Complain about a product or service

Text Messaging Charges Surprise Cell Phone Users

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 11, 2006

• How to Avoid Early Termination Fees • Site Offers Cell Phone Contract Swapping --- News • Judge Rules Sprint Termination Fees are Illegal • Verizon Pays $21 Million to Settle Termination Fee Lawsuit • Washington Power Grab May Be Price of Lower Cell Phone Termination Fees • U.S. Cellular Settles 'Free' Phone Complaint • Cell Phone Industry Losing Its Treasured Arbitration Clauses • Wireless Firms Face Pressure On Termination Fees • Verizon, FCC Cook Up Termination-Fee Plan • FCC Not Ready to Pry Open Wireless Networks • Sprint Removes Three Fees, Adds Two New Ones • Sprint, T-Mobile Prorate Termination Fees • AT&T Changes Contract Policy • California Supreme Court OKs T-Mobile Class Action • Verizon Wireless Changes Contract Policy • FCC, Congress May Limit Cable, Cell Phone Termination Fees • Cell Phone Consumers Win Court Victory • Text Messaging Charges Surprise Cell Phone Users • Cell Phone Customers Held Captive by Termination Fees • Poll Finds Cell Phone Users Want Stronger Consumer Protection • Michigan Challenges One-Sided Cell Phone Contracts • New York Considers Tough Cell Phone Consumer Protection Law • California to Try Again With Telecommunications Bill of Rights • California Suspends Wireless Bill of Rights • California Adopts Wireless Consumer Bill of Rights

Cell phone customers are frequently shocked when their first bill arrives and it is tens, sometime hundreds, of dollars more than expected.

It is frequently parents who include their Internet and text messaging-addicted children in their plans, who suffer the most.

ConsumerAffairs.com examined all the fine print, pored over contracts, called the companies and compared the rates of four major U.S. cell phone carriers: Cingular, Sprint/Nextel, Verizon and T-Mobile (see table below).

Don't Want It? You Got It

The upshot: Just because you're not buying it doesn't mean you won't pay for it.

The standard cell phone plan consists of a few hundred "anytime minutes" and free night and weekend minutes. This standard plan usually runs between $30 and $60 per month and does not include text messaging or Internet packages which together will normally run about another $30 per month.

Chances are the salesperson won't push you into buying those services because whether you asked for them or not, you already have them.

All cell phone companies include these services and then charge per-use fees which may be impossible to avoid.

For example, if you decide not to get a text messaging package, no matter what the carrier, you will still be charged 10 cents for each text message. That includes messages sent and received -- even if you choose not to read the messages sent to you.

This is particularly bad for T-Mobile customers. T-Mobile frequently sends "company alert" text messages to all its customers. And unlike most other services, T-Mobile will refuse to cancel text messaging on your account.

"T-Mobile keeps billing me for incoming text messages," William of Mt. Morris, Mich. wrote. "I have no control over these and shouldn't be billed for them. One message was from a third party selling something. Another was from T-Mobile. I called, but they won't take the charges off. Furthermore, they refused to block text messaging on my account."

The great majority of ConsumerAffairs.com complaints are from parents whose children decided to use text messaging or scour the Internet from their cell phone.

"We purchased a plan for our daughter who was entering college," Charlene of Greenville, Miss. wrote. "When the first bill came it was for over $600. The text messaging option is the main means of communication for my daughter. We had been charged for each incoming and outgoing text message -- 10 cents per message."

Belkis of New York is a single mother with two children. In April her children browsed the Internet and downloaded a ringtone with her cell phone. Her bill was $80 higher than normal that month.

Where'd It Say That?

Many of the explanations of these charges are buried somewhere in a stack of fine-print pages your carrier will dump on you when you sign your contract.

When you sign up with Verizon, they will hand you a fat folder filled with brochures that hardly go out of their way to warn you about your potentially high extra charges.

Verizon includes a whole brochure about their "Get it NOW" Internet service available on all their phones. However, nowhere in that brochure, in any of the documents in the fat folder, on the contract, or on Verizon's website does it say how much this service costs for customers who do not pay a monthly access fee.

It wasn't until ConsumerAffairs.com called Verizon's customer service that we discovered they charge $.005 per kilobyte.

It's not poring over the fine print that Verizon's, T-Mobile's and Sprint's customers discover the 10-cents-per-text fee and the varying internet charges -- it's when they open the bill.

Cingular on the other hand, makes it clear in large print in their terms and services brochure.

Cheapest Isn't Always Best

At 10 cents per text message or up to 2 cents per kilobyte, charges can mount exponentially and it often is far cheaper for customers to buy the Internet or text messaging packages with their phone plan if they plan to use any of those per-use services. This is especially true with text messaging since you sometimes will receive unsolicited messages.

Another factor is the number of anytime minutes in your plan. For each minute you use over your allotted plan, your carrier will charge you a per-minute rate. The cheaper your plan, the higher the rate.

For example, Cingular's 450 minute/$40 plan will charge you $.45 for each minute you go over your allotted 450. Cingular's 6000 minute, $200 plan charges $.20.

Let's continue with Cingular as the example. If a single customer with the basic plan sends and receives 50 text messages ($5), browses 5 megabytes worth of internet ($50) and talks 100 minutes over their 450 ($45), this customer will have a total bill of $140.

If this same individual were to upgrade to the next plan, get the minimal text messaging option and pre-order 5 megabytes worth of internet usage, the same $140 bill described above would be cut nearly in half to $73.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.