Cell phone guidelines aimed at heading off government regulations
By Staff and wire reports
Published September 15, 2003
The cellular industry has adopted a list of voluntary guidelines aimed at improving customer service and heading off possible government regulations.
The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, an industry group, said its 10-point code is designed to give consumers more information about wireless services and rate plans.
CTIA president Tom Wheeler said the guidelines show the industry can police itself so government intervention is not needed.
The code includes providing new customers with a minimum 14-day trial period for new service and allowing people to end service if there are significant changes to their contracts.
Some consumer advocates were skeptical of the new code.
"Instead of taking concrete steps to ensure that consumers receive quality service at a reasonable price, cell phone companies offer a 21/2-page set of vague promises that can't be enforced," said Janee Briesemeister, an analyst with Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. "Why should we trust the companies to police themselves when they haven't in the past?"
The code includes these promises from wireless companies:
- Provide ready access to customer service.
- Provide coverage maps, illustrating where service is generally available.
- Disclose the rates and terms of service in every advertisement that mentions pricing.
- Promptly respond to consumer inquiries and complaints received from government agencies.
- Provide consumers specific disclosures regarding rates and terms of service for every rate plan or contract.
- Abide by policies for the protection of customer privacy.
- Clearly state contract terms to customers and confirm changes in service when initiating or changing service.
- Separately identify carrier charges from taxes on billing statements.
AOL: You've got calls
Here's something you haven't heard from America Online often: Call us.
The largest online service, which has seen subscribers abandon it in increasing numbers in the past year, appears to be serious about making amends on customer service and tech support.
In a recent e-mail to subscribers, AOL touted its 24-hour member support services, with the hopeful headline: "We're here to help you." It included the usual online support techniques using keywords, but it had one other important piece of information: a toll-free number (1-866-628-8708), something that used to take a bit of digging to discover.
Meanwhile, AOL also unveiled plans for a live, interactive daily online radio show aimed at kids, called Radio KOL. Rick Adams, a United Kingdom children's broadcaster, will host the four-hour program, which will be "chock full of fast and furious energy where anything can happen." It will start at 3 p.m., and include songs, games and celebrity interviews.
Executives at AOL also reportedly are preparing to ask the parent company's board for a green light to get into the local telephone business.
Wayne Pace, chief financial officer, told an investment conference that AOL's cable division has been testing a system to provide residential telephone service over the Internet. The possibility of bringing the product to market will be discussed soon, Pace said, according to a Dow Jones report.
Cell phone needs power? Plug into your laptop
There you are in an airport, in a cab or somewhere where there's no AC power. Fortunately, your trusty notebook computer has a full charge. Unfortunately, your trusty cell phone is about to die. What to do? Too bad you couldn't somehow take the power from your notebook and channel it into your cell phone. This "shared power" concept is exactly the idea behind Keyspan's (www.keyspan.com) latest offering in its Zip-Linq Retractable Cables.
Basically, the Zip-Linq is a USB phone power cable that draws energy from your notebook and lets you use, as well as charge, your cell phone.
Keyspan makes Zip-Linq versions for a wide variety of cell phones including Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Sanyo and Siemans. Check Keyspan's Web site for supported phones.
All of them are fully compatible with both PC and Mac portables. Prices vary around the $20 mark.
Latest camera phones more than point-and-shoot
The digital cameras on telephones are not just point-and-shoot numbers these days, and the VX6000 from LG is a case in point: It comes with zoom control and three picture resolutions. Chatty shutterbugs can add color and special effects to their photos and e-mail them by way of a picture-messaging service recently started by Verizon Wireless.
In addition to its 1x, 2x and 4x zoom and picture resolutions of 160 by 120 pixels, 320 by 240 pixels and 640 by 480 pixels, the LG VX6000 can take up to five photos in a row without interruption. Other features on the phone include a color screen, Web browsing and e-mail software, a built-in personal organizer and as much as 31/2 hours of talk time on a battery charge. The VX6000 normally sells for $200, but Verizon Wireless is offering a $50 mail-in rebate until Sept. 28.
For those who want a wireless phone primarily for talking, LG (www.lgmobilephones) offers a simpler model with a monochrome screen called the VX3100. The VX3100, which can be had for as little as $49 (after a $50 rebate offer) when purchased with a two-year Verizon contract, can handle Web browsing and text messaging and comes with a personal organizer. The LG phones, available at www.verizonwireless.com are equipped with more than two dozen ring tones, making it easier to keep your co-workers guessing whose phone is ringing.
Report: Tobacco an easy online buy for underage teens
It's easy for underage teenagers to buy cigarettes over the Internet using credit cards or money orders because almost none of the vendors verifies buyers' ages, a University of North Carolina researcher reported.
Standing beside a pile of more than 1,500 packs of Marlboro cigarettes bought by children as young as 11, Kurt Ribisl, an assistant professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health, announced the results of a study that exposed an electronic pipeline of smokes to minors.
The results were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Four teens in Ribisl's study made 83 attempts to buy cigarettes and succeeded in 76 instances - almost 92 percent of the time.
Most of the vendors warned on their Web pages that they would not sell to minors, but only four blocked sales when the teens failed to provide a copy of a driver's license showing they were 18 or older. Eighteen is the legal age to buy cigarettes in most states, including North Carolina.
