“Bill shock” regulations to protect consumers from being burned by surprise mobile phone charges are being proposed by the Federal Communications Commission. Mobile users have been ambushed for years by surprise charges, however the issue came to the forefront last month when Verizon, under Federal Communications Commission pressure, agreed to refund customers about fifty million dollars for bogus charges. Cellular phone companies aren’t’ taking the new regulations lying down and have unleashed lobbyists to fight against FCC bill shock regulations that will be posted for public remark beginning Thursday.
All the shocks you don’t want won’t hit you with Bill shock rules
Bill shock regulation proposed by the Federal Communications Commission needs wireless carriers to alert customers by voice or text when they reach usage limits. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski told the New York Times that the commission is also looking making carriers notify customers when they’re about to get nailed for roaming or other additional charges not covered by monthly plans. The bill shock rules are, according to Genachowski, “nonburdensome” and “a terrific example of a 21st century consumer policy.” Wireless carriers oppose any bill shock regulation. AT and T said in a Federal Communications Commission filing that customer service will not do any better if regulations are over them all the time.
Bill shock could become part of mobile life
Last spring had been when FCC begun to look into things. Bill shock had been something that had been investigated. Based on PC World, the FCC did a study. This study showed that 30 million Americans have experienced bill shock at one point or another. 17 percent of the 3,000 individuals polled explained that they would not change their plans, yet their cell phone bills still went up every month. The number was extrapolated by the Federal Communications Commission to 30 million based on the number of U.S. cellular customers. The FCC was accused by the Wireless Association of only polling customers younger than 18 as a way to get the results they wanted. The group also accused the Federal Communications Commission of asking questions that would lead to the inflammatory term of “bill shock” no matter what the answers were.
A shocking bill to appear
One example of all this can be a story told by CNN. It is of Kerfye Pierre. Pierre went to Haiti to volunteer following the earthquake and came back to the U.S. with a $35,000 phone bill waiting for her. T-Mobile had said it would provide her a “courtesy plan” letting her use her phone for free when she was setting up camps for children and distributing water to victims. T-Mobile neglected to say the plan only covered voice calls. The texts and Facebook messages she sent to family and friends weren’t covered.
Information from
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/10/13/technology/13shock.html?_r=1 and src=busln
PC World
pcmag.com/article2/,2817,2366683,00.asp
CNN
cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/10/13/fcc.bill.shock/index.html?npt=NP1
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