CUB Campaign To Cut Bloated Phone Bills Visits Summit, Hundreds Of Dollars A Year Can Be Saved With Simple Changes
CHICAGO, July 8, 2010—The Citizens Utility Board’s (CUB) “Don’t Overspend in 2010” campaign is coming to Summit to alert consumers about a new rate freeze on some low-cost local-calling plans and to help them cut their phone expenses by hundreds of dollars a year.

Contact:
For more information call
Jim Chilsen at 312-263-4282 (office) or 312-513-1784 (cell).
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A CUB study estimated that Illinois callers could be overpaying by more than $1 billion a year—but most could enjoy big savings by making a few simple changes on their phone bills. Since then, the consumer group has shown phone customers how to save millions of dollars through an award-winning website, www.CitizensUtilityBoard.org, and free clinics that give people tips on how to slash their local and long-distance bills by an average of about $200 a year.

The next clinic is:

6 p.m., Thursday, July 22
Summit Public Library
6233 S. Archer
Summit


Note: Space is limited. Please register with the library by calling 708-458-1545.

“Most people are paying too much for phone service, but CUB can help you deflate your bloated phone bill,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata said. “We’ve been showing consumers how to cut their phone bills by hundreds of dollars a year, and that’s good news in tough economic times.”

Consumers frequently complain that they can’t get reliable information from the phone company, which often just throws them a sales pitch for a more expensive plan. At CUB’s clinics, however, citizens will receive helpful tips about:

The CUB Cellphone Saver—a state-of-the art online tool that automatically analyzes individual wireless bills. The Cellphone Saver, created by a Texas-based company called Validas, has been showing consumers how to cut their wireless bills by an average of more than $300 a year.
The Consumer’s Choice local-calling plans that CUB designed and AT&T first offered under a legal settlement. Unlike AT&T’s other offers, these plans are designed to save most consumers money, and with the recent passage of Illinois’ Telecommunications Act their prices are frozen until at least June of 2013.
Illinois’ best long-distance plans, including how to get an automatic $10 credit negotiated by CUB. That amounts to more than 5 hours of free calls.
Line-Backer, a costly—and optional—AT&T service that most people don’t need.
Attendees should bring their phone bills so CUB experts can analyze them and give cost-cutting tips.

CUB is Illinois’ leading nonprofit utility watchdog organization. It was created by the Illinois legislature in 1983 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers. Since then, CUB has saved consumers more than $10 billion by helping to block rate hikes and secure refunds. For more information, call CUB’s Consumer Hotline at 1-800-669-5556.