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Massachusetts Plans a Cell Phone Bill of Rights
freaktheclown writes "Via Engadget, the news that Massachusetts' state legislature is considering a cell phone bill of rights, which would 'limit contracts to one year, require easier to understand monthly bills, and force carriers to fix dead zones.' You may recall that California adopted a similar bill of rights last year before it was shelved last January."
But seriously folks...
Also, fixing dead zones, AFAIK, would require more cell towers. If the lack in some areas was due to municipal zoning issues, how is that reconciled? Does the state bill allow the cell carriers to steamroll city/county planning commissions?
The main question on my mind, though, is would the cell phone carriers offer fewer freebies and worse deals if contracts were limited to one year, or would the competition in the market end up causing Mass. consumers to get deals on one-year contract that the rest of the country only gets on two-year contracts.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
Discounts or free phones are disappearing? Maybe in a short term. Later they will reemerge as the competition goes fiercer. I wouldn't worry for that.
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Danish law limits contracts to half a year.
Definitely. The cell phone market is not a good example of a free market system due to the former monopoly players involved, and the monopoly practices they are able to use through tower control.
I predict that US cell companies will one day soon be revealed to be colluding and price-fixing, and doing all sorts of nasty oligopoly/monopoly illegal things.
e.g. why the fuck is text messaging on most carrier 5-10 cents to send and again to receive? that's pure profit (excepting when people are flooding the text channel, evidentally). Why do they charge from opening the line as opposed to the receiver picking up the call? How do they magically attribute 20 minutes of calltime in chunks to my own number? (I don't have that much voicemail!)?
Why do they lock down phones and features within phones?
I'm disgusted with the US cell phone companies compared to options abroad. We as consumers are getting screwed over, and most people don't even realize it.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
How about contract reform?
Generally, contracts are very one-sided. I mean the cell phone company can cut you off at any time, but if you cut them off when on a contract, you must pay.
Anything they can get their hands on means a swift and harsh punishment will be coming.
I mean you can always say 'don't sign the contract!' that's fine and dandy, but the very act of looking at the contract usually means you want (and sometimes need!) whatever service is being provided.
Look at any contract. When you apply for a job and get hired, you usually have to sign a contract saying something like 'everything i do on company time is owned by the company, even if i'm on break or lunch, i have the right to be fired at any time without warning or reason, i must donate all worldy goods to the company, etc.' in exchange for employment and getting paid for what you're working on.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
I think the competition is already fierce, as many consumers that bought a plan over 2 years ago are now finding themselves free to switch. For example, I recently contacted Sprint PCS to cancel my plan entirely as I now use Vonage for most purposes and only need the phone for emergency purposes. The offered me in succession upon denial of the previous offer: a $15 a month plan, one free month, two free months. I decided there was no harm in taking the 2 free months to decide if I wanted to keep the phone. They just lost $60 worth of revenue on the off chance that they might keep a customer they already had.
To me, that says there is definitely competition brewing, but it's more on the lines of attracting customers that already have a plan elsewhere. This is probably because the number of households without a mobile phone is quickly dropping.
What?
Negotiate? You're kidding, right? Negotiate with Verizon for different contract terms - when all they have is a generic, Verizon-friendly, contract that comes out of a receipt printer? Right. You say, "I'd like to ammend the contract.", and after consulting their manager, they'll say, "I'm sorry we can't do that."
I know - I can walk away.
Go to Sprint - same thing.
Go to Cingular - turn around and walk away before you even talk to them...
Negotiating a new contract is just not available. That's why I'm switching back to a pre-paid when my current contract expires.
And someone should not buy a house because the cellphone company they're locked into has bad coverage? Why should that even have to be part of the calculus... "I can't buy this house because my cellphone company will fuck me out of $300". That's irrational! Why are we even stuck in a world like that? Hell, with a lease on an apartment, they can't stick it to you for the rest of your term when you quit unless they fail to fill the apartment after making a good-faith effort.
The industry is working in a way that fucks the customers - the customers really want cellphones and they have few options. How is that nearly all the companies work in the same fucked-up way? It really looks like there is some kind of collusion - and that's when governments have to step in.
Like fuck it is. Freedom from harm is. Freedom from having to worry about armed losers who probably can't even spell "safety catch" should be.
Do you even know why the 2nd amendment was placed into the US constitution? Do you even know why it's worded, "the right to bear arms shall not be infringed" instead of saying "the people may own shot guns" (hint, because it's presumed to be a right that exists above government). The right to bear arms *is* about freedom from harm, the right to bear arms *is* about having the freedom not to worry about armed loosers (especially armed loosers that govern). The right to secure your rights is a right, and because of that the 2nd amendment almost was made the first amendment.
When the US became a seperate nation and the Brits invaded to take it back - they encountered something never encountered before. Citizens armed with guns.
Year later, after the civil war, they were very quick to turn it back into a free territory, why? Because the army worried that it couldn't controll citizens with guns.
After sanctioning the killing of indians for over 100 years, the US govt did an about face and decided to try and make treaties and peace with them, why? Because the indians were comming to posess guns and the cost of killing them became huge.
What about how soviet invasion plans for american territories were scrapped time and time again, what about one of the reasons why the swiss were spared from the german advance during WW2, or how german citizens had their gun rights revoked just before ww2. What about countless other nations and, and countless other conflicts, and countless other genocides that simply could not have happened in a gun ownership environment. I think you're the one that needs to be educated.
Sorry but the only thing this will do is raise the end cost for consumers. First off understand I work for one of the bigger big 4 cell companies, but I'm not corporate coating any of this post =P .
1.) 1 year contracts will make customers pay more for cell phones. We subsidize them based on the contract you sign. However its only about a 50$ difference, but expect that to change if they are forced into it.
2.) fixing dead spots... ok this is the most economically and logistically unfeasible things I've ever heard of. I live in a dead spot.. know why? Cause my apartment building is in the bottom of a small valley. I walk a block up the hill and I have signal. So are they supposed to put a tower beside my house because I have a dead spot even though signal picks up strong less than a block away? It is wireless folks, there are going to be places you can't make a call live with it or don't get a phone.
3.) The bills are not that difficult to understand. No more than any other utility. Just sit down and read the damn thing. There's no reason to legislate stupidity.
"You are only the sum of your thoughts."
I don't buy it. If that were entirely the case, I should be able to go to any of the wireless provider's website or store and see them advertising bring-your-own-phone month-to-month plans.
Technically, that is indeed the case. If you look closely at just the plans themselves, they often don't mention service contracts. The companies themselves don't necessarily want you to do things this way, so they don't draw attention to it, but it's very doable. (Verizon and Cingular, as I recall, offered the plans month to month gratis, Sprint charged an extra $5/month to do it.)
People buy old cell phones off ebay all the time and mate them to month to month plans.