I had to work the entire merger. We got notice at 5:30pm on Friday that we would start at 6pm. I ended up working all night, and all the next day into the night. Then back on Sunday again.

AT&T isn't trying to put a toll on the internet. If anything, what they are proposing is to save the consumers money.
I'll simplify it a bit.
Imagine you have a company with shareholders, and you offer a service. In order to create a better, faster service, you have to spend money on R&D. In order to be financially responsible, you have to show the shareholders a good return on their investment. You can't just give it away obviously.
Now, you have 5% of the companies out there using 90% of the bandwidth being used. And they want faster pipes where they make more money. But they don't want to contribute to the cost. They say pass the buck to the consumers.
You offer the companies an option - continue using the current pipes for free, or pay an additional amount to guarantee that their packets of information are delivered as quickly as possible.

Think about it, if you sent a letter via USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc, you have the option to pay a little additional to guarantee a fast delivery.
You as a consumer pay for your water, your gas, your electricity, etc - by the unit. You don't get to pay a flat charge and then use as much as you want on water, gas, or electricity -why should companies that make $4billion+ a year AND use massive amounts of bandwidth pay the same amount as a small business owner struggling to get by - and he only uses the connection for email.
It works like this: If AT&T can't charge more for developing newer, better service, why would they spend money developing it? That doesn't make good fiscal sense. You can't go back to the board of directors and say, "We have this new service that we spent $100 million researching, developing, and deploying, but we are going to give it away." You would definately get fired on the spot. Just try telling your boss that you have some new items that cost him $50 each, and you are going to sell them for $40 each. See what he says .....

I follow all of the news of the telecommunications industry closely. And I look at all sides. I am definately not a "company man" - I'm only a contractor for the company, not an employee. And I'm guessing that AT&T will probably cut my job soon, but I am able to see how business should be run. No one is saying charge more for the current level of service. AT&T just wants to offer enhanced services that can make them more money.