For the second time in the past year, Ann Arbor residents and University students will face an increase in phone charges if Ameritech gets its way.
The Michigan Public Service Commission is considering a series of proposed rate hikes that will affect different Ameritech services statewide.
Under the plan, which is expected to be approved by early May, Ann Arbor residents will pay an additional $1.25 for local phone services - an increase of as much as 12 percent. Other proposals include raising the charge for a new residential line connection from $42 to $50 and creating a new late-payment fee of 1.5 percent per month.
Ameritech officials said cities like Ann Arbor will face larger increases than other cities.
"The increases (in local phone services) varied from $.50 up to a dollar and a quarter," said Karen Sanborn, a spokesperson for Ameritech. "For instance, $.50 would be the Detroit area. A dollar and a quarter would be for areas like Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids."
University students had mixed reactions to news of the proposed increases.
"I'm not happy about it, but it's not the biggest deal in the world," said LSA sophomore Erin Jensen, who lives off-campus. "My phone bill is not that big anyway. It's not really a big deal to me."
But Jensen said it can be difficult for students who make a lot of calls.
"One of my roommates, her bills are outrageous. For her, her bills could be a problem," Jensen said.
Business senior Yoo-Mee Kim said she didn't think Ameritech's proposal is reasonable.
"I don't think they're very sensitive to students - all I wish is that we had a choice of which phone company to use," Kim said. "At the moment we have no consumer power - they can do whatever they want."
Sanborn defended the proposal as part of a long term plan aimed at altering the company's rates to better reflect costs.
"(The '96 increases and the present proposal) were part of a plan to get our rates balanced with the costs of the services provided," Sanborn said. "Services were not priced with costs originally - we started last year and re-evaluated the cost of providing service."
Sanborn said the '96 price increases were the first in basic service rates since 1984.
"Sounds reasonable enough to me," said Rackham first-year student Glen Shadbolt. "A problem with a lot of phone companies is they used to make a lot of money off toll services. With increased competition for long distance service, they're unable to subsidize local services and have to make local services pay their way."
Shadbolt said the new charges could not be helped.
"It doesn't surprise me," he said.
Liz Oldread, a Public Health first-year graduate student, said two increases within one year is excessive.
"I'm totally against it. I think they should probably think of something else before increasing charges," Oldread said. "Since Ann Arbor has such a high student population, it's going to be a problem - a lot people aren't going to be happy."