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FCC Plans To Stop Cell Phone Bill Mystery Fees

Posted by Soulskill on from the eight-dollars-for-occupying-a-transmission-medium dept.

GovTechGuy writes "FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said Monday that his agency is going to make it harder for mobile carriers to hit customers with mystery fees on their monthly bills. The practice, known as 'cramming,' typically involves charging customers between $1.99 and $19.99 per month for services they either didn't use or didn't request. The FCC announced fines totaling nearly $12 million against four carriers for cramming last week."

10 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Well done. by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A co-worker has been vocal about this practice. Makes me all the more smug with my el-cheapo pay-as-you-go program.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Well done. by kermidge · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I've been using Net10 since summer '06. Ten cents per minute, no roaming charge, no long-distance charge. So long as you keep your account active, minutes roll over forever. Phones are available from around $20 on up. I got my first one at Walgreen's. I suggest checking at net10.com for phones available in your Zip-code.

      They now have two types of plans - for your usage, avoid the per month plans, get straight minutes. For $60 you get 900 minutes - a nice bonus. From time to time they have various web specials as well. Or you can buy minutes at prepaidonline.com or various drug and department stores and phone stores.

      I've never had a dropped call and cannot remember having a bad connection (in south-east Wisconsin.) YMMV.

  2. Effective, I'm sure. by Sierran · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's see. $12 million in fines, total, eh? Verizon Wireless at the end of 2009 had around 90 million subscribers. Cram a $0.99 charge onto each, take into account the fines, and...yes, profit!

    --
    A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
    1. Re:Effective, I'm sure. by fast+turtle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      nah. Hit the CEO's wallets for the fines. They can afford it and they'd sure as hell get a damn clue. Expand this across the board and companies would be a lot more carefull and if there is a 2nd violation, include the Board of Directors in the fines.

      --
      Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
  3. jail by ThurstonMoore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fines will mean nothing if the carriers make more money than what the fines cost. They need to put some people in jail and this shit would stop.

    1. Re:jail by Tanktalus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No. Capitalism only works properly when all parties have equal knowledge of the area they are exchanging value over. Such as exchanging $1/lb for these apples, I know what $1 is, I know how many pounds of apples I'm buying (if the scales are rigged, this is not-equal knowledge), and I know what apples are/taste like/contribute toward my health. Similarly, the vendor knows all of this as well. I am accepting the veracity of the apples, he is accepting the veracity of the cash as a representation of value, and both can use the government as an enforcer of the same (e.g., vs rigged scales, rotten apples, fake money).

      This is not Teh Socialism. This is Teh Justice in pursuit of Teh True Capitalism. Buyer beware only applies if you should have known better, not when you were intentionally deceived. Teh Socialism would be if the government wasn't merely trying to stop deception in the marketplace but also regulating the cell carriers' rates.

  4. How about the mystery taxes? by varargs · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Doesn't the gvmt still have a $6/month Algore fee to "wire inner city classes to internet?"

  5. Re:Finally by houstonbofh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Agreed. Can I move to a 3rd world country with a real cell phone system please? (This is not a joke. Every 2nd and 3rd world country I have been to has a cell phone system worlds better than the US.)

  6. The problem is not "transparency". by mrsam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From TFA:

    the proposed steps would increase transparency and make it easier for consumers to understand the meaning of charges on their monthly phone bills.

    BS. Sheer nonsense. The problem is not that the bills are hard to "understand". The problem is the cramming in the first place. Remove the ability for any arbitrary fly-by-night op to place charges on anyone's bill, if they know their phone number, and the problem will mysteriously disappear.

    Cramming takes advantage of social engineering. "Wanna a HOT NEW LADY GAGA ringtone!!!! Just type in your phone number on our web site. (tiny font: $9.99 per month charge applies)".

    And that's how a "simple-minded" acquaintenance of mine ended up with $40 bucks worth of charges on her bill, some years ago.

    Get rid of the ability for anyone to cram charges, without a written notice by YOU, to YOUR cellphone carrier, and there's no more cramming. Of course, the cell-phone carriers will fight tooth and nail. I'm sure they make a nice profit skimming off their share of all the crammed charges.

  7. Re:prepaid by Moof123 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Carriers have obscured cell phone (the physical device) payments with cell phone services. How this came about still boggles my mind, almost like bundling a gas card with your car payment and not being able to find out how much the car even costs. The two should be separate, and the current high fee for cancellation should be deemed illegal. You either pay through the nose month-month, or you risk 2 years of hell dealing with a contract for awful service with a $350+ termination fee looming.