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Home | Politically Connected | National Politics | U.S. Senate
Klobuchar tackles cell phone woes
Customers would get help with industry fees and practices under a bill sponsored by the Minnesota Democrat. A Sprint-Nextel spokesman says wireless users' complaints are the exception, not the rule.
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Everyone has a cell phone story, according to Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Inaccurate coverage maps, early termination fees and handset locking have caused so much frustration among her constituents that the Minnesota Democrat has proposed legislation in an attempt to relieve it.
The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday held a hearing on her proposed Cell Phone Consumer Empowerment Act, cosponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va.
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson was also on hand to testify about the suit she filed last month against Sprint-Nextel for allegedly extending contracts whenever customers made minor changes to their plans.
Klobuchar's bill would prorate early termination fees, provide a 30-day test period for service, give customers more detailed coverage information and ask the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to study handset locking, which prevents customers taking their phone from one carrier to another.
Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam argued that his company already does several of the things the bill would mandate, including providing the trial period and prorating early termination fees. Competition will compel other companies to follow suit, he said.
Twenty years of competition, however, haven't seemed to fix wireless customers' problems, Klobuchar said, and it's time for the government to step in.
"What we're looking at are just some narrowly tailored rules that would even the playing field for consumers," she said. "It'd be one thing if we were stepping in with a big footprint and trying regulate the rates and slow them down. We're just trying to implement some common sense rules."
John Taylor, public affairs manager from Sprint-Nextel, said complaints from wireless customers to the FCC have come from a tiny fraction of the nation's 230 million cell phone users, comparing it to one lone fan in the entirety of Yankee Stadium.
"We believe consumers have benefited enormously from plans that include [early termination fees], which allow carriers to offer steep discounts on wireless service plans and phones, have allowed the rapid introduction of advanced networks and innovative services and have provided other consumer benefits," he said.
But early termination fees prevent consumers from shopping around, Swanson said. They might find one carrier's plan more appealing than what they have, but with the threat of a fee of up to $250, they're forced to stay with a company that may not meet their needs.
"The industry really needs to look in the mirror and simply say, 'We've got problems and we've got to address those problems,'" Swanson said.
Nina Petersen-Perlman • 202.408.2723
Nina Petersen-perlman • nperlman@startribune.com
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