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| Number Portability On Nextel Too? |
Question:
OK - key question...Any idea when
the portability option will be in
place??
I'm looking to jump ship from Nextel
and would rather keep my number
Answer:
Yes they will be able to provide number
portability. After all they
will - want customers who are unhappy
with other services to migrate onto
their - service. I was on a
conference
call
with Nextel and they are currently
- getting geared up for this.
- If deciphering your cellphone bill
wasn't confusing enough already, -
here comes a new round of hidden fees.
- Desperate to boost revenue, cellular
carriers are starting to tack on -
a range of surcharges and add-on expenses
that often aren't clearly - disclosed
to customers. Adding to the confusion,
companies make it - sound as if the
new fees are government-imposed taxes,
which they - aren't.
- For customers, the new fees make
those great-sounding deals in - advertisements
an increasingly unreliable barometer
of how much you - will actually pay
for cellphone service. Combined with
the widely - varying bundles of minutes
and services offered by various providers
- -- roaming charges, weekend minutes,
anytime minutes and in some cases
- even rollover minutes -- it has
gotten to the point where it is all
- but impossible to comparison-shop.
- This month, Cingular Wireless, a
joint venture of BellSouth Corp. and
- SBC Communications Inc., started
charging customers as much as an -
extra $1.25 a month for "regulatory
cost recovery fee" pegged to,
- among other things, a legal requirement
that carriers be able to - pinpoint
the location of callers who dial 911.
Earlier this year, - Sprint Corp.'s
Sprint PCS instituted a 47-cent charge
for "number - pooling,"
something that carriers are doing
to reduce the need for - creating
new numbers. AT&T Wireless Services
Inc. recently started - charging some
subscribers an extra $1.75 a month
for the 911 upgrade, - as well as
for the ability to keep the same phone
number when - switching carriers.
- The carriers say they are simply
trying to recoup the costs of - complying
with the various legal requirements.
Regulations, for - instance, require
all cellphone companies by the end
of November to - provide the option
of keeping your phone number when
switching - carriers, which is known
as number portability. It isn't yet
- available, however. And the industry,
in a court battle, is trying to -
ward off ever having to introduce
it.
- Taken together, all the taxes and
fees in a typical cellphone bill can
- pile up. Cingular advertises a $39.99
package, for instance, that in - New
York ends up actually costing $49.74,
or 24% more.
- Critics say the new fees simply
reflect the costs of doing business
as - a cellphone company, and question
why they are broken out and listed
- separately. Under that theory, "A
certain part of a [phone] bill would
- go to donuts for executives at meetings,
too," says Missouri Attorney
- General Jay Nixon, who has filed
a complaint against Sprint Corp. and
- Nextel Communications Inc., complaining
that the carriers are - misleading
consumers. "They are trying to
blame the government and say - these
are taxes, when they are not,"
Mr. Nixon says.
- Many of the new fees are small,
and making a wireless call is still
- cheaper than ever. In just the past
year, the average per-minute cost
- has dropped roughly 19%, according
to Craig Mallitz, a wireless - analyst
at Legg Mason. And carriers point
out that most of the extra - fees
on a bill are actually imposed by
the government.
- Rate Increases
- However, the new fees are essentially
rate increases -- despite the - language
on some bills that seems to imply
that carriers have no - choice but
to pass them along. For example, Sprint's
new fee appears - on bills under the
heading "Taxes, Regulatory Related
Charges and - Surcharges and Fees."
Nextel describes its fee as "Federal
Programs - Cost Recovery." Cingular,
which also says it is recovering various
- state regulatory fees, calls it
a "Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee."
- Already struggling with slowing
revenue growth, and a brutal price
war - of their own making, carriers
claim some of the mandates are an
unfair - burden. For example they
argue that the number-portability
requirement - is a costly and unnecessary
imposition, since the industry is
already - hyper competitive and customers
currently feel free to switch carriers
- even when they can't keep their
numbers.
- "When governments mandate that
carriers spend money on number - portability
or other requirements, that means
less money is available - for improved
service," says Travis Larson
of the Cellular - Telecommunications
and Internet Association.
- Disputing the Charges
- Consumers can dispute the charges
when they pop up on their bills. -
Given that cellphone companies are
desperate to stave off defections,
- threatening to switch might yield
some concessions. While the - customer-service
reps probably won't have the authority
to eliminate - fees from your bill,
they might be willing to give you
more minutes, - or throw in a new
phone.
- Mr. Nixon, the Missouri attorney
general, says that customers are -
allowed by some carriers to cancel
their contracts without penalty if
- a carrier unilaterally raises your
rates. This, he argues, is a rate
- increase, so you can simply walk
away.
- Nextel spokeswoman Leigh Horner
called the Missouri suit "baseless."
- The company "worked very hard
and very carefully to express that
fee - in a manner that would be most
informational" for customers,
she said, - adding that the carrier
lists its $1.55 fee separately because
it is - designed to recoup costs imposed
by regulators.
- Nextel started charging customers
a 55-cent fee in October of last -
year, and raised it to $1.55 in January.
- 'Thorough' Job
- A Sprint PCS spokeswoman said the
carrier wouldn't comment on the -
Missouri lawsuit, but said that, like
other carriers, it had done a - "thorough"
job of explaining the fees in a mailing
to customers. The - carrier also has
clarified the language regarding its
fees. It - previously bunched in a
911 fee with a federal charge and
described - them as "USA Regulatory
Obligations and Fees." Now the
fees are broken - out separately (though
they still have the word "Federal"
preceding - them).
- Some carriers say they have taken
pains not to make consumers think
- the fees are imposed by the government:
AT&T Wireless's charge -- - which
applies to new customers and subscribers
changing their plans - and will soon
be extended to customers with expired
contracts -- isn't - under the "Taxes,
Surcharges and Regulatory Fees"
section. "We wanted - to make
clear it is not a fee imposed by the
government," a - spokeswoman
said. The company also says it plans
to drop the fee once - it recovers
the costs of adding the services.
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