“You could be charged based on usage or by speed difference, or you could do both. There are no definitive answers here.”
OK, you’d assume that such a quote would come from a consumer advocate asked to comment on the confusing state of cell phone bills, which are only expected to get more confusing as wireless providers eliminate all-you-can-eat plans and replace them with tiered pricing packages requiring users to limit their data usage or face what’s known as “bill shock.”
But this vague, clears-nothing-up quote, from a Washington Post story that looks ahead to a future in which smartphone customers might pay extra for services such as super fast streaming video feeds, actually comes from a spokesperson for Verizon.
A future is envisioned in which wireless customers might also be charged monthly fees for everything from bundled TV channels to parental control over content they don’t want available on their kids phones. And in this future, there is not only a sharp increase in the variety and size of charges, but in confusion regarding how, why, and when these charges are assessed. Providers wouldn’t try to make this as confusing as possible, now would they? Well, of course they would. It’s to their advantage to do just that, explains one consumer advocate:
“You have a population without true knowledge of how much they are consuming compared to carriers who have true knowledge of demand on their networks, and that assymetry leads to things like bill shock,” said Sascha Meinrath, a director of the open technology initiative at the New America Foundation.
As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said, “Most people don’t know what a megabyte is,” let alone do they know how much they’re using at a given time and when they’re about to go over their monthly limit. As economists explain (or try to explain), the typical wireless contract is structured so that the customer gets hit with a hefty fee at some point—and afterward feels compelled to sign up for a more expensive plan to avoid similar fees in the future. As a result of this mysterious, fee-laden structure, most cell phone users wind up paying too much for plans they don’t need.
And, ugh! It looks like deciding on a cell phone and wireless plan, which is already one of the most painful shopping experiences out there, is only going to get more confusing, and more painful. Exactly like the providers want.