggestion? I'm almost ready to give up on sending comments to large corporations. I've had far better luck with companies with one or a handful of employees.

Today I found another seemingly badly designed web site. I'm ready to make a Required Minimum Distribution from my Vanguard IRA. I would like to transfer the RMD into my regular Vanguard account. No can do!! If I try to sell from one IRA fund, it will only let me buy into another of my IRA funds, have a check sent, or have a deposit into my checking account.

If I go to the RMD preference page, it let's me check for two different automatic withdrawals or making a withdrawal by other means. See above for the only other means. Don't they want me to keep my money in Vanguard funds?

Maybe the web site is not ready to accept non-automatic RMD transactions for this year. I was able to do it for the past two years. I'll try again in a week or two.

Market economies over time will be more flexible than other economic systems, but those who "worship" market economies should have the humility to admit that market economies can be inefficient and bureaucratic too. After all, like all economies, they are run by people who make misteaks.

Broadband gets broader

I went to an informational meeting put on by the Forest Service in the Brimson-Toimi area this afternoon.  While chatting with other attendees I learned that broadband has become more widely available in Brimson.  It is now within walking distance of our cabin.

But is it pricey!!   Starting at $49.99 or something like that for up to 6Mbps for existing customers.  Notice the "starting at" and "for up to".  It is not exactly clear that you can get 6Mbps service for $49.99.  Frontier's web site does not provide more details unless you click on "Buy now".  Otherwise you have to talk to a representative to get more details.  Why does one have to talk to a representative?  Probably because one would be more likely to buy while talking to a representative.

I should state that there are other offers, say for $24.99 for up to 3Mbps for the first year and $34.99 the second year.  There is also a $4.50/month equipment rental.  And of course, "taxes, surcharges, and USF charges".

And the offers conflict.  Existing customers can get this through Dec. 31 according to one page.  Nation-wide the offer is available through Jun. 30.

Frontier is not alone in this.  Look at the cell phone plans.  Look at other phone companies offers.  It's mind boggling.  I just want simple tables:

x benefit y dollars
z benefit w dollars

Dream on!