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FCC Lays Down 'Bill Shock' Proposal

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Because God help us if we were just responsible...

JeffdaBeat

Oct 14, 2010, 1:08 PM
Should my water/gas/electric company do the same thing?

I think consumers just need to be more resposible and actually take a hard look at the plans they sign up for. It's not even that it is as difficult as reading your credit card agreement. If you are one of those people that just don't think you text that much, but you go over...well that's your fault for not monitoring it...which a lot of companies let you do online. Same with minutes. Be responsible.
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patrickrlewis

Oct 14, 2010, 1:15 PM
completely agree.

There is no "bill shock". It is called nothing more than not wanting to take responsibility for your actions. We are becoming more and more of a government controlled population every day.
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MadFatMan

Oct 14, 2010, 1:42 PM
I get it now, since I'm what some people may call a "lard ass" but I don't think that I personally eat "that much".

I over order at the Sizzler, eat until I puke, then can't pay my bill. The GOVERNMENT is going to step in, legislate, make the Sizzler cut or drop my bill, then FINE the Sizzler then I can get a FAT settlement (to match my fat ass) for being a victim of their delicious food, afterall I can't be held accountable for what I use as a consumer.
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GeeksAreBest

Oct 14, 2010, 1:45 PM
🤣 🤣 🤣
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ATTDRONEV2.5

Oct 14, 2010, 7:16 PM
👀 shut up! people might take you serious... 🤣
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xxmxxmxxmxxm

Oct 17, 2010, 2:44 PM
true dat
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Boombocker

Oct 14, 2010, 1:29 PM
I know right, like in June and July my sprinkler system broke and was leaking a lake into my neighbors yard and didnt know until he came and told me, water bill was triple what it should have been, do you think the city should have notified me? Or maybe they should have credited the overages back since it wasnt my fault?
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flip mode

Oct 14, 2010, 1:32 PM
in chicago and suburbs they actually have code enforcement personnel that does let you know sometimes which is better than never at least
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Boombocker

Oct 14, 2010, 1:47 PM
ok that would have been nice, and technically did impact more than just me(the environment, my neighbor) with the leak but I still had to pay for it, and pay to fix it. I would actually be annoyed by this for one, I do have overages every month, Im lazy and don't go buy calling cards and know that when I call my husband in afghanistan serving our country it costs me $3/min, spending about $200 for that a month, and its not a shocker, I get off the phone, look at the time, 33 minutes, grrreeat $100 conversation, that reminds me gotta pay that bill today!
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flip mode

Oct 14, 2010, 1:51 PM
my dad's in iraq and the army gives them skype to use...caller id shows up as 012-345-6789 and i dont think he pays for it
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Boombocker

Oct 14, 2010, 1:58 PM
yeaaaaa his plt isnt that connected to the world as I would like and if they do get a chance to get online its his nighttime, and Im at work... 😢
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GeeksAreBest

Oct 14, 2010, 2:11 PM
Not everyone's deployed in a base. My dad was deployed to a set of tents in the middle of nowhere with satalite uplinks that worked about 30% of the time, and usually at intervals when no one actually needed to use them.
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MadFatMan

Oct 14, 2010, 2:37 PM
🙄
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flip mode

Oct 14, 2010, 3:08 PM
🤣
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CellStudent

Oct 14, 2010, 2:51 PM
You likely got a 3x larger water bill because you had about 3x the normal water usage for that month. Same thing happened to my mother-in-law 7 or 8 years ago. Her incompetent husband winterized the sprinkler system improperly, so when it kicked back on in the spring she had a swamp in the far back of her back yard that she didn't notice for 4 weeks. Using more water costs more money. It sucks, but it's a reasonable charge.

Compare that to someone on a 900 minute, $80 calling plan who uses 3x their minute allowance during one month. Naturally, one would think that their bill would go up 3x as well and they would get billed $180 for that month, right.

