Cell Phone Companies Rip Off Boomers and Seniors

 

Speak Out to Save Money

Ok, all you cell phone users!!! listen up to what the Seniors Coalition is telling us. Boomers and olders are getting ripped off by the billing methods of cell companies. If you want to save big money, let's get on board with the organization's campaign to have Congress investigate cell companies billing methods and scare tactics. This could mean savings of hundreds of dollars. And we all need every penny we can get, right? So read on below the information sent to me by the Srs Coalition.

 

THE SENIORS COALITION:  CELL PHONE BILLS SHOULD UNDERGO THE SAME KIND OF TOUGH CRACKDOWN AS CREDIT CARDS

  Widespread Uncertainty and Industry-Fostered Confusion Mean That Consumers

 Pay Much More Than Is Necessary; Why So-Called “Unlimited” Plans Don’t Solve Problem of Wasted Cell Phone Minutes, High Cell Phone Bills.

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 28, 2009 –  It’s time for cell phone companies and their poor disclosures to U.S. seniors and other consumers to get the same

 kind of tough going-over that Congress just gave to credit cards, according to The Seniors Coalition. 

 Knowing that Congress was going to take a hard look at credit card companies and their billing practices, The Seniors Coalition commissioned a March 2-5, 2009 survey by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC).   The scientific poll of 1,595 Americans with cell phones found the following:

 * An astonishing two out of five Americans (40 percent) do not know what  penalty they would pay if they canceled their cell phone service.  While

 this confusion extends to 60 percent of consumers aged 65 or older, it

 also includes 46 percent of those aged 45-54 and 49 percent of those aged

 55-64.   

 

"Granda" Green Charges Cell Companies with OVER CHARGING Seniors

 The Seniors Coalition National Spokesperson “Grandma” Green said:  “This statistic clearly shows why millions of Americans pay more for their cell phone service than they need to:  They worry about getting clobbered with

 a penalty if they change services.    The cell phone industry has been told for years that this uncertainty in the marketplace is a problem and they have done far too little to remedy it.  This is just simply unconscionable in terms of the treatment of U.S. seniors and other consumers.”

 * The ORC survey found that nearly half (48 percent) of cell phone

 consumers either already are at the end of their penalty period (7

 percent) or in its last 12 months (41 percent).    Depending on the cellphone company

they are patronizing, many consumers can come out ahead if

 they switch to a better cell phone deal now and pay a small penalty for

 breaking a contract that has not yet expired.

 

* More than half of consumers (54 percent) say they use fewer minutes than they pay for every single month.   Seven out of 10 Americans say they go under on their minutes every month or “nearly every month.”

 Green said:   “There are two reasons why these wasted minutes add up into the millions of hours and dollars every month for American consumers.

 First, it’s because too many cell phone plans are pegged to excessively high-minute levels, so the options consumers have for plans that actually meet their needs are limited.   This threatens to get worse with the advent of ‘unlimited’ plans that are really just a way in some cases of charging more and hiding the number of wasted minutes under an ‘all you can eat’ arrangement.  But the reality is that wasted minutes are money down the drain no matter how they are marketed.”

 Green added:  “The second factor that is fueling wasted cell phone minutes is the fact that cell phone companies scare consumers with the threat of outrageously costly ‘overage’ minutes in the 40-50 cent range – even though their actual costs for those minutes are a tiny fraction of that. 

 The reason for the sky-high overtime charge is simple:  It frightens

 consumers into buying more minutes than they need and allows the cell phone companies to profit handsomely as a result of the fear they

 manufacture in the market place.”

 * Cell phone company disclosures to consumers are so bad that consumers underestimate their minutes used by about half, and are therefore much more susceptible to being charged high overages for minutes they didn’t

 know they had used.  When consumers were asked to estimate their minutes used each month, the mean was 228 minutes, including 252.5 minutes for contract-based phone users and 117.7 minutes per month for prepaid

 users.   According to one leading industry source, the amount of cell phone air time actually used by U.S. consumers averages a bit less than 550 minutes per month.

 “Of course, consumers need to have a good handle on how many cell phone

 minutes they use each month.  But who can really blame them for having

 trouble keeping track of this when they get the gobbledygook bills

 provided by most cell phone companies,” Green said.  “Again, the

 industry’s agenda here seems simple:  Confuse consumers by making it as

 hard as possible for them to get a clear handle on how many minutes they

 are actually using.   Once again, cell phone companies are being allowed

 to enrich themselves at the expense of befuddled consumers.”

