U.S. mobile operators will warn subscribers when they’re heading toward a big bill, after most carriers agreed to send email or text alerts when users are about to exceed their monthly usage limits or start using international roaming.
Carriers serving 97 percent of U.S. mobile users instituted the alerts before a Wednesday deadline, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday. Service providers agreed to provide the alerts in 2011 after a change in the voluntary Consumer Code for Wireless Service, sponsored by the CTIA mobile trade group. Other carriers may also warn their customers but are not participating in the program.
So-called “bill shock” has made headlines over the past several years as ordinary consumers have received bills for thousands of dollars for high voice, text or data use, especially while using international roaming. A recent FCC survey showed that 30 million people in the U.S., or one out of six mobile users, had experienced bill shock, according to the agency.
The new rules don’t change what carriers charge in those situations but are designed to make sure the customer knows what’s happening.
The days of opening your cell phone bill and getting slapped with unexpected charges should be over.
As of Wednesday, cell phone companies must send customers four types of alerts when they are in danger of being charged beyond their normal plan price. The practice, which tacks on unauthorized or misleading charges on a bill, is known as “cramming” and has been around for decades with landline phone bills.
A 2011 agreement between the Federal Communications Commission and major cell phone companies included today’s deadline that requires them to alert subscribers when they approach, reach and exceed limits on voice, data, text and international roaming charges. Carriers were required to provide two alerts by Oct. 17.
“This is very important consumer protection,” says Jack Gillis, Director of Public Affairs for the Consumer Federation of America. “The bottom line is that cell phone charging plans are so complicated it’s very easy to go over plans, especially with limited plans. This new requirement at the very least will save consumers thousands of dollars.”
According to a 2010 FCC survey, 30 million Americans, about one in six mobile users, have experienced “bill shock,” a sudden and unexpected increase in monthly bills not caused by a change in service plans. In 2010, the agency showcased a 66-year-old customer’s plight of facing an $18,000 bill after a promotional, limitless data plan expired without warning as why more stringent notifications were needed.
The average wireless contract includes a flat fee for a set number of minutes and data each month and any usage that goes beyond the allotment is charged at a much higher rate. The surge in use of tablets has made consuming data and in turn, exceeding limits, much easier.
The FCC and Governmental Affairs Bureau held a workshop Wednesday on bill shock and cramming and according to attendee John Breyault, vice president of Public Policy for the National Consumers League, the FCC reported the number of complaints over mammoth fees has dropped significantly since October.
The NCL advocated for the new regulations to be implemented two years ago, and Breyault says the wireless companies reported being in full compliance of the alerts on Wednesday, which covers 97 percent of the carrier market.
In some cases when companies incur higher taxes or lose a revenue stream they are forced to increase prices to make up the difference, but Breyault says wireless caries did not view overcharges “as profit centers.”
“The dissatisfaction of consumers felts over charges had the companies introduce tiered data plans … there are still problems with these plans and whether or not they are adequate and will offer enough data at a reasonable price.”
Amy Storey, spokeswoman for the wireless association CTIA, told FOX Business that the cost for the alerts
More than 114,000 people signed the We the People petition asking the White House to decriminalize the unlocking of cell phones. That cry was heard, answered, and clearly agreed with by the administration.
“Neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation,” wrote R. David Edelman, the White House senior advisor for Internet, innovation, and privacy.
But will this support from the highest levels of government finally get jailbreaking cell-phone owners out of darkened alleyways?
Not if the major wireless carriers can stop it, and they have every business reason to try to do so.
First, carriers spend billions of dollars on building their network infrastructures and keeping those networks up to date. Then they must obtain the most desirable handsets from the phone manufacturers and subsidize the high cost of those phones to attract consumers to sign long-term contracts.
CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents the larger carriers, such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, in its comments to the U.S. Copyright Office of the Library of Congress last month, characterized locked cell phones as common and important to its members’ business: “According to a recent survey, 36% of wireless customers received a free phone from their carrier, and many more received heavily subsidized handsets.” That practice of subsidizing phones, CTIA wrote, was a “key component to keeping wireless service accessible and affordable.”
That played off Librarian of Congress James Billington’s notice in October that locked phones played “an essential part of the wireless industry’s dominant business model.”
But once a cell phone is unlocked, the carriers still have ways to make changing carriers with that phone a pain in the neck, if not just plain impossible.
