Ever been taken aback by an outstandingly eminent cell telephone set visor for a give month ? If so , you ’re not alone : according to the Federal Communication Commission , one out of six Americans has suffered from what ’s been dubbed “ flyer blow . ”Now , it appears that the FCCintends to help prevent consumers from obtain this variety of nasty surprise — and I , as a measure shock dupe , give it two thumb mode , wayup .
But , Genachowski total , “ They ’re not yet helping consumer consistently . ” And it ’s not just little potatoes — according to the FCC , 67 percent of complaints it has receive about bill electric shock involved charges of a hundred dollars or more and 20 pct were for a thousand dollars or more .
On Thursday , the FCC will vote on aim regulation that would ensure that consumers do n’t find themselves suddenly drowning in overage fees . Besides supply messages to consumer approaching their limitation , the regulation would also need commit “ out - of - the - nation ” alerts to customers travel internationally , and would also give up users to set their own caps on utilisation . The European Union already implement robotic alerts for consumers get close to their text , voice , and data limits , as well as for roaming charges .
As someone feign by bill jounce — though not in the magnitude of many of the truly unfortunate report refer bythe FCC view — I’m completely behind the proposed rule . Last month , I went over my 200 text message limit for the first time ever , thanks to a combining of change of location and other unforeseen lot . And while no blame should be placed on anybody other than me , I was for sure , shall we say , nonplussedto receive a school text substance from AT&T informing me that I had racked up $ 50 in supernumerary fees .
I make that AT&T is a troupe that , like all companies , is out to make a sawbuck , but would it really have killed them to lease me knowbeforeI hit those additional500text messages ? Not to mention that once I ’ve gone over , I have little recourse to stop my friends from sending me extra text messages and continuing to rack up charges . Were AT&T ’s little globe anthropomorphized , it would n’t be hard to see the dollar sign signs in its eyes .
But or else , AT&T used my indiscretion as an chance to hear and upsell me on a more expensive texting plan — something for which I have no desire , as this was ( hopefully ) an deviance . ( And let ’s not even get into how much of a racket text message pricing is . )
One of the anecdotes FCC Chairman Genachowski connect in his remarks was the account of one human beings who was charged more than 15 time what he expect for phone usage after an overseas trip . The man , who was a technical school administrator lick on a system to allow masses to pay their parking meter via cell phone , point out that it was a wide-eyed matter to mail a text message before consumer hit their limit .
“ The only reason not to do it , ” the administrator distinguish Genachowski , “ is if you ’re trying to take vantage of a client . ”
