Wireless Contracts and Credit Ratings part. 1

Do you have a bad credit rating?

In this modern world, an undesirable credit history can make life difficult. You will find it hard to take out a loan or be approved for a credit card application if your credit rating is terrible. Now, the effect of bad credit also extends to the mobile phone industry.

The wireless contracts of many cellphone networks have certain policies when it comes to dealing with customers with bad credit. Some contracts may ask for a considerable down payment or other kinds of penalties from a customer. Wireless phone service providers may also demand a credit check to ensure that their customers maintain good credit.

Let us take a look at the contracts of some cellphone service providers to see what they say about the credit history of potential customers. Let us begin with Alltel, one of the top mobile phone carriers.

The Credits and Deposits section of Alltel's Terms and Conditions states that,

You authorize us to ask credit-reporting agencies for credit information about you. We may, in our discretion, require you to submit a deposit as security for payment of charges. An additional deposit may be required if either the amount or number of Services is increased or your credit rating changes. Simple interest will be paid on the cash deposit for the period it is held by us and will be refunded if satisfactory credit has been established or upon termination of service. We reserve the right to apply the deposit to any amount due and unpaid. We may require a guarantee of payment by an individual or entity approved by us.

As you can clearly see by this statement, having a good credit rating is a great advantage when getting a plan from Alltel. You will need to authorize them to access your credit records before you can use their services. They may also ask you for an additional deposit if your credit rating changes or if the amount of services you use increases.

Let's check out Sprint's policy on credit rating. Their online Terms and Conditions states that,

We agree to provide you Services on the condition you have and maintain satisfactory credit according to our standards and policies. You agree to provide information we may request or complete any applications we may provide you to facilitate our review. We rely on the credit information you furnish, credit bureau reports or other data available from commercial credit reference services, and other information (such as payment history with us) to determine whether to provide or continue to provide you Services. The Services we offer you can vary based on your credit history. We may at any time, based on your credit history, withdraw or change Services, or place limits or conditions on the use of our Services. You agree to provide us updated credit information upon request. We may provide your payment history and other account billing/charge information to any credit reporting agency or industry clearinghouse.

Sprint makes it clear that unless a customer maintain a rating that satisfies their standards, they will not provide services. You have also to provide them with the required credit information so that they can decide whether they will allow you to use their services.

Sprint customers will also be required to provide updated credit information when their carriers request for it. The company may also provide credit reporting agencies or industry clearinghouses with your payment history so you have to keep up with your bills.

That's it for this post. I will tackle the credit rating policies of other wireless carriers on my next post so that my current post will not bore you. I hope that this blog post has provided valuable information and that your credit history will improve or remain immaculate.

Billing Calculations on Various Wireless Phone Contracts part. Two

This is the second part of my post about the billing calculations of various mobile phone carriers. I wanted to post this second part right after the first one but immediate changes to texting policies of cell phone carriers sort of derailed me from my plan.

Anyway, I posted the the billing calculations of Alltel, AT&T and Sprint Nextel in my initial post. In this sequel, I will offer information on the billing calculations of T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon as stated in their online Terms and Conditions.

Let us begin with T-Mobile. This companies online Terms and Conditions on Billing, Charges, and Late Fees states that,

UNUSED MINUTES OR OTHER ALLOTMENTS FROM YOUR RATE PLAN EXPIRE AT THE END OF YOUR BILLING CYCLE AND DO NOT CARRY OVER TO SUBSEQUENT BILLING CYCLES. PARTIAL MINUTES OF AIRTIME USAGE ARE ROUNDED UP AND CHARGED, OR DEDUCTED FROM ANY INCLUDED MINUTES, AS FULL MINUTES; AIRTIME USAGE IS MEASURED FROM THE TIME THE NETWORK BEGINS TO PROCESS THE CALL (BEFORE THE PHONE RINGS OR THE CALL IS ANSWERED) THROUGH ITS TERMINATION OF THE CALL (AFTER YOU HANG UP). FOR BILLING PURPOSES, THE TIME OR DAY (SUCH AS NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS) OF AN ENTIRE CALL IS DETERMINED BY THE TIME THE CALL STARTS. UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED IN YOUR RATE PLAN MATERIALS, WEEKENDS ARE MIDNIGHT FRIDAY TO MIDNIGHT SUNDAY. NIGHTS ARE 9:00 P.M. TO 6:59 A.M.