In the U.S., much of that pain is produced because of two incompatible wireless protocols used that the different carriers use: the GSM standard at AT&T and T-Mobile USA, and the CDMA standard at Verizon and Sprint Nextel .
The 4G LTE technology that most carriers have been moving to was supposed to remove the protocol mismatch by allowing subscribers to take their handsets with them to different carriers just by changing their subscriber identity modules, or SIM cards. But Verizon and AT&T rutted up that road by requiring phone makers to provide handsets that work only on each of those networks’ wireless frequencies.
A game-changer? However, there are market forces coming into play that may pose an even bigger threat to the wireless status quo than just unlocked phones. With the growth of the “connected car” concept, vehicles with built-in wireless technology will need the capability of changing carriers as they are driven from one network coverage area to another. A “wirelessly locked” car is not practical, nor is having to physically change SIM cards when driving along.
AVG Technologies Offers Tips and Advice for Removing Data from Old Mobile Devices
Data often lingers after factory reset
AMSTERDAM & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– AVG Technologies N.V. (NYS: AVG) , the provider of Internet and mobile security to 146 million active users, today released valuable tips on how consumers can remove their personal data before they recycle or throw away their old smartphones. In an era of frequent and seamless device upgrades, it’s easy to ditch an old handset and move on to the next. However, chances are the old device has personal information lingering on it, putting consumers at a greater risk of identity theft.
“Think about all the personal data stored on your phone: text messages, emails, even intimate photos of you or your significant other,” said Tony Anscombe, senior security evangelist at AVG. “Consumers are now carrying more and more personal information on their devices, and AVG wants to ensure everyone is well equipped to wipe out that data when the time comes. Your identity is essentially yours to lose, so take every precaution possible to stay safe.”
While the factory reset button seems like the logical place to start, numerous industry and security experts report that even after consumers carry out this exercise, personal information often remains. The following tips will help ensure private information is erased:
Remove the memory and SIM cards. Both store personal data and are best kept safe in your possession or destroyed.
Use a data removal application to ensure data really is deleted. Android users can use AVG AntiVirus Free™, for example. For other platforms there is a list of apps available on the CTIA web site.
Once the data is deleted, then run a factory reset. Instructions can be found on manufacturers’ or carriers’ websites.
If you are going to simply throw away your mobile phone, older handsets can contain toxic materials. Consult your local authority or drop it off at a mobile phone retailer, where they will be able to dispose of it correctly. Additionally, there are specialist companies that will take it apart and recycle each component.
SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said it will launch its new Galaxy S smartphone on March 14 in New York, taking its fight for market supremacy to Apple Inc‘s doorstep after reportedly being inundated with requests from U.S. mobile carriers. The Galaxy S IV model will heat up competition in the crucial U.S. mobile phone market, where Apple surpassed Samsung Electronics as the top mobile phone seller for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2012. It will be the first U.S. launch of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy smartphone in three years, company spokeswoman Chenny Kim said, and comes amid a Samsung advertising blitz in the United States that has including light-hearted jabs at Apple’s fans. “We introduced the Galaxy S III in London last year, and this time we changed the venue (to New York)… as we were bombarded with requests from U.S. mobile carriers to unveil the Galaxy S IV in the country,” Samsung Electronics‘ mobile division chief JK Shin was quoted as saying on the Edaily news website. The new Galaxy S model is expected to feature a higher-resolution display and camera than its predecessor, as well as a faster quad-core processor, media reports said. Samsung Electronics unveiled its first Galaxy S during the CTIA mobile trade show in the United States in 2010, followed by the Galaxy S II at the MWC fair in Spain in 2011 and the Galaxy S III in London last year. Samsung Electronics may have lost its lead in the U.S. handset market but globally the $210 billion South Korean giant is expected to widen its smartphone advantage over its Cupertino, California-based rival this year, helped by a broad product line-up. Apple investors have grown anxious about the company’s prospects amid intense competition from Samsung’s cheaper, Android-powered phones, and signs the premium smartphone market may be close to saturation in developed markets. Apple shares have slumped 15 percent this year and the company is reportedly slashing orders for screens and other components from its Asian supplier as intensifying competition erodes demand for its latest iPhone. Samsung Electronics stock price has inched up 1.5 percent so far this year. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
U.S. mobile trade group CTIA will combine its two annual trade shows starting in 2014 as it tries to attract a bigger share of the world’s interest in smartphones, apps and other hot technologies. Source: Latest from Computerworld