Nope. That bill is going to be more like $700 - $900! More then 10x the charge ...
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crammy1

Oct 14, 2010, 3:59 PM
its different cause u have a plan for your phone bill..u dont for your water bill...your in PPU for water..if your at PPU on ur phone bill then it would be the same.. but we dont do that because its way cheaper to be in a plan..and dont tell me that u wer nor given options to be in PPU phone plans because there are PPU options on prepaid providers and it is much costly to be in that kind of "plan" with the same usage on a minute plan. (based from ur previous posts im sure i dont have to explain the math for this one cause im not good at math XD )
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Boombocker

Oct 14, 2010, 4:06 PM
um I get why I had a larger water bill thanks, most cell phone companys will help you with your overages if you watch your usage and catch it before your bill closes. My point is since I didnt watch to see that my neighbor was getting a large bird bath/mosquito nest and fix it sooner, I had a larger than normal water bill, so I paid for my neglect to my property. If you neglect to keep track of your minutes you get a huge bill.
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Azeron

Oct 14, 2010, 6:23 PM
So that person signed off on a $.40 per minute overage charge, which I agree is completely unreasonable as carriers MAYBE pay a cent or two per minute. Still, why is this something the government has to get involved with? The idiot customer CHOSE to pay $59.99 for 900 peak with unlimited M2M and Nights and Weekends rather than ten more dollars for Unlimited minutes. Whose freaking fault is that? Obviously not the idiot customer.
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flip mode

Oct 14, 2010, 1:29 PM
Heaven forbid the company acts responsible instead of the consumer made to be the idiot....am i right guys!? high-five anyone?!?! no? (crickets chirping)
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GeeksAreBest

Oct 14, 2010, 1:46 PM
The consumer usually IS the idiot though.
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PhonemanJ

Oct 14, 2010, 3:53 PM
Customers can't seem to grasp the concept of the more you use, the more it costs you. I know that with ATT you can find out at any time how many minutes you have used and if you have gone over the minutes in the plan. And you can do this either on your phone or on line. Yet people seemed shocked that they have used so many minutes. Their response is something along the lines of "But I don't use the phone that much." Then you show them the detailed bill and they go "Ok, maybe I do". You then tell them that if they move off of the $39.99 plan and pay only $30 more, they can get unlimited, their response to that is "But then my bill will be too high." Then you feel like reaching across the desk and slapping them silly.
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Azeron

Oct 14, 2010, 6:54 PM
If they discover they have gone over their minutes before their bill cycles they can EVEN backdate their rate plan. I think rather than deal with this the carriers should simply go to All One Can Use rate plans.
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flip mode

Oct 15, 2010, 11:51 AM
Bravo! agreed
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Azeron

Oct 14, 2010, 6:28 PM
Hell yes! Do customer service for a few years and your opinion of mankind's intelligence will significantly drop.
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Azeron

Oct 14, 2010, 6:27 PM
The question is should it be the company's CHOICE to be "responsible" or should the meddling, freaking government FORCE them to be?
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Otowncell

Oct 14, 2010, 1:32 PM
we as a country are a "welfare" nation. I mean the people in this country believe that everything should be a handout and that the gov't needs to set rules and laws that require everyone to help everyone when all everyone are is f*** ups. No one has personal responsibility anymore and its sad.
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crammy1

Oct 14, 2010, 4:18 PM
yeah and it funny that you'll get some people here complaining that the US is turning into a socialist country when(based on your post) it already is one.
🙄
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tmorep03

Oct 14, 2010, 1:50 PM
this is dumb cause the customer should be responsible for their use, not the company. i think its the government steppin a little to far.Your still goin to get the people who cant pay thier bill even if they know they went over thier minutes
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CellStudent

Oct 14, 2010, 2:40 PM
JeffdaBeat said:
Should my water/gas/electric company do the same thing?


You cannot compare REGULATED industries (water/gas/electric to UNREGULATED industries like cellular.

I'll look at my Gas bill as an example. My gas company charges around $7 just to have service, plus $8 per DTH ("decatherm" is the "minute" or "megabyte" of the gas world) for the first 50 DTH and then $9 per DTH if I use more then 50 DTH in one month.