T-Mobile like other major carriers will round up partial minutes and will deduct them from your included minutes as full minutes. They begin to count your used minutes before the phone you are calling rings or is answered. They are also stressing that all unused minutes and allotments from your rate plan will expire on your next billing cycle.

Let us go on to US Cellular's policy on calculating their customer's use of minutes. The Billing practices section of their Customer agreement states that,

Each partial minute of airtime will be rounded up and billed as a full minute. You may be charged for calls that are not completed but ring longer than 59 seconds. For completed calls, you will be billed from the time you push the “send” button until you terminate your call by pushing the “end” button on your phone. “Application charges” include the charges incurred for downloading data applications and monthly subscription fees for data applications. “Data network usage charges” are the charges for transferring data (i.e., downloading applications, accessing the Internet, etc.) rendered in units of kilobytes or megabytes. Each partial kilobyte of data transferred will be rounded up and billed as a full kilobyte.

As with other mobile phone carriers, US Cellular will round up each partial use of airtime and will bill them as a whole minute of use. The calls you make will be billed form the moment you press the send button just like the other networks.

They may also bill their customers for unanswered calls s that ring longer for a minute or longer. This policy is bit more lenient than AT&T who will count answered calls that ring for more than 30 seconds as a full minute.

Let us finish this post with a look at Verizon's online Customer Agreement. On calculating a customer's bill it states that,

Charges may vary depending on where your wireless phone is when a call starts. If a charge depends on an amount of time used, we'll round up any fraction of a minute to the next full minute. Time starts when you first press SEND or the call connects to a network on outgoing calls, and when the call connects to a network (which may be before it rings) on incoming calls. Time may end several seconds after you press END or the call otherwise disconnects. For calls made on our network, we only bill for calls that are answered (which includes calls answered by machines). Most calls you make or receive during a billing cycle are included in your bill for that cycle. Billing for airtime (including roaming) and related charges may, however, sometimes be delayed. Delayed airtime will be applied against the included airtime for the month when you actually made or received the call, even though such charges may show up on a later bill. This may result in charges higher than you'd expect in the later month.

If you are a customer of Verizon, then the place where you make call can affect the charges you'll incur. They will also round up any fraction of a minute to a full minute just like the previous wireless phone carriers. The good thing is that they will not bill incomplete or unanswered calls as long as it is within their network. That policy is certainly different from other networks who will bill customers for unanswered calls that ring for a certain period of time.

This concludes my post on the billing practices or policies of major mobile phone networks. I hope that this post will be able to give you useful info. Just remember that Wireless phone carriers can alter their wireless phone contracts so do not neglect to look out for updates.

Text Messaging Policies

This week, Verizon Wireless has announced that it will increase text messaging rates from 15 cents to 20 cents per message. Some experts say that the increase is an attempt to to push its messaging bundles.

I thought that ti would be interesting to look at the text messaging policy of Sprint Nextel because they initiated the increase in Text Messaging rates. Shortly after the move, the rest of the nation’s major carriers also raised their casual text messaging fees from 10 cents to 15 cents.

I think the recent increase in Sprint's messaging rates should also be discussed especially it's relation to being able to opt out of a contract without paying an early termination fee (ETF). About three months ago, Sprint decided to increase their casual text messaging rate from 15 cents per message to 20 cents per message.

They explained that casual text messaging fees starting next month will be 20 cents per message sent or received. Overage SMS charges for customers who have a texting package will also increase, from 10 cents to 20 cents per message.

However, the carrier stressed that the will not allow customers to slip out of their contracts without paying an early termination fee. Sprint Nextel’s current terms of service allow for changes to text messaging fees but only a “material” change in rates would allow customers to abandon contracts without paying an ETF. The company decided that the increase did not qualify as a "material" change.

Here is the section of the contract that deals with the need for a "material" change before a customer can be exempt from paying the ETF.

Your service is subject to our business policies, practices, and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.

Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Roni Singleton, stressed their side by saying that, “This casual text messaging rate change does not qualify any of our customers for any kind of early termination fee waiver.”

I expect that the other carriers will follow the text rate increase started by these wireless phone carriers. However, there may also be a lot of complaints that will follow the increases in rates. Some suits and disputes related to wireless phone contracts will also probably follow.

Complaints on Wireless Phone Carriers' Texting Policies

It seems that the texting policies of mobile phone carriers have caught the attention of Public interest and consumer groups. Recently, these groups have requested that mobile-phone operators should not be allowed to make discriminatory interference with text messaging.

