Clark recently told you about Time Warner's experimental metering plan for Internet service in Texas. They'll be charging their Lone Star State customers per kilobyte. Now AT&T has announced that such a plan is nearly inevitable for them.

What's going on here?

These ISPs are in terror of people skipping cable or satellite and going straight to the Internet to watch video content. Think about it: Comcast, too, has already admitted degrading the Internet experience of its customers when they watch a competitor's video content. Are you beginning to see a trend here?

Clark's staffers Kim and Joel both watch TV on the Internet, especially via Hulu.com. It's just like on-demand TV without having to pay for anything.

The cable/phone monopolies are trying to choke their Internet customers. This is a byproduct of our nation's shortsighted policy, where only the monopolies control the Internet.

There is, however, a hope on the horizon. Stay tuned for a new wireless way to get on the Internet that will bypass the cable/phone monopolies.

Meanwhile, Kiplinger's has crunched the numbers and figured out that downloading a single movie under Time Warner's metered Internet plan will cost you $30. Imagine if you download 10 movies per month!

They want to eliminate your freedom to watch video with a Time Warner Internet connection. Don't stand for it; anytime an ISP tries to meter you, you need to take your business elsewhere!

Here's another one of Clark's rip-off alerts! For years, AOL has made it difficult for people to get out of their contracts. To add financial insult to that injury, the internet service provider charges a whopping $24-$25 dollars for dialup. Who in the world would pay that when there is basic DSL available in many markets for $10-$15 dollars? Unfortunately, some 12 million people still do fork over their cash for dialup! Maybe it's because when you call up and try to drop AOL, the customer service representatives transfer you repeatedly and are argumentative. Then finally when you think you've gotten out of the contract, you're billed again next month. In fact, there was an internal conspiracy going on where financial incentives were given to employees to cheat the American people.

Now AOL has entered into a settlement where they've agreed to reform their business practices -- even though they didn't admit to any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, they're only paying a minimal fine and not one of their executives has been jailed for allowing the conspiracy to steal. If you're one of the people who has had money stolen by AOL after you cancelled the service, the settlement also allows you to get restitution from the company. Look for a link to the customer restitution form on Clarkhoward.com when AOL makes it available! Why is it that a big company can steal without any meaningful consequences? As Clark says, individuals who practice the kind of trickery AOL has for years would find themselves with some new jewelry -- handcuffs. Updating a related story, Sprint has recently been firing their customers for making too many customer service calls. Now New York State is trying to make Sprint waive the cancellation fee for those customers the carrier wants to drop. Clark fully believes the cancellation penalty should work both ways.

AT&T has done something unethical. When they took over Bellsouth, as part of the deal they were forced to offer an inexpensive plan as one option. They did, offering a slower (768k) DSL connection at $10 per month. It's a great deal. But they hide the link to this service on the website, making it almost impossible to find if you don't know where to look! Well, Clark thinks this stinks, and wants you to know how to find the deal. Here's how:
This direct link will show you all the details:
http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=7690#10_basic
Or, navigate to it this way:

• Go to att.com
  
• Click "View Internet services"
  
• Scroll down page, and just above Terms and Conditions look for the text link that says "Term contract plans available"
  
• See "FastAccess DSL Lite with term agreement" and follow the instructions from there!