How to cut your phone bill
by Mike Danahey, Elgin Courier-News
Feb. 22, 2010—Just how complicated are phone bills?

Well, to explain what typically is a two-page statement, the nonprofit Citizens Utility Board publishes an "Untangling Guide" that is 29 pages long. The guide is available online at www.citizensutilityboard.org or by phone at 1-800-669-5556.


CUB also makes house calls—as it did Friday at the request of state Rep. Keith Farnham, D-Elgin, at the Village Green senior housing community in East Dundee. There, CUB representatives answered questions about phone bills and made one-on-one suggestions about how to save money on calling.

The efforts are part of CUB's "Don't Overspend in 2010" campaign, which is coming to Elgin at 1 p.m. March 4 at The Centre of Elgin, 100 Symphony Way. Last year, CUB reps made 90 such appearances, said associate director Pat Clark.

Clark was on hand in East Dundee and showed one elderly woman how she could cut more than $9 off her monthly AT&T land-line bill by switching to the "Consumer's Choice Plus" plan put together under a legal settlement with the phone giant. The agreement calls for AT&T to offer three cost-savings plans at the same rates through 2011.

Since the woman only occasionally uses her Verizon cell phone, Clark also suggested she switch to a pay-per-call plan of some sort.

CUB released a report last year estimating that Illinois callers could be overpaying by about $1.5 billion a year. Most could enjoy savings by making a few simple changes such as the above on their phone bills.

CUB communications assistant Patrick Deignan said that at the organization's last Elgin phone clinic, more than 50 consumers learned how to cut their bills by an average of $188 a year.

Help online, too
Consumers also are welcome to get CUB's "virtual" assistance by going online to its Web site. Among its offerings are further information about the required-by-law AT&T plans; a suggestion for inexpensive long-distance service; pointers on dropping unneeded features; and the CUB Cellphone Saver, which automatically analyzes individual wireless bills. Created by Texas-based Validas, the saver has been showing consumers how to cut their wireless bills by an average of more than $300 a year, Deignan said.

Anna Warnock, CUB's Hispanic relations and media coordinator, also pointed out the importance of looking over one's bill before paying it, lest there be unwarranted charges on it. One type of such phony charges is called "cramming," in which the consumer pays for things not requested from the provider. Another is "slamming," in which charges appear from an outside vendor with whom the consumer has not done business.

One way to avoid the latter is to demand the phone carrier not allow third-party billing, meaning such charges would have to come to the consumer in a separate bill, Warnock said.

Ron Studt of Carpentersville recently did have such mystery charges on his AT&T bill, from a company called Streaming Flix LLC, which AT&T removed. Warnock suggested that consumers contact the Illinois Attorney General's Office to complain about such instances should they happen.

"We're seeing a lot of slamming," said IAG deputy press secretary Natalie Bauer. Bauer noted that complaints can be filed through the Web site www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov.

To register for the March 4 CUB phone bill clinic at The Centre in Elgin, people should call event sponsor Sherman Hospital at 1-800-397-9000. Attendees should bring their phone bills so CUB experts can analyze them and offer cost-cutting tips.