FCC Mulls Cell Phone 'Bill Shock' Regs as Family Fights $18K in Download Fees
Unexpected cell phone charges are a common problem—and, as a Massachusetts man found out, can suddenly ring up tabs of as much as $18,000 for unwary consumers.
In Europe, though, the worst of the problem is routinely forestalled by text messages from mobile carriers notifying users that they are perhaps spending more money than they intended. Now the Federal Communications Commission is considering possible regulations to require cell phone service providers to warn United States consumers of unusual wireless, text and data usage, reports the Boston Globe.
Joel Gurin, who serves as chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, said the federal agency has received hundreds of consumer complaints about the issue. Then a recent Boston Globe article about Bob and Mary St. Germain’s $18,000 phone bill “confirmed this was an issue where a lot of consumers can suffer pretty significant losses and where carriers have not yet found a solution,’’ Gurin tells the newspaper.
The family’s 26-year-old son thought their plan included free data downloads, the newspaper explains. But it didn’t, having recently changed. The result was a stunning surprise in the family’s August 2006 bill.
The FCC is inviting comments on the “bill shock” proposal for 45 days, as detailed in a public notice (PDF) on its website.
“We’re issuing a public notice to see if there’s any reason that American carriers can’t use similar automatic alerts to inform consumers when they are at risk of running up a high bill,” says Gurin in a press release (PDF). “This is an avoidable problem. Avoiding bill shock is good for consumers and ultimately good business for wireless carriers as well.”
Carriers have objected, saying that they already provide consumers with electronic tools to keep track of their usage and work with those who have made mistakes to try to resolve them.
Verizon Wireless may also consider texting users to alert them they’re near or beyond the usage limits for their cell phone plan, spokesman Jeff Nelson tells Bloomberg. However, “when you prescribe a specific remedy for a problem, it doesn’t necessarily meet the needs of actual customers.”
Additional coverage:
Law & Disorder (Ars Technica): “Is Europe’s cure for wireless ‘bill shock’ right for the US?”
New York Times: “FCC seeks to avoid cell phone ‘bill shock’ “