So, my "overage rate" is only 10% more then my "basic rate." Let's compare that to cellular service...

Your basic plan is 450 - 700 minutes for about $40, which equates to $0.05 - $0.09 per minute (not including the "free" N&W or m2m usage).

But what's my overage rate? ...
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MadFatMan

Oct 14, 2010, 2:53 PM
Blah blah blah ... You HAVE to use THAT gas company and the rate was MOST LIKELY regulated by a municipal franchise agreement.

You have freedom in the open market to choose the carried of your choice.

Your overage rate is not a secret, it is fully disclosed in the contract that no one broke your arm to get you to sign.

You can do yourself and the wireless provider of your choosing by being honest with yourself on your possible usage and selecting the appropriate price plan.
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CellStudent

Oct 14, 2010, 4:26 PM
MadFatMan said:
You have freedom in the open market to choose the carried of your choice.


Part of the problem is that there is not sufficient competition amongst cellular providers in the United States. It's not really an open market in the same respect that, say, milk, is an open market.

There are no less than 15 grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, vending machines and even a specialty dairy within 5 miles of my home where I have the option to buy a glass of milk. Regardless of where I purchase the product, the milk is pasteurized and homogenized. If I choose to pay $2.79 for a pint of milk at the AM/PM rather then drive across the street and pay $1.78 for entire gallon at Walmart because...
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Boombocker

Oct 14, 2010, 4:32 PM
the point is if you cannot regulate your minute usage, as a consumer you have the choice to select a PREPAID plan that has no overage charges 😳
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Italian-Stallion

Oct 14, 2010, 5:24 PM
That's the truth. If you can't be responsible enough to handle your own minute usage... You should just go prepaid. It's really not that hard to dial a number to find your minute usage. Most companies will actually send you a text message for free if you dial that number so you CAN check. If you can't do that, then don't go with a normal account, go prepaid. 😳
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Azeron

Oct 14, 2010, 7:01 PM
So what? The milk is still the same price at damned near every store.

I cannot believe that there are people in this country who believe that government can solve any problems. Look at the mess that we are in right now.
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CellStudent

Oct 14, 2010, 7:51 PM
I believe that the open market system works perfectly in industries where a man or woman with a great idea can launch new business from scratch and make it competitive for less than $1 billion.

In today's economy, if the reasonable barrier for entering the marketplace is more than $1 billion dollars, open market economics will not be sufficient to allow traditional competition to regulate the supply/demand curve.
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Azeron

Oct 17, 2010, 9:40 AM
You are wrong-minded. You just don't get it. You can keep tossing that BS at me but it won't stick. There is something wrong with people who think a little government interference is all we need to create Utopia.
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CellStudent

Oct 18, 2010, 12:24 AM
Azeron said:
There is something wrong with people who think a little government interference is all we need to create Utopia.


True, but complete government inaction will clearly land us all in mega-corp hell.

And quickly.

As a scientist, I don't care where ideas come from. If they're true, they're true. If they're false, they're false.

Whether the carriers make usage data more accessible because they want to improve customer retention or because the FCC mandates it, I DON'T CARE.

It's a good way to educate consumers. It's not ridiculously expensive to implement. It needs to be done FCC rulemaking or not.

I have no problem with the FCC suggesting good ideas or mandating great ideas. I do...
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80dollarcarcharger

Oct 18, 2010, 8:37 AM
CellStudent said:

As a scientist, I don't care where ideas come from. If they're true, they're true. If they're false, they're false.

.


In science you can't prove anything true, you only can prove things false.
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Azeron

Oct 14, 2010, 6:58 PM
Exactly.
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JeffdaBeat

Oct 14, 2010, 5:49 PM
But this isn't about the price of rates...it's about telling people they are over on the rates they signed up for. AT&T can charge $50 for 200 text if they wanted and people are willing to pay for it...that's not what this bill is about...

