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.
Showing posts with label full information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label full information. Show all posts
Monday, May 27, 2013
Friday, November 09, 2012
"Free marketers" once again prevent free markets
Well, Proposition 37, requiring labeling of GMO foods in California, was defeated by the overwhelming resources of self-interested corporations. Free markets mean all necessary information. By hiding the contents of their products, agribusinesses are denying free markets to the consumer. See "Letter about GMO foods".
You might also consider the words of Adam Smith in "Wealth of Nations":
"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it." - pages 142-143
I included the above in "The Invisible Adam Smith".
I hope you're not allergic to any foods that have been spliced into other foods.
You might also consider the words of Adam Smith in "Wealth of Nations":
"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it." - pages 142-143
I included the above in "The Invisible Adam Smith".
I hope you're not allergic to any foods that have been spliced into other foods.
Monday, April 30, 2012
"Liberal" corporations are no better at free markets than "conservative" corporations
This is a test. Do you see the free market flaw in the following email from the New York Times?
Where in this email did the New York Times tell you what your subscription would cost after "your first 12 weeks"? That is, the New York Times is not providing full information. You have to go elsewhere to find out what the regular four-week subscription costs.
Sorry, NYT. I'll just put up with reading a few articles a month. If you return to the $50/year subscription that you had before you went to free subscriptions, I will most likely subscribe again.
Dear NYTimes.com Reader,Did you see the free-market flaw in this email?
Because you are a valued reader of the world’s finest news site, we want to offer you the chance to try unlimited access to all of the award-winning news, opinions, videos and interactive features at this special rate of just $5 for your first 12 weeks.*
*New York Times digital subscriptions are sold separately from e-reader editions, Premium Crosswords and The New York Times Crosswords apps. Mobile apps are not supported on all devices. You will be billed $5 for the first 12 weeks upfront which is non-refundable. After the first twelve weeks, all subscriptions will automatically renew and your credit card or PayPal account will be charged in advance of each four-week billing period unless canceled. If the subscription is canceled, refunds and termination of access will follow the Terms of Sale policy. Prices are in U.S. dollars and are subject to change. Other restrictions and taxes may apply.
Where in this email did the New York Times tell you what your subscription would cost after "your first 12 weeks"? That is, the New York Times is not providing full information. You have to go elsewhere to find out what the regular four-week subscription costs.
Sorry, NYT. I'll just put up with reading a few articles a month. If you return to the $50/year subscription that you had before you went to free subscriptions, I will most likely subscribe again.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Corporations hate free markets
Many corporate cheerleaders claim that corporations represent the "free market". Some do, sort of; but too many corporations do everything they can to get around a true free market.
A headline issue is "plnk slime" beef. Meat processors claim it is lean, finely textured beef and 100% beef. See "Beef Products Inc. Comeback: It's Not 'Pink Slime'; It's Safe, Nutritious, and 100% Beef". How can it be "100% beef" if it is treated with ammonia? Ammonia is not beef. In other words, the meat companies don't want consumers to have full information on their products. Full information to make a buy decision is one of the four requirements of a free market.
Many conservatives want "truth in taxation" from all levels of government, but they are often strongly opposed to "truth in lending", "truth in labeling", and "truth in advertising" for corporations. See above about full information.
Many food and chemical companies don't want products labelled GMO-free or rBGH-free. If genetically modified organisms or bovine growth hormone are truly safe products, why should companies fight labels that state products don't have these attributes? If they fight such labels, they must have something to hide, and thus they want to violate the free market principle of full information.
Many health insurance companies claim that the "Affordable Care Act" is against the free market and forces people to buy insurance. OK, the government is forcing people into the market. But the current insurance system keeps many people out of the health care market. And a parent is not free to leave the market when a child is sick. A requirement of a free market is being free to enter and leave the market.
A headline issue is "plnk slime" beef. Meat processors claim it is lean, finely textured beef and 100% beef. See "Beef Products Inc. Comeback: It's Not 'Pink Slime'; It's Safe, Nutritious, and 100% Beef". How can it be "100% beef" if it is treated with ammonia? Ammonia is not beef. In other words, the meat companies don't want consumers to have full information on their products. Full information to make a buy decision is one of the four requirements of a free market.
Many conservatives want "truth in taxation" from all levels of government, but they are often strongly opposed to "truth in lending", "truth in labeling", and "truth in advertising" for corporations. See above about full information.
