Wireless Providers To Provide 'Bill Shock' Warnings

Alison, of Fayetteville, Ark., says she was shocked when she opened her December 2010 AT&T Wireless bill to find it totaled more than $900.

“Upon inspection, it appears I was charged for 14 hours of cellphone service beyond my contractual minutes allotted,” Alison told ConsumerAffairs.com. “This wasn't 14 hours here and there. Allegedly, this was 14 hours of continuous cellphone usage they claimed I had used.”

Many consumers have complained of so-called “bill shock,” receiving their wireless bill and discovering it is substantially more than they expected. Many say it would be nice to get a heads up from their wireless carrier when they are in danger of incurring extra charges. From now on, they will.

An alert

In an agreement between the wireless industry and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), major wireless carriers will warn customers who are in danger of going over pre-set budget limits.

Some have already adopted this practice. For example, Verizon Wireless sends customers a text message when they have used 50 percent of their minutes or data budgets during a billing cycle. It's then up to the consumer to alter their usage in order to get through the remainder of the cycle without incurring extra charges.

These extra charges can occur when a customer exceeds established plan caps for voice, data or texting. They can also occur when U.S. consumers travel overseas, unaware that their plans don't cover international roaming charges, which are extremely high.

Voluntary agreement

The FCC was on a course toward drafting rules requiring “bill shock” notices when major wireless players offered to work with the agency. The result is not an actual rulemaking process, but rather a voluntary agreement. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the agency would susped the rulemaking pollicy as long as wireless companies implement the alert system.

“This solution will give consumers the information they need to save money on their monthly wireless bills,” Genachowski said. “Consistent with the FCC's ongoing efforts, these actions harness technology to empower consumers, and ensure consumers get a fair shake, not bill shock.”

Under the agreement, wireless providers will:

• Send voice or text alerts to notify consumers when they approach and when they reach monthly plan limits for voice, data, and text that would result in overage charges.
• Send alerts when consumers are about to incur international roaming charges that are not covered by their monthly plans; and
• Clearly disclose any tools that mobile providers offer to let consumers set their own usage limits and monitor their usage balances.