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California Offers Cellular Bill of Rights
JeremyALogan writes "The Feature has an article about The California Public Utility Commission's approval of the first cellular customer Bill of Rights in the US. The Bill enables consumers to cancel their wireless contracts within 30 days of signing on. It also forces carriers to clearly state their rates as well as critical contract terms in normal size print on their websites (no more fine print). Companies will no longer be able to lump "recovery fees" in with taxes or other government fees on bills." You can imagine the joy with which the cellular companies have meet this prospect. Court challenges will be ensuing soon.
I'm in my 30's and have lived my entire life in silicon valley. I've had every electronic gadget imaginable, except for a cellphone! The things are evil and unnecessary, and I refuse to have one. Everthing about the industry is slimy, and every time I have been slightly tempted, this slime repels me back. 1) Why does every cellphone salesperson have to be an annoying teenager? These people are the used car salespeople of the malls! 2) I have email and voicemail at home and at work. If you cannot reach me at either of these two places, chances are I really don't want to talk to you in the first place. 3) The things are designed with planned obsolence. Have you noticed how cheaply your phone is built? Have you noticed how horribly the power connector was engineered? Have you noticed that your 6 month old phone lacks the latest features? 4) In the case of a real emergency, theres a cheap pager. What do these things cost? $0.08 a year? 5) If you use them where most people use them (in the car, on the bus, in the theatre, within earshot of anyone) you will piss me (and others) the hell off! Any place where a cellphone CAN be used politely will have a payphone/cube phone anyway. 6) You are spending hard earned money on an industry who purposefully tries to deceive you at every turn. Now if that's not enough, what is?
Any law the affected industry hates, is probably a good one. This one doesn't appear perfect but is a decent start, which is surprising for anything comming out of California: land of the fruit and home of the flake.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
I post well thought out reasons why I do not own a cellphone and that constitutes flamebait?!?! FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKING CELLPHONE FANBOY!!! Now THERES some FLAMEBAIT!!!