User:Dhaluza/List of United States mobile phone company controversies

There has been much controversy among US mobile phone companies. This article explains controversy from each company.

AT&T

• On June 20, 2006 the California Court of Appeals voted 3-0 to uphold a decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to fine Cingular $12 million. The CPUC found the Cingular Wireless policy form of charging customers an early termination fee to cancel their wireless service without a grace period to be an unjust and unreasonable business practice. The CPUC also found that Cingular failed to tell new customers about known network problems and misled customers about the network's service and coverage. The case originated in San Diego when the non-profit Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) brought customer complaints against Cingular to the attention of the CPUC.

• In June 2006 tech website Engadget's mobile section posted a road map of upcoming Cingular products, this led to Cingular temporarily banning the word 'engadget' and links pointing to engadget on their customer forums.

• In Q1 2006, Cingular Wireless, LLC reported in its first-quarter financial statement that regulatory complaints (complaints to the FCC, Better Business Bureaus and other regulatory or semiregulatory bodies) were reduced over 56% compared to the same quarter one year prior.

• On August 25, 2005, Cingular was removed from the New York Better Business Bureau because of a large number of complaints that were not handled in a timely manner. The company is in the process of restructuring its customer care procedures and has appealed the decision. It remains a member of the BBB in other states in which it operates.

• On July 20, 2005, the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN), a non-profit California consumer advocacy organization, filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) against Cingular Wireless for the unauthorized billing of non-communications related charges. UCAN claimed that Cingular billed its customers for Jamster! and other similar ring tone services without providing customers with the notice, opt-in, and proof of authorization requirements necessary for such charges. UCAN further charged Cingular with violating numerous CPUC requirements by consistently telling customers with questions about non-communications service charges on their wireless phone bill that Cingular has no responsibility and cannot assist customers with their inquiries. UCAN and Cingular reached a settlement on October 19, 2006, which resulted in stronger notification and authorization requirements for Cingular regarding non-communications charges and also required Cingular to institute a ready means to address billing issues and cancel wireless content services.

• In 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reported logging more than 14,000 complaints (or 289 per million subscribers) against Cingular, the most common of which included number portability issues, over-billing, poor customer support and network reliability.

• In 2005, Communications Workers of America, the union which represents over half of the then AT&T's employees, specifically recognized AT&T for excellence as a union employer, in direct contrast to competitor Verizon, which CWA singled out as an aggressive union-buster.

NASCAR lawsuits

Cingular has been the sponsor of the #31 Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series since before 2004, when NEXTEL purchased the naming rights to NASCAR's top division. Cingular and Alltel (who sponsors Ryan Newman's #12 Dodge) were allowed to stay as sponsors. NASCAR claims that the clause in their contract with Sprint Nextel does not allow Cingular and Alltel to change either the name or brand advertised (though Alltel has advertised its My Circle plan on the #12) or the teams they sponsor. However, it should be noted that the "new" AT&T is the "old" SBC Communications which had been the majority owner of the Cingular Wireless LLC, and was the firm that signed the contract with NASCAR before the grandfather clause took effect. Furthermore, in 2005, Alltel had changed its corporate logo, and the licencing agreement and grandfather clause between Penske and NASCAR did not prohibit the change in logos, as the new logo was promptly put on the Penske #12 when the Alltel corporate logo changed.

AT&T has repeatedly requested that NASCAR allow them to advertise the AT&T brand on the #31 car, but NASCAR refuses to allow it, citing the Sprint Nextel contract. After trying and failing to get NASCAR to approve the addition of the globe logo to the rear of the car, AT&T filed a lawsuit against NASCAR on March 16, 2007. On May 18, a federal judge ruled that AT&T should be allowed to replace the Cingular logos with AT&T logos, and said that AT&T was likely to win the lawsuit. The #31 first ran with the new AT&T logo at the 2007 All-Star Challenge.

On June 17, 2007 NASCAR announced it had filed a $100 million dollar lawsuit against AT&T and would like AT&T and all other telecommunications companies out of the sport in 2008. [1]

The next hearing is slated on August 2.

Cellco Partnership (Verizon Wireless)

• In mid-2006, the consumer research firm Telephia published a report that suggests AT&T Mobility drops the fewest calls across the country. Verizon Wireless advertises heavily the quality of their network above competitors. According to the Consumer Beat reporter for The Boston Globe:

Telephia independently measures the top four wireless carriers for a number of consumer value points. In relation to call quality, Telephia, in a letter to the four major carriers regarding this research, will not confirm or deny that Cingular drops the fewest calls. Also, Telephia has requested that Cingular update its advertising to indicate that Telephia provided the information it uses to make this claim, not that it actually supports or confirms the 'fewest dropped calls' claim.

• Verizon "cripples" the file and media transferring features of many of their cellphone offerings in order to force customers to purchase content through its "Get It Now" service. One example is the LG Chocolate (VX8500), a phone that features full MP3 player support. (It has a microSD card to store MP3s, and play and pause/stop buttons on the front of the phone.) Verizon initially modified the phone's firmware to prevent MP3s from being used altogether. While newer phones were sold with the MP3 player re-enabled, and customers were usually informed of this feature, they still cannot be used as ringtones. The newest version of this phone has once again disabled this capability. Verizon's policy is in contrast to its major competitors (both GSM and CDMA): AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, and Alltel; which allow their customers to use all the features that are available in the manufacturer's reference firmware design.

