Overview
Cell phones companies should provide customers with convenience and high quality telephone service. Instead, too many cell phone customers have experienced dropped calls, poor service coverage, confusing billing statements, and customer service representatives who are unable to correct or solve identified errors. To make matters worse, when consumers attempt to change their wireless service, they find themselves locked into 2 year contracts with hefty termination fees, rendering the power of the marketplace meaningless. Clearly, competitive pressures alone have proven to be inadequate for ensuring that consumers are treated fairly in the wireless market place.
But, it doesn’t have to be that way. In order to ensure that the wireless marketplace responds to consumers, cell phone users need a bill of rights— they need better disclosure regarding rates and fees, contract terms, and wireless coverage area; recourse to resolve billing disputes and errors; and less restrictive contract terms like a risk-free trial period to test a phone and service.