They have made this request to the FCC. Public Knowledge, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, EDUCAUSE, Free Press, Media Access Project, New America Foundation and U.S. PIRG are behind the petition for declaratory ruling.

The petition states that,

“Mobile carriers currently can and do arbitrarily decide what customers to serve and which speech to allow on text messages, refusing to serve those that they find controversial or that compete with the mobile carriers’ services. This type of discrimination would be unthinkable and illegal in the world of voice communications, and it should be so in the world of text messaging as well.”

Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, explains their request,For many people, texting has replaced calling as a way of keeping in touch. The FCC should make certain that text messages, and the short codes used to dial them, are protected from interference from telephone companies.”

There have also been other complaints made to mobile phone carriers made by these groups. For instance, NARAL Pro-Choice America had a run-in with Verizon Wireless. The complaint was about a short code that the carrier wanted to use to send wireless alerts to supporters. Verizon had no choice but to reversecourse and give the abortion-rights organization access to its network in the face of the controversy gaining the attention of the national media.

Also, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) firm called Rebtel has not fared as well in efforts to secure short code-enabled text message rights from Verizon Wireless, Alltel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. Rebtel offers low-cost international calling on mobile phones. Verizon responded that it is standard practice to reject short codes from companies with whom it competes.

Let us hope that this petition would resolve the issue and a solution that is favorable to both parties will be reached.

Billing Calculations on Various Wireless Phone Contracts part. One

Do you how your wireless carrier calculates your bills? I think this is important because the amount you pay every month relies on the minutes your carrier deemed you spent.

Knowing how major mobile phone carries calculate phone usage will also give you an idea of the best possible deal. This information is also useful if you want to keep track of how much minutes you have used. It would also be important for you to know the other charges that you may incur while making calls on your mobile phone such as roaming or long distance charges. So let me give you some info on how carriers calculate your bills. Let us begin with Alltel.

According to Alltel's Terms and Conditions,

Airtime usage on each call is billed in full minute increments, with a minimum charge of one minute per call. Partial minutes of use are rounded up to the next full minute. Access charges are billed in advance and will not be deducted from your bill or refunded in the event of termination. Unused plan minutes are not carried over to subsequent monthly billing cycles. In some instances, information regarding airtime usage, including roaming or long distance charges, is not available to be included in the bill for the month that the Service is used, and will be billed to you in a subsequent bill. The Service will be charged, and deducted from your plan minutes, in the month it is billed. The length of a call will be measured from when you initiate it (typically, when you press the "Send" key) until you terminate it (typically, when you press the "End" key). You may incur additional charges for roaming or long distance calls. Rates and charges while roaming outside of your local Alltel service area may be different from your Alltel service area rates. We reserve the right to select the carrier you will use while roaming. Rates during peak hours may be higher than rates during off-peak hours. Use of custom calling features (such as voicemail or three-way calling) will be billed like any other call. To be eligible for Service, we may require you to reside in our Service area and to use most of your Service on a network owned or operated by Alltel.

If you subscribe to Alltell's mobile phone services, then you need to remember that each of the calls you made will be billed in full minute increments, with a minimum charge of one minute per call. The partial minutes you used will also rounded up to the next full minute. Alltel's terms and conditions also inform you that additional charges for roaming and long distance may be added to your bill. Let's move on to AT&T's billing calculation.

AT&T's Terms and Conditions for Nation GSM plan states that,

Airtime and other measured usage are billed in full-minute increments, and actual airtime and usage are rounded up to the next full increment at the end of each call for billing purposes. AT&T charges a full-minute increment of usage for every fraction of the last minute used on each wireless call. Minutes will be depleted according to usage in the following order: Night and Weekend Minutes, Mobile to Mobile Minutes, Anytime Minutes and Rollover® Minutes . Calls placed on networks served by other carriers may take longer to be processed, and billing for these calls may be delayed. Those minutes will be applied against your Anytime monthly minutes in the month in which the calls appear on your bill. Unanswered outgoing calls of 30 seconds or longer incur airtime. You may obtain usage information by calling customer service or using one of our automated systems.

AT&T's billing calculation is similar with Altell's because calls will be billed in full-minute increments and will be rounded up to the next full increment at the end of the calls you make. However, minutes spent in roaming calls will be applied yo your monthly Anytime minutes and unanswered call s that last for half a minute or longer will be counted as spent minutes. Let's us end with Spint Nextel's calculation of used minutes.

