Cell Phone Cos. Go by Own Rules [Does anyone know G* billing policy on this issue?]
July 6, 1999
Filed at 5:33 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- Whether it's local or long distance, home phone
or pay phone, it's understood: A call starts with ''hello.'' If there's no
answer, there's no charge.
With mobile phones, the situation can be quite different.
Most mobile phone companies charge from the moment the caller hits the
''send'' button. One industry leader, Sprint PCS, charges for calls even if
there's no answer.
Since companies generally charge for a full minute even when less than a
minute is used, those few seconds when the phone is ringing could inflate
a monthly bill quite a bit.
This is especially true if the caller is paying extra fees for peak-hour
usage, long-distance or calls made far away from home that trigger
''roaming'' charges of 60 cents or more a minute.
The only nod to conventional telephone wisdom is that most companies
don't charge if there's a busy signal.
These billing policies are spelled out in the contracts signed by today's 76
million cell phone users -- but even some experts and careful shoppers
were surprised to hear of them.
''I had no idea, and I would consider myself as astute on my telephone
charges as anybody,'' said Rex G. Mitchell, an telecommunications
industry analyst with Banc of America Securities in San Francisco and a
former executive with the regional phone company U S West.
''Occasionally, when I'm out of town, I will make a call and look at the
second hand on my watch to keep it under a minute because I'm paying
long-distance or roaming charges,'' said Mitchell. ''But I've been timing it
from 'hello' instead of from 'send.' I won't make that mistake now.''
The issue of first-minute billing policies caught the public eye in recent
weeks after Cellular One tried to reduce the free ''ringing time'' it gives
its New England customers to 15 seconds from 30. The carrier was
bombarded by customer complaints, and quickly scrapped the change.
Many of the million or more people signing up for wireless service each
month focus less on when the call begins and more on how many minutes
are included in their monthly calling plan or the fees for long-distance and
peak-hour calls.
Adam Litwinski, 26, an independent film maker from New York,
disconnected his home phone and uses his wireless for all calls, but he
had no idea he could be charged for unanswered calls.
''I never really paid much attention to it, honestly. I just assumed,'' said
Litwinski. ''It kind of stinks.''
The industry's rationale in treating mobile phones differently from regular
phones is that every wireless call uses the airwaves regardless of whether
the call is successful.
Of course, regular calls also use resources such as space on a fiber-optic
cable. But the companies argue that they have far greater capacity in their
cables than their wireless channels, and that the demands of carrying a
regular phone signal are negligible compared with a wireless signal.
''You're occupying a channel. So when you make a connection, you get
charged from the inception of when you seize that channel,'' explained
Jeff Battcher, a BellSouth spokesman. ''For the most part, it's always
been that way.''
Sprint PCS is only major company that charges from ''send-to-end''
regardless of whether there's an answer.
Even among companies that only charge when a call goes through,
including AirTouch, Bell Atlantic Mobile, BellSouth Mobility and Nextel
Communications, the meter starts running from ''send,'' not from ''hello.''
Industry leader AT&T Wireless also starts the clock from ''send,'' but
doesn't charge for incomplete calls made from within a customer's home
region.
Naturally, since many calling plans come with hundreds of minutes to
burn each month, a lot of mobile phone users rarely reach their limit and
don't need to pay additional charges for calls that don't go through.
Litwinski, for example, pays $100 a month for a Sprint PCS plan with
1,000 minutes of air time so he won't have to worry about how long he
talks or how many calls he makes. ''I never go over,'' he said.
But for those who frequently exceed their monthly allowance or sign up
for cheaper plans with smaller time allotments, those first-minute charges
can be substantial since the average user racks up 100 minutes a month.
Sheila Adkins, spokeswoman for the Council of Better Business Bureaus
and a Cellular One customer, was also surprised to hear about
''send-to-end'' charges.
''They don't tell you these things. I read my bill. I read all the flyers. It
goes to show, you really have to read your contract.'' |
