WIRELESS WATCH
Useful Wireless Holiday Shopping Guides Abound Online - One of the great things about the explosion of wireless phone use in the U.S. has been the proliferation of wireless handset and plan review websites. With wireless devices sure to be a hot holiday gift idea again this year, several reputable websites have posted great wireless phone shopping guides. PhoneScoop.com’s Holiday Gift Guide 2005 has a good primer on what kind of users would benefit from prepaid versus low-volume and high-volume post-paid service plans. They even suggest handset models that would suit everyone from gadget aficionados to technophobes. Consumers can access the gift guide for free by clicking here or visiting www.phonescoop.com. CNET.com’s annual Holiday Gift Guide offers recommendations and customer reviews of many different cell phones and PDA’s, handily segmented by price into affordable, midrange, and expensive categories. The guide is available online here or by visiting www.cnet.com. The growth of blogs and message forums has also helped wireless consumers in the quest to find the best deal. Some of the best sites to find up-to-date information are www.mobileburn.com, www.howardchui.com, www.wirelessadvisor.com, and www.mobiletracker.net.
BUCKS WATCH
Cost to Call Mobile Phones Overseas to Increase for MCI Subscribers - MCI international long distance subscribers calling overseas friends and family on New Years Day may be forced to pay more for their calls this year. In what may prove to be one of the last MCI rate changes before the merger with Verizon closes in early 2006, MCI is raising the fee it charges for connecting calls to mobile phones overseas in 31 countries, mostly in the developing world. The countries to see the largest increase in the so-called “international mobile termination” (IMT) charge include the Caribbean territories of French Antilles, French Guiana, and Guadeloupe (32¢, 23¢, and 10¢ per minute increase, respectively). Other notable IMT charge increases include Estonia (7¢), Morocco (5¢), Sao Tome (8¢), and Sudan (12¢). The news isn’t all bad for MCI international long distance customers, however, as the IMT charge will be decreasing by 1¢-15¢ per minute to 35 countries including Finland (15¢), France (7¢), Kenya (4¢), South Africa (3¢), and Switzerland (3¢). The IMT is a per-minute charge applied to each minute of calling to a mobile phone overseas in addition to the normal per-minute rate attributed to the subscriber’s international long distance calling plan. For a full listing of the new IMT charges, click here.
TRAC IN THE NEWS
More Comments on Free Directory Assistance Services – TRAC’s review of free telephone directory assistance calling options continues to generate quite a bit of media interest. “If this business model turns out to work - and I have no idea whether it will or not - it could make paying for directory assistance obsolete," noted Newsday this week, quoting TRAC research associate John Breyault. The article also points out that subscribers to Cablevision’s Optimum Voice VoIP calling service also receive free directory assistance as a perk for getting their telephone service through the cable giant. To read the full article, click here.
TRAC AND YOU
Planning to Buy New Communications Devices or Services for the Holidays? – The holiday shopping season is one of the busiest times of the year for telecommunications companies. Are you planning in buying a new communications device (wireless phone, PDA, etc.) or service (VoIP phone service, wireless broadband) this holiday season? If so, what qualities are your looking for? Great reception on a wireless phone? The most fashionable Blackberry? Or just a cheap reliable phone that an elderly relative can keep for emergencies? We want to know. E-mail your telecommunications wish list to TRACNotes at trac@trac.org. We’ll pick the best letters and offer our recommendations on how to find the best deal in an upcoming edition of TRACNotes.
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!
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©2005 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"
