TRACNotes
Vol. 2 # 21 --
May 27, 2004
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WIRELESS WATCH
Do Night and Weekend Minutes Apply To Memorial Day Calling? - Millions of Americans will be heading out of town this weekend to celebrate Memorial Day. Riding along with them will be millions of wireless phones. Unfortunately for the customers of most wireless carriers, calls made on Memorial Day will count as anytime (or peak) minutes, not as night and weekend minutes. To find out if your wireless carrier counts Memorial Day minutes as anytime or night and weekend minutes, see the chart below. TRAC's TeleTips Consumer Guide to Wireless Service is a great tool for consumers looking to choose the right wireless service to meet their needs. The guide is available for purchase from TRAC by clicking here(iii).
BUCKS WATCH
Wireless Phone Donations Yield Tax Break for Consumers - Thanks to the advent of next-generation phones and new FCC rules on wireless local number portability, millions of consumers are getting rid of their old wireless phones and buying new handsets. This means that millions of old phones are sitting unused in junk drawers or, worse yet, being thrown into landfills where their toxic materials can pollute the environment. Consumers can help protect the environment and get a tax deduction by donating their unwanted phones to Collective Good, an independent Atlanta-based recycling group. At Collective Good's website, consumers can choose from over 300 charities who receive a credit for the value of the donated phone. Consumers can then either ship their old phone (shipping costs are tax-deductible as well) to Collective Good or drop off the phone at any Staples store. The charity chosen will then send out an acknowledgement letter or tax-deduction receipt. Phones in good working order, are then refurbished and sold in the developing world, where many people cannot afford wireless phones. Unusable phones are recycled in an environmentally friendly manner. Consumers should be sure to cancel any service plan on the old phone before donating it. For more information on donating your old phone to Collective Good, click here(iv). SCAM WATCH
Ask For a "PIC Freeze" To Prevent Slamming - Consumers should be on the lookout for scams that switch their long-distance provider without their consent, a practice commonly known as "slamming." This is often accomplished by sending a check in the mail to consumers, who unknowingly authorize the switch by endorsing the check. The fine print of the attached form (known as a letter of agency or LOA) authorizes the company issuing the check to switch the consumer's long distance plan. Consumers wishing to protect themselves from slamming should contact their local service provider and request a "primary interexchange carrier (PIC)" freeze which prevents being switched (slammed) to another long distance carrier without the consumer's express written consent. Consumers who have been slammed should not pay any bill they receive from the slamming company for the first thirty days after the slamming occurs. Instead, consumers should call the original (authorized) long-distance carrier and ask it to restore their calling plan and remove any "change of carrier" fees. The slamming company is required to pay the authorized long distance carrier 150 percent of any charges it has collected from a slammed consumer. Fifty percent of that amount should then be refunded to the consumer by the authorized carrier. For more information on slamming, click here(v).
TRAC IN THE NEWS
Number Portability Problems Getting Better Says TRAC - TRAC was quoted in the May 19 edition of the Birmingham News in a story on the May 24 extension of wireless local number portability rules to the rest of the country. "[T]he nation's seven biggest wireless providers appear to have resolved technical issues that dogged them in switching customers since Nov. 24," quoted the story, in reference to an earlier edition of TRACNotes. To access the story, click here(vi).
INTERESTING LINKS
FCC Main Page - http://www.fcc.gov
FCC Complaint Form - http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
List of State Regulatory Commissions - http://www.naruc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=15
What do you think? Got a tip you want to share? Nominate your "Scam of the Week" and your "Tip of the Week" - If we select your submission, we’ll give you a one-year free membership in TRAC and acknowledge your contribution by name in TRACNotes. Send an e-mail to trac@trac.org to submit your ideas!
©2004 Telecommunications Research and Action Center. TRAC grants unlimited rights to reproduce TRACNotes or any information contained in it provided attribution is given as follows: "Source:Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org"
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