BUCKS WATCH
Sprint Rewards Points to Expire November 3 - Sprint long distance subscribers who are members of the company’s Sprint Rewards Program should be sure to check that they’re not missing out on free products and services. As of July 6, Sprint has terminated the program. However, program members with at least 3,000 Sprint Rewards points and whose accounts are in good credit standing will still be able to redeem their points until November 3. Any points not redeemed by November 3 will be forfeited. We have seen reports of Sprint customers who have been enrolled in the Sprint Rewards program for upwards of 10 years, accumulating enough points to redeem them for airline tickets and other high-cost items. If you suspect that you may be a Sprint Rewards member, or if you just haven’t checked your balance in a while, be sure to review your latest bill or call Sprint customer service to find out how to redeem your points before they become worthless. For more information on the Sprint Rewards program, click herei.
TRAC AND YOU
Do Different Cell Phone Models Have Different Call Quality? - Here at TRACNotes we often receive great questions from our readers. Here’s one that we received this week from a reader in Florida:
Just curious, we can go on and on about telephone companies and their services BUT are there differences in quality of the actual cell phones? We are located out in the 'boonies' and have Alltel service but in our area of Suwannee County and also[in] places that we frequent when traveling [such as] Presque Isle, Maine, and also up in the northwest on the San Juan Islands. We know that towers and service providers have their glitches, but again, is one cell phone better than the other to pick up difficult 'sends' to us?.
Great question! In general, you can expect a newer phone to function better than an older phone. This is because phones produced in the last 2-3 years are better able to process the millions of bits of information necessary to convert your voice and the voice of your calling partner into bits of data and reassemble them into a coherent, clear sound. Additional factors to consider when trying out phones include phone volume and speaker and microphone placement. Phone volume seems like an obvious point to consider, but many phones do not have sufficient volume in their speakers to rise above exterior noises, especially outdoors or in vehicles where background noise tends to be much higher than in indoor locations. For consumers with hearing difficulties, this is an especially important factor to consider. Speaker and microphone placement on the handsets themselves may also affect the ability of users to hear or be heard clearly. Despite their ever-smaller size, the most up-to-date phones are fairly good at picking up your voice, even if the microphone is not near your mouth when the phone is used. For consumers with very soft voices, or whose phone doesn’t pick up their voice well, consider investing in a hands-free headset that features a higher-gain microphone. When buying a new phone, be sure to take advantage of the 15-30 day grace period in which you can return the handset and cancel a service contract without incurring an early-termination penalty. If the handset you received is not meeting your needs, return it and ask for a replacement handset. A great resource for comparing the call quality of individual phones is the technology review website CNET.com. There, consumers can compare reviews hundreds of phones along with owner comments and ratings. To check out all of their reviews, click hereii.
WASHINGTON WATCH
Spanish-American War Tax Repeal Gaining Momentum - Efforts to repeal the 3% Federal Excise Tax on local, long distance, and wireless phone bills may be gaining ground on Capitol Hill. In April, Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA), along with 98 co-sponsors, introduced the Telephone Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2005 in the U.S. House of Representatives. This month, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced a companion bill in the Senate. In response to ratepayer lawsuits, seven federal courts ruled the tax to be illegal, with the latest defeat for the IRS coming in May of this year. The tax was originally instituted to help pay for the Spanish-American War by taxing telephone owners, since at the time telephones were considered a luxury for the rich. The tax has survived for over 100 years, collecting over $300 billion in tax revenue, according to the Congressional Research Service. For more information on the Federal Excise Tax, click hereiii. To read the full text of Rep. Miller’s bill, click hereiv.
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!
