Subject: [NEXTEL-1] California Seeks Tougher Regulation of Wireless Companies

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 18:24:16 -0500

California Seeks Tougher Regulation of Wireless Companies

Citing confusing bills, poor service and faulty advertising, the California Public
Utilities Commission is seeking more aggressive regulation of wireless
companies. The commission is supporting a Telecommunication Consumers Bill
of Rights that would require clear billing information and detailed explanations of
late fees and coverage areas. Wireless companies oppose further regulation.
They say many coverage problems stem from local communities' reluctance to
allow antennas to be installed in areas, and that consumers should take time to
thoroughly read service contracts before signing them.

Hate Your Cell Phone? So Does Everyone Else

Mike Sugerman

It now provides the soundtrack of Bay Area life
-- the ringing of a cell phone.

Cell phones are everywhere. And so are the
ads touting fantastic service. But they don't
always deliver.

I hate my cell phone. The conversation is muffled. The calls drop out. I can't
understand the bill half the time. I hate my cell phone. And I couldn't get along
without it.

I'm not alone. A Consumer Reports survey finds 40% of Bay Area users are
unhappy. That's among the lowest customer satisfaction of any industry the
long-running survey has ever found.

Vali Desmond of Walnut Creek uses her phone several hours a day, traveling
around the Bay Area in her sales job.

"Fifty percent of my calls are dropped during the day," she said.

That doesn't help sales.

Dead zones are cited as a major reason that more than 30% of cell phone
customers want to drop their provider. Cell phone companies say local
governments won't let them build enough new cell towers to keep up with service
needs, and, anyway, with cells, you are trading mobility for consistency.

"People need to have a realistic expectation of what to expect from a wireless
phone as opposed to a land-line phone," said Pamela Johnstone of AT&T
Wireless.

But it's not just the technical performance people complain about. It's also the
customer service. Internet executive Walter Nirenberg signed up for free long
distance.

"Then I started getting my bills. And on my bills, I was not seeing zeros, but
dollar figures," Nirenberg said.
Eventually, $1600 worth of figures. Long distance is free, his company told him,
but interconnect charges on the other end aren't. The industry says you have to
read a contract carefully before you sign anything. So who's looking after
deceptive billing practices, bad service, and faulty advertising that are the top of
the complaint lists of wireless users?

"I think it's egregious," said Loretta Lynch, California PUC commissioner. "The
problem is they have not been appropriately regulated."

The federal government only regulates rates, and so far it believes a hands-off
policy is best. The states are left to regulate service. California is trying to
aggressively get in the cell phone regulation business. But it's been a hard fight.

"They've been running to the federal regulators to pre-empt us, so that they will
be effectively unregulated," Lynch said.

The state Public Utilities Commission is pushing a Telecommunication
Consumers Bill of Rights: clear billing information, late fees spelled out, and
coverage areas more fully explained. The industry is fighting it, saying it's too
restrictive. And the state can't pass anything stronger than the federal
government does. It's become a lobbying battle in the halls of Congress that at
the moment has left consumers disconnected.

http://beta.kpix.com/news/local/2003/02/07/Hate_Your_Cell_Phone%3F_So_Does_Everyone_Else.html

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