Many food and chemical companies don't want products labelled GMO-free or rBGH-free. If genetically modified organisms or bovine growth hormone are truly safe products, why should companies fight labels that state products don't have these attributes? If they fight such labels, they must have something to hide, and thus they want to violate the free market principle of full information.
Many health insurance companies claim that the "Affordable Care Act" is against the free market and forces people to buy insurance. OK, the government is forcing people into the market. But the current insurance system keeps many people out of the health care market. And a parent is not free to leave the market when a child is sick. A requirement of a free market is being free to enter and leave the market.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Banks – Part of the free market?
Two quotes from "Why Big Banks Deserve to Get Slammed", Rick Newman, U.S. News and World Report, 2012-02-22.
"To the banks, the latest news from Washington represents a continued assault on the livelihood of fine working Americans, and on free enterprise itself."
"Banks are required to list all these fees on a fee schedule that they must provide to customers who ask for it, but banks rarely advertise all the fees they charge and obviously they hope customers won't notice."
If the buyers, bank customers, don't have complete information (one of the requirements of a free markets), then how can these banks be part of "free enterprise". It is the banks that are making the assault on "free enterprise".
"To the banks, the latest news from Washington represents a continued assault on the livelihood of fine working Americans, and on free enterprise itself."
"Banks are required to list all these fees on a fee schedule that they must provide to customers who ask for it, but banks rarely advertise all the fees they charge and obviously they hope customers won't notice."
If the buyers, bank customers, don't have complete information (one of the requirements of a free markets), then how can these banks be part of "free enterprise". It is the banks that are making the assault on "free enterprise".
Friday, December 23, 2011
Internet service – What free market?
One of the tenets of a free market is all necessary information for buyers. Try getting full information about internet service! The ads in the newspapers show these "fantastic" prices, but the fine print is almost impossible to read without a strong magnifying glass. Even if you manage to wade through it, you probably still have lots of questions.
Once upon a time Qwest's website had the available choices with speeds and prices. Long before they were bought out by Century Tel, now called CenturyLink, they stopped providing such easily accessible information. Even our phone bill didn't give our nominal rate. I thought we had bought 7mbps, but I can't remember a measured speed much over 4mbps, and often less.
CenturyLink just mailed us a flyer "Speeds up to 40 Mbps (where available)". No price list.
I went to http://www.centurylink.com to see what I could see. I had to enter my telephone number to do so. That's OK, but then I get a window from Lisa that I can chat online with her for more details. In other words, CenturyLink, like so many other vendors doesn't want to give you full written information, but wants you to chat by phone or online with someone who will his or her best to sell the companies service.
I also tried signing in with my Qwest ID and password as I remembered it. Instead of accepting or rejecting the signing, CenturyLink's website gave me some gobbledegook - "Infinite recursion detected: [/freeRange/shop/ecbundle!execute, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException]". I kid you not!
I wrote this message so that I had a link to include in my response to "How are we doing?" I did give a "Highly unlikely" rating of recommending CenturyLink.
Oh, well! I think we're already spending too much on telecommunications with a home phone with DSL, ISP provider, one cell phone, and a cabin phone.
P.S. See also "Internet service but not customer service".
Once upon a time Qwest's website had the available choices with speeds and prices. Long before they were bought out by Century Tel, now called CenturyLink, they stopped providing such easily accessible information. Even our phone bill didn't give our nominal rate. I thought we had bought 7mbps, but I can't remember a measured speed much over 4mbps, and often less.
CenturyLink just mailed us a flyer "Speeds up to 40 Mbps (where available)". No price list.
I went to http://www.centurylink.com to see what I could see. I had to enter my telephone number to do so. That's OK, but then I get a window from Lisa that I can chat online with her for more details. In other words, CenturyLink, like so many other vendors doesn't want to give you full written information, but wants you to chat by phone or online with someone who will his or her best to sell the companies service.
I also tried signing in with my Qwest ID and password as I remembered it. Instead of accepting or rejecting the signing, CenturyLink's website gave me some gobbledegook - "Infinite recursion detected: [/freeRange/shop/ecbundle!execute, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException]". I kid you not!
I wrote this message so that I had a link to include in my response to "How are we doing?" I did give a "Highly unlikely" rating of recommending CenturyLink.
Oh, well! I think we're already spending too much on telecommunications with a home phone with DSL, ISP provider, one cell phone, and a cabin phone.
P.S. See also "Internet service but not customer service".
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