According to Sprint Nextel's Terms and Condition regular voiced calls are billed,

We round up partial minutes of use to the next full minute. Time starts when you press "Talk" or your Device connects to the network and stops when you press "End" or the network connection otherwise breaks. You're charged for all calls that connect, even to answering machines. You won't be charged for unanswered calls or if you get a busy signal. For incoming calls answered, you're charged from the time shortly before the Device starts ringing until you press END or the network connection otherwise breaks. If charges vary depending on the time of day that you place or receive calls (e.g., Nights and Weekend plans), you're charged for the entire call based on the rate that applies to the time period in which the call starts.

Sprint users should know that the partial minutes they use will be rounded up to the next minute. It is also important to remember that Sprint Nextel will charge for all calls that connect but they will not charge unanswered calls. This is different from AT&T who will charged for unanswered calls that last half a minute and more.

I hope the info provided here will help you understand how carrier's charge the minutes they spend. if you haven't subscribed to any network, then I hope this post will help you compare them. I will feature three more carriers in the next part of this post.

Ad Targeting and Wireless Phone Privacy

A mobile phone is an important tool of communication and is considered by many as a necessity in this day and age. However, most of us do not realize that our cell phones are also valuable for marketers.

A cellphone contains a wealth of information about the owner that are important for advertisers. It can give them an idea of your location as well as your preference for games or music. In fact, limited targeting based on users' age, gender, ZIP code and other characteristics is being done today. However, advertisers and marketers must first deal with privacy policies before they can gain more access to mobile phone users' personal information.

Major mobile phone carriers want to protect their customers' privacy because annoyed subscribers might defect to rivals if they did a sloppy job. of course, there is also the danger of contracts disputes or lawsuits that may come after any violation of privacy.

However, marketers may be able to target ads to a potential customer's location and actions through mobile phones. After all, the carriers can also benefit from the lucrative mobile phone advertisement business. Some researches also project that U.S. spending in mobile ads will grow more to nearly $4.8 billion in the next three or four years.

Furthermore, both technology companies and privacy advocates have also been making speculations about the availability of phones' location information to commercial services and advertisers. The Federal Communications Commission ruled in 1996 that wireless carriers must help 911 dispatchers identify a caller's location may pave a way for this development.

Many advertisers have also experimented with mobile ads in anticipation of a possible opening in this niche. it makes perfect business sense to take advantage of location information with the success of GPS devices and location services like maps and child tracking.

However, privacy red flags will be flown due to mobile phones' highly personal nature. Some marketing associations have started to develop guidelines on how to deal with the issue of consumer privacy. For instance, finding an ethical and legal way of getting a customer's permission and periodically reminding them of any tracking.

I think that all the sides of this mobile advertising equation will eventually come to a common ground. There will be problems and the possibility of disputes over privacy violations are inevitable but the potential of mobile advertising is just too hard to pass up. Cell phone carrier's, customers and advertisers will eventually reach an agreement and mobile advertising will flourish.

Early Termination Fees of Wireless Phone Contracts

Service industries such as mobile phone phone service and subscription television commonly have termination fees or early termination fees (ETFs) as they are more commonly known. However, the imposition of these fees have been criticized by consumer interest groups. These fees prevent users from migrating to superior services so they are labeled as being anti-competitive.

The process usually works this way. A person purchases cellular phone service from a particular wireless carrier. He or she might be required to sign a two-year contract in order to avail of the service. Now that contract might stipulate a $200 fee in the event that the customer breaks the contract or wants to opt out of it.

The clamor and the disputes about the unfairness of early termination fees in wireless phone contracts have lead to positive changes. Verizon wireless was the first carrier to give in when it announced that it will prorate it's early termination fee. AT&T followed Verizon's lead and other carriers namely, T-Mobile and Sprint, have also decided that they would begin prorating their ETF in the first half of next year.

Now, what does a prorated early termination fee entail? The customer will still have a to pay a fee for ending the contract abruptly. However, the amount will decrease as the decision to end the contract early gets closer to the contract end date. This means that a customer will no longer be forced to pay the original fee if he decides to end the contract.

Here's a list of the current termination fee for each major wireless carrier:

Alltel: $200 per phone line

AT&T: Prorated

Sprint: $200 per phone line (to be prorated next year)

T-Mobile: $200 per phone line (to be prorated next year)

Verizon: Prorated

So far, Alltel has not made any announcements on making it's ETF prorated. However, it may lose customers if it remains as the only carrier to have a non prorated early termination fee next year. It would be logical to assume that the company will also follow the examples of other wireless networks to keep their consumers happy.