But since we are going to bring up AT&T...I've found AT&T actually lets you monitor your usage (as long as you are resposible enough to do it). They even make it look like a status bar for people who don't feel like reading. As the bar fills up, it means you are getting closer to your limit. This is available via the web, over the phone, or through the AT&T App... All a person has to do is be resposible enough to download it and actually check.

What this bill wants, however, is the company to hold th...
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Da_Bonehead

Oct 14, 2010, 6:57 PM
"is the company to hold the consumer's hand and say, "Wait Johnny, you're about to go over on the plan you picked out and didn't take the time to read the parameters..."

The company I work for has been doing this for several months already. We send text to our customers alerting them of there minute and sms usage when they go over 75% and when they hit 100%.
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JeffdaBeat

Oct 15, 2010, 10:41 AM
Congrats...glorified baby sitter...
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SPCSVZWJeff

Oct 14, 2010, 7:17 PM
It would be great customer service if the carriers did that voluntarily. I do not believe they should be mandated to do anything of the sort. If some do it and if customers think it is a great idea they will move to that carrier. Carriers who don't do it would not be looked upon favorably. This is how a free market works. Companies who serve their customers well get more customers. Companies who don't serve the customer well either are discounters relying on price to compete or they are on their way out. Consumers vote each month with their wallets for the carriers. If the carriers meet the consumers need, they continue paying them, if not they find someone else to give their money to.
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CellStudent

Oct 14, 2010, 7:58 PM
SPCSVZWJeff said:
It would be great customer service if the carriers did that voluntarily. I do not believe they should be mandated to do anything of the sort. If some do it and if customers think it is a great idea they will move to that carrier. Carriers who don't do it would not be looked upon favorably. This is how a free market works. Companies who serve their customers well get more customers. Companies who don't serve the customer well either are discounters relying on price to compete or they are on their way out. Consumers vote each month with their wallets for the carriers. If the carriers meet the consumers need, they continue paying them, if not they find someone else to give their money to.


Su...
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SPCSVZWJeff

Oct 15, 2010, 6:42 PM
The principle is still the same, it just is a much slower turnaround time in a more complex market. Why do you think companies like Verizon spend so much in marketing? It is to keep the public perception positive.
Government intervention in ths type of industry only short circuits any market based corrections. Poor performing companies can continue to operate poorly because there are no market consequences for poor performance.
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80dollarcarcharger

Oct 18, 2010, 8:58 AM
But the problem comes when the carriers perform what I called an "implied agreement". Which means that if company X agrees not to perform an action, then company Y won't perform it either. If the carriers agree not to send such notices (like the extra notices for overages, then the oligarchy is getting extra money from unexpecting customers.

I'm not saying that it's right to do that, just saying that one carrier won't voluntarily do this if it's agreed that none will. That idea has to be factored in.
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Webb

Oct 14, 2010, 8:50 PM
Your water, gas, and electric company do not charge a vastly inflated rate if you go over a set bucket.
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flip mode

Oct 15, 2010, 12:10 AM
heck lets just get the regulations for credit cards removed by your logic then....go buy something for $550 at best buy for example so when Chase or Bank of America come and reposes your house/2 kids and your kidney after not paying your bill in one month all at once... you can be happy knowing you did the right thing by voting yes for corporate penetration, boss 🤣 🤣 🤣
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hush

Oct 15, 2010, 1:43 PM
you know what would be fun? if morons actually checked their online account usage section regularly. then no one would have bill shock because you'd be responsible! people are retarded and irresponsible for their actions.
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bearofpanda

Oct 17, 2010, 12:39 PM
I think that most of you are forgetting that the average consumer still knows nothing about what they are getting in to. perfect example is a woman who came into my store last week. she had recently bought a phone from another location and the sales rep explained to her all about the web capabilities of her shiny new reality. low and behold 2 months later she joins facebook and racks up massive charges by going over her 25mb allowance. Is this really her fault? the woman who has no idea what a MB really is? or have any idea how much data a particular sight might use. for the first 2 months she was comstantly using her email from her phone (which was free and didn't go towards her MB usage) suddenly this huge bill comes and she is upset. the ...
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