• Verizon also deactivates the built-in GPS capabilities of many current phones and PDAs. For example, its recently introduced Blackberry 8830 has full GPS capabilities and the Blackberry Maps application which uses the GPS capability for tracking and navigation. Verizon has disabled the GPS, reportedly to sell subscription-based GPS services at a later date.

• Verizon advertised the Motorola V710 as having full Bluetooth capability, when in reality it had no OBEX or OPP functions built in. After many complaints, a class action suit was filed for false advertising, not only for advertising missing capabilities, but also for telling customers who complained to Verizon that an update was coming out "in November." The lawsuit was initiated in January of 2005 and settlement decision became final on March 20 2006, with Verizon offering to qualified members of the class action suit (purchased a V710 BEFORE February 2 2005) a $25 credit to all of its V710 customers, or the option to trade in the V710 for $200 or original purchase price and allow them to keep their phone number and service, or $200 or original purchase price and allow them to break their contract and discontinue service with Verizon (all after numerous paperwork loops). The settlement to the lawsuit did not directly address the V710's restrictions. The same hardware crippling exists with Motorola's successor to the V710, the E815, but unlike the V710, the E815 was marked clearly that OBEX and OPP was disabled. Additionally, through a seem edit, OBEX could be enabled on the 815, but not on the 710 (the Verizon e815 lacks the OPP profile altogether). Other carriers' versions of the V710, while still possessing some restrictions to the Bluetooth functionality, are much less restrictive overall, allowing full use of the customer's own MIDI and MP3 files for ringtones, etc.

• Verizon makes heavy use of Qualcomm's BREW technology, and uses it over Java in case of phones where both are an option. By using BREW (which is branded Get It Now), Verizon locks users into its own applications, making it impossible to install anything Verizon doesn't offer. Programs such as the standard mail reader included in some phones were removed, forcing people to buy expensive mail readers from Get It Now. It is not uncommon for CDMA carriers to implement BREW. Most of the US CDMA carriers currently use BREW. Sprint Nextel is the main exception. They have opted for the Java interface.

• Verizon Wireless has removed features in firmware updates for the Motorola V710 and several other newer phones for ringtone transfers, making it more difficult - but not impossible - to transfer MP3s from the phone's microSD card. This update also disabled editing of the homepage field in WebSessions making it more difficult to use alternate WAP gateways. One result of this crippling has been a prominent network of "unofficial" web sites, documenting how to enable, access, or use hidden or crippled features. This often includes divulging service codes for new phone models, or homebrew software that can access otherwise hidden parts of the phone's memory system.

• Verizon Wireless has implemented a standard user interface across all handsets. Somewhat reminiscent of LG's interface, this standard reduces support training costs. However, it has also anecdotally alienated many brand-loyal customers who find it aesthetically unpleasant, only minimally customizable, slower than the previous interface, and a hindrance to the functioning of several previously available phone features.

• Verizon Wireless has come under fire by "power users" of its EV-DO wireless data network (called BroadbandAccess), for using language in its terms of service which heavily restricts what activities an EV-DO user can conduct even though the service is advertised as offering "Unlimited" data usage. The language in Verizon Wireless' usage agreement states:

  Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections... We reserve right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using NationalAccess or BroadbandAccess in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels.

• To stem criticism of the above, Verizon Wireless now outright limits the "unlimited" use, by imposing a quota on "unlimited" use, and terminates customers who exceed it. According to The Washington Post, Broadband Reports, tech columnist Robert X. Cringely, many wireless industry "insider" news sites and blogs, Verizon advertises "unlimited" broadband service but reserves the right to terminate anyone using more than 5 GB/month (166 MB/day) regardless of use or content transferred, with no difference between permitted web browsing, or prohibited uses, such as peer-to-peer file sharing). This is a quota of about 15 minutes of continuous data transmission time per day. A PBS investigator monitored his bandwidth during normal use and discovered it to be 184 MB/day.

Sprint

Sprint Terminates Service on High-Maintenance Customers

In letters dated June 29, 2007, Sprint stated to at least 1,000 of its customers that it was terminating service with them. Subscribers were told that Sprint's records indicated they had called customer service "frequently" regarding "billing or general account information". It goes on to say that Sprint will work to help port subscribers' telephone numbers to other carriers before the scheduled July 30, 2007 termination date.

Sprint misleading customers on competitors data speeds

In 2007, Sprint advertised a faster data rate than AT&T in two commercials. One featured an aircard for laptops; the other featured the Treo 755p with faster browsing speeds then the Nokia E62. The E62 uses EDGE, a protocol that is slower than Sprint's newer, faster technology. AT&T offers the HTC TyTN, which supports HSDPA, a protocol that is twice as fast as EVDO, Sprint's fastest data protocol, and has been available in the United States for several months. The commercials targeted the Apple iPhone, which uses AT&T's slower but more reliable and widespread EDGE network.