Majority of Boomers Use Cell Phones

The ORC survey for The Seniors Coalition also found that cell phones are now nearly as ubiquitous as credit cards, with 80 percent of American adults using cell phones, including 65 percent of those aged 65 and older. Of all adults with cell phones with cell phones, 84 percent have contract-based phone service and 17 percent have prepaid phones. (The small overlap is accounted for here by people who have both types of cell phones.) The complete survey findings are available upon request.

ABOUT THE SENIORS COALITION

The Seniors Coalition is the nation’s leading free-market senior education and advocacy organization with a membership of more than 4 million seniors. The mission of The Seniors Coalition (TSC) is to protect the quality of life and economic well-being that older Americans have earned while supporting common sense solutions to the challenges of the future. The Seniors Coalition is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(4) that represents the interests and concerns of America’s senior citizens at both the state and federal levels.

CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, for TSC, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com

Senior Coalition:  http://www.Senior.org

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[Mai]

Oh not a problem, just dincesnoct that phone and get her the LG Migo by verizon. It only dials four pre-programmed numbers, ( I.E. your husbands number, yours, a work number, and perhaps one of her bff's) in addition it will allow one emergency number. It's cute and I think that this will solve your dilemma CiaoVerizon.com

[David]

You need to let it go pick your battles yes, the ex is a dead beat yes, she needs to take care of hesrelf, but it isnt worth the fight with your husband LET IT GO!My husband has a crazy ex and she is similar I used to get so pissed about every little thing that she did..it was affecting my marriage not worth it to me I just started picking my battles and now life is much calmer LET IT GO

[Mile]

Don't ever try to come between a fthear and his daughter. You will be the loser every time. Who cares if his ex is a psycho witch. At least his daughter can call if she wants to. At 10 years old she probably doesn't know what to say. Maybe her dad should continue to call her regularly and leave loving messages like how he misses her etc on that cell phone he bought her. Please stay out of it, As long as psycho doesn't go over the minutes just let it go. Don't let this become an issue between you and your husband because you are going to lose one way or another. Believe me.Family advocate.

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[Ahmed]

keep it for a while and save up for a year or sou cant get a cell phone for free unless u sign up for $40 a month for two years(most of the free pheons are around $100 or somewhere under $200 without a $40/month 2 year contract)

[Robert]

I use my iPhone when at work and my phone and computer at home. I like the ccnvenienoe of my phone. Especially at work where I don't have to worry about web filters. I hate web sites that don't have the same information on their regular web site compared to the mobile site.

[Bertille]

dedepns. do you want money for a really good phone or just waste it on a cheap phone. also how bad do you want a new phone? thats what it dedepns on. like i have had to buy two new cellphones and they both got wet and died or i lost them after like 3 months so is it worth it? cause after all i have just gone back to my old phone. and what do you really REALLY superbadly want. i bet its not a phone. so it really just dedepns on all of this, and its your decision but i would say no.

[Florin]

Yes you can. As long as you have email set up on the phone. And it downloads ditclrey. But I prefer to use the web base mail application to download the files. So if you use Yahoo, Google, or Hotmail, use the applications that are from the mobile Internet, not the mail app integrated into the phone. But truth be told, I'm not sure if Google or Hotmail does it because I use Yahoo. But I'm almost certain they work.Sorry I get off the topic down here/ / /And as much as I love the iPhone. It doesn't download ANYTHING ditclrey from Safari (unless you jailbreak it, which I did XD), except for images. Everything is through App Store, Mobile iTunes, or iTunes on a computer, and it isn't even free! Except for Apps and Podcasts. I'm not hating on the iPhone, I'm just pointing out the flaws.Hope this helps

[Edhi]

buy this overpriced piece of shit that looks like your wiraeng a wrist heart rate monitor,,,,,,or you could just put your phone in your pocket and look at it when you want to know the time!voila!

[Dave]

well it all depends on what you wantFirst the inphoe was nominated the best mult-media phone out their and from the looks of it it is and the safari internet helps to and it has a big hard drive and if you have itunes well their your music.a good compatitor with the inphoe is the verizon voyager it has good text pad and it has internet,music,navagationThe distinctive $ 295 Helio Ocean has dual-slider controls: You slide it lengthwise to expose a phone keypad, and slide it the other way to reach a full keyboard. It's paired with Helio's cell service, which uses the Sprint networkBlackBerry models are popular with business users for their e-mail capabilities, but the $ 300 Curve (currently sold with a $ 100 mail-in rebate) has consumer-focused multimedia features and a camera. It's available with AT T cell serviceFor more budget-minded buyers, the Samsung Upstage offers inexpensive multimedia. One side is dedicated to phone usage, while the other is for music and video and sports a larger display. It has GPS, too, but it will set you back only $ 80 with a two-year cell plan from Sprint

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