WASHINGTON-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) officially asked the General Accounting Office to probe growing mobile-phone service problems in the United States, a move likely to produce additional data that could bolster the lawmaker’s consumer wireless bill.
“Unfortunately, a growing number of wireless phone users are dissatisfied with their service,” said Weiner, in a June 15 letter to GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. “Numerous consumer complaints describe communities plagued by dead spots where no cell service exists, calls that are continually dropped, or calls that are never placed because of overcrowded spectrum. And the few available statistics on cell phone service collected by the Federal Communications Commission and state public utility commissions back up these anecdotes.”
Last month, RCR Wireless News first reported that Weiner planned to seek a GAO investigation into mobile phone service problems.
At that time, the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, which opposes legislation sponsored by Weiner that would direct the FCC to oversee consumer complaints, said cell phone service problems could be improved if there were less local government opposition to towers and if more radio spectrum were available to carriers. Consumer advocates support the Weiner bill.
While consumers have the option of switching to one of several other mobile-phone operators in most markets, such changes can be expensive because of termination fees that can cost nearly $200. In the future, owing to industry proposals that could trigger more consolidation, consumers may have even fewer choices in the market place.
Some states, especially California, have moved aggressively to address cell phone complaints by consumers. Various lawsuits against mobile-phone carriers are pending around the country. The industry might even be in worse legal shape had it not incorporated mandatory arbitration clauses into service agreements.
The consumer backlash, while not yet a major threat to industry, could mushroom into the public relations disaster that forced the cable TV industry to spend millions of dollars to repair its image and that manifested itself in `cable guy’ jokes on TV and the big screen.
Weiner’s GAO request seeks the following:
Report and display via map the location of blackout areas where there is no cell phone service in the United States.
Report and map the areas where consumers are most likely to experience dead spots where they cannot get a signal within a service area.
Report on the most common cellular phone consumer complaints by state and over time. Specifically, please quantify the number of dropped calls and network busy signals the average consumer faces per day, per week and per year.
Describe how and by whom complaints with cellular phone service providers are collected.
Detail what actions or measures are taken to address these complaints.
Determine the successful call completion rate in the United States by wireless service provider. Please include data for the ten largest cell phone service providers.
Report on the number of cellular phone towers built over time and obstacles preventing future towers from being erected.
Compare the requirements and penalties of wireless service contracts. In addition, please examine the number of consumers that break their contracts by location and detail the most common reasons.
The GAO report could take a year to complete.
