Consumerist
nickel-and-diming
Posts Tagged “
Cell Phones
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nickel-and-diming
ads
Location-Based Cell Phone Ads Launching Soon
PC World has an overview of Loopt, which will begin testing location-based advertising via CBS Mobile in the near future. What's notable about the service—aside from the fun concept of triangulating location via cell towers—is that Loopt and CBS Mobile "seem to have made most of the right choices for privacy." That includes the service being opt-in instead of opt-out, and no personal data (such as account info or phone number) being sent back upstream. The targeted ads replace existing ads as well, so there's not a location-based spammy increase in advertising with the service. This is the kind of advertising we "like"—localized, relevant, and anonymous on our side of things. More »
Because shopping is never convenient enough, Amazon has introduced a new text message based service where you can shop and purchase directly from your mobile phone via SMS. Ars Technica gives it a trial run and says it works pretty well. [Ars Technica]
etfs
AT&T Introduces Pro-Rated Termination Fees
It's finally official: as of May 25th, AT&T will join the ranks of the pro-rating carrier crowd (which so far just includes Verizon) and start reducing their early termination fees (ETFs) by $5 per month on both one and two-year contracts. This only applies to new customers and those renewing contracts on or after May 25th, so if you can, try to hold off on entering into a contract with AT&T for the next two months. What up, Sprint and T-Mobile? Why is it taking so long for you to pro-rate your ETFs? We guess you're too busy going out of business and suing creation, respectively. More »
text messaging
A class-action lawsuit has been filed in California against Verizon and several third-party companies, alleging that they promoted illegal gambling by enticing customers to pay to enter contests in which there was an "infinitesimally" small chance of winning, reports RCRWireless. "The suit centers on 99-cent charges levied on wireless consumers who played contests associated with popular TV shows like 'Deal or No Deal' and 'Sole Survivor.'" The plaintiffs claim that the contests were less promotional sweepstakes than "illegal lotteries designed to generate revenues far in excess of the value of the cash awarded."
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Lawsuit Says Verizon's Text Message TV Show Contests Are "Illegal Gambling"
A class-action lawsuit has been filed in California against Verizon and several third-party companies, alleging that they promoted illegal gambling by enticing customers to pay to enter contests in which there was an "infinitesimally" small chance of winning, reports RCRWireless. "The suit centers on 99-cent charges levied on wireless consumers who played contests associated with popular TV shows like 'Deal or No Deal' and 'Sole Survivor.'" The plaintiffs claim that the contests were less promotional sweepstakes than "illegal lotteries designed to generate revenues far in excess of the value of the cash awarded."
More »
billing
EU Pushes For Per-Second Wireless Billing
Viviane Reding, the European Union's Telecommunications Commissioner, is our new wireless hero. She's demanding that wireless carriers in Europe begin billing on a per-second basis rather than per-minute, because "at the retail level, the difference between billed and actual minutes appears to be typically around 20 percent." More »
early termination fees
Carriers Promised Congress They'd Pro-Rate ETFs; Senator Asks Them, "When?"
In a letter to Sprint, AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has asked the companies whether or not they're going to start pro-rating their Early Termination Fee policies as promised, reports RCR Wireless. "Sens. Klobuchar and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) are co-sponsors of a sweeping wireless consumer protection bill" that carriers are against. In her letter, Klobuchar writes, "It is time for the wireless companies to adhere to the assurances they made to the American consumer and start pro-rating these fees." In response, Sprint said by the end of Q2 2008, T-Mobile said the first half of 2008, and AT&T Mobility said nothing at all. (Verizon already pro-rates their ETF.) More »
activation fees
Follow Up: AT&T Says There's No Activation Fee For GoPhones
Earlier this week we posted an email from a man who said an AT&T salesman tried to charge him an "activation fee" to switch his daughter's already-active SIM card to a GoPhone. We got a lot of useful (if sometimes contradictory) advice from readers in the comments section, and now an AT&T spokesman has written in with an official statement about it. More »
trial periods
When Buying A New Cell Phone, Ask About The "Buyer's Remorse" Period
Jason bought a couple of new Sidekick phones, but quickly discovered that he and his wife couldn't live with the abysmal battery life. He called T-Mobile and found out that he had a 14-day window during which he could return the phones for a full refund. Before he sent them back in, however, T-Mobile offered to send him two more batteries via expedited shipping to see if the experience would improve. Jason agreed and tested the new batteries, but still wanted to return the phone. But now he had a problem: he was one day outside his "Buyer's Remorse" period and T-Mobile wouldn't let him. More »
Katie says her Sidekick wasn't connecting to the network for the past day or so, so she "called T-Mobile and there's an outage in NYC affecting all gprs-using devices (sidekicks, blackberries, etc)." They gave her a $5 credit for compensation, so if you're in a similar situation you might want to call T-Mobile to complain.
cell phones
Why Is Sprint Blocking MMS Picture Messages On High-End Phones?
Sprint appears to be blocking MMS picture messages on certain phones, specifically high-end ones like the HTC Touch. Although the phones are fully capable of sending and receiving such messages, Sprint sells them with the required features disabled, and each time a third-party developer comes up with a software solution that solves the problem, Sprint swoops in and "fixes" it so that it no longer works. More »
fast food
Pizza Hut Announces Nationwide Mobile Ordering
Pizza Hut may not be the world's best pizza, but now that they've rolled out nationwide mobile ordering—via their website on any web-enabled phone, or text message on the rest—they're certainly one of the easiest pizza joints to order from. More »
mobile applications
Idea: Find Your Way Through The Mall Via GPS
Now that we've got such advanced cell phone technology, Russel Shaw with ZDNet thinks we should start putting it to use to make shopping in the real world easier. His idea, free for the taking if you're feeling entrepreneurial: shopping mall geolocation services. More »
personal finance
Wesabe's New Mobile Site Helps Track Expenses On The Go
Wesabe, the popular personal finance website, has unveiled a new mobile version that "lets you check your balances, see recent transactions, and... enter cash transactions, from any mobile browser." To save time, you only need to enter the most basic information via your phone—you can add the details to the entry later from a standard web browser. More »
services
TryPhone Lets You Test Phone Interfaces Online
TryPhone seems like a great idea on the surface—you can preview mock-ups of current phone models and test out their interfaces through your browser. In reality, the beta launch feels underdeveloped, even for a web service beta, with only four models to choose from and limited interactivity on each. The idea is good, but we hope they work on execution. More »
how to
Save $10 On T-Mobile Total Internet
A reader writes in to say he saved $10 on his T-Mobile bill when he called up to ask why there were two different "Total Internet" options on his add-ons list. Were they the same thing? Yes. So he could switch to the cheaper one without penalty and get exactly the same add-on? Sure.More »
cell phones
Consumer Reports Survey Discovers People Hate Cell Phone Companies
The next issue of Consumer Reports will contain the results of a nationwide customer satisfaction survey for the mobile phone industry. In a surprise to no one who actually has a mobile phone, the cellular industry is "among the lowest-rated services" for consumers, particularly because of termination fees, high prices, and confusing contracts.More »
cell phones
