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Senator Targets 'Bill Shock' With New Bill

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It's all about data...

kingstu

Oct 1, 2010, 2:35 PM
If you don't have a data plan and use a smartphone you can see astronomical prices. Hundreds or Thousands of dollars a day. The cell companies should do it automatically especially when something very unusual happens.

The fact is they make lots of money on overages and that is why they don't warn you. And data usage is really hard to track real-time.

Not all phones make it easy to know how much data they are consuming also. Things can be scheduled to run in the background so you might not even know they are there.

If you live or work near the border it could be possible sometimes that your phone would connect to a tower in Mexico or Canada and that can make even talking super expensive.

It should be something the carriers should ...
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Sigma1570

Oct 1, 2010, 3:27 PM
at&t warns you and "for your convenience" automatically adds a data plan when you use a smartphone.
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kingstu

Oct 1, 2010, 4:11 PM
Add a non-subsidized or direct from manufacturer smartphone to AT&T and they will treat it like a feature phone and they won't automatically convert it.
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T Bone

Oct 2, 2010, 9:50 PM
Ughhh.....yeah they willl, they know what phone you are using within about 5 minutes after you put your SIM card into it.....and the system can recognize non ATT phones
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xjittianx

Oct 2, 2010, 3:45 PM
I think it's a huge misconception that carriers want you to have overage charges. overage charges make customers extremely unhappy and upset, obviously. so with that, why would a carrier want to have unhappy customers? that means churn and/or shrink for that company and thats the last thing they would want. Overages are more of a way to keep customers in line so they don't over use bandwith and keep the companies costs down.
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T Bone

Oct 2, 2010, 9:56 PM
No...the carriers don't 'make lots of money' from overage charges, because 98% of the time the overages are credited back anyway....

It's a pretty standard situation, a customer is on say a 900 minute plan, uses 3,000 minutes, incurs $945 in overages, calls in, changes to unlimited which is only $10 a month more.....then $935 of overages are waived

Happens all the time, and all carriers do it...

No, they don't make a lot of money off of overages, because almost no one ever actually pays overages, overage charges are almost always credited back to the account
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bp3dots1

Oct 3, 2010, 12:03 PM
Thats where the problem lies. People who run up huge bills should have to pay them.
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T Bone

Oct 3, 2010, 12:26 PM
They do pay for the overages, they just don't pay the full price...they pay a reduced price as a kind of 'reward' for agreeing to increase their rate plan

In general, it is not a good idea for companies to be really rigid about policy....if you want people to give you their money, you have to be willing to work with people, even bend the rules to some extent.....
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bp3dots1

Oct 3, 2010, 1:17 PM
If you bend the rules everytime, you might as well change them.

Maybe companies should only offer unlimited plans. Or have a built in clause that if you choose a non-unlimited plan, you waive any chance of getting fees waived. Put it in nice big 24 point lettering if you need to.

My point is, If Joe agrees to plax X, then totally blows his useage out of the water and gets a huge bill, then Joe should have to pay whatever charges he racked up. There is no reason the company shoud be expected to reduce his charges because HE was the one who chose to use more than his allottment. Now, if halfway through the month, Joe looks at his useage and says "damn, I'm using more than I thought I would, I better call in and up my plan or I'm going ...
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T Bone

Oct 3, 2010, 2:15 PM
The problem is that there is stiff competition, and if the customer is unhappy for some reason, he can easily jump ship. Customer satisfaction is important, and if waiving an upgrade fee or adjusting overage charges prevents the customer from jumping ship, it is worth it. The cliche that 'the customer is always right' is not exactly correct (customers are wrong about lots of things) but in general, you are more likely to retain customers by being 'reasonable' than by being severe.
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bp3dots1

Oct 4, 2010, 11:37 AM
The question is, what determines "resaonable?"

Ask 20 people and you'd probably get 20 answers.

I think its reasonable for customers to be responsible for monitoring their useage, and to give them the ability to upgrade their plan before the overages occur. Or maybe, give customers a one time only option to waive overages fees they just incurred if they agree to an unlimited plan for a period of time.

Call me crazy, but I think a business should be abel to collect the money it is owed based on the signed agreement the customer made.
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