FCC seeking information about wireless fees Jan 26, 3:28 PM (ET)
By JOELLE TESSLER Associated Press http://apnews.myway.com//article/20100126/D9DFL0M82.html WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal regulators are asking the nation's largest wireless companies whether they give customers adequate notice about early termination fees for breaking a service contract before it expires. The Federal Communications Commission sent letters on Tuesday to AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Google Inc. asking for information about their approaches to early termination fees. Among other things, the FCC is asking about the size of the fees and the rationale for them. It also wants to know whether carriers prorate such fees if the cancellation comes closer to the end of a contract. The commission wrote that such fees are substantial and "have an important impact on consumers' ability to switch carriers." It is too soon to know whether the FCC is planning to adopt rules to standardize notices about such fees, but the commission appears to be moving in that direction. In August, the agency began looking into expanding so-called "truth-in-billing" rules, which require phone companies to clearly describe charges on consumer bills. It also opened an inquiry into the state of competition in the wireless industry. And last month, the FCC sent a letter to Verizon Wireless asking why the company recently doubled early termination fees on smart phone contracts to as much as $350 from $175. Verizon says it pays device manufacturers more for those phones - a cost that is subsidized by monthly contracts and that it needs to make up if a contract is broken. In Tuesday's letter, the FCC said adequate consumer notification is critical because different wireless carriers offer different types of plans with different types of early termination fees - and in some cases, plans with no early termination fees at all. The FCC said consumers need "a clear understanding of terms and practices of individual companies" so they could more easily compare plans offered by different providers. ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
