We already pay a bundle for Internet service, and now a big Internet Service Provider (ISPs) wants to slap you with yet another fee for exceeding so-called “data caps.” Comcast recently enacted a policy in certain test markets that charges fees for customers who use more than 300 GB per month ($10 per…...
Contracts begone!
Looks like two-year phone contracts are going the way of the dinosaurs. The nation’s largest cellphone provider, Verizon, announced last month that it would eliminate two-year service contracts for its customers— and the up-front phone subsidies that made those contracts attractive. Sprint announced the same week that it would also…...
AT&T Mobility faces $100M fine for misleading consumers
Feel like your mobile Internet connection has been slower than usual? Well, if you’re an AT&T Mobility customer, that may be the case. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to slap AT&T Mobility with a $100 million fine for allegedly “throttling” speeds for unlimited data customers— the largest fine ever of its…...
Consumer sends heartfelt thank you after CUB saves her $60/month
By Samantha Vercellino Wanda Cunningham didn’t know how CUB could help her lower her high phone bills when she first called the consumer group. Now—one year later—the Olympia Fields resident credits her $60 a month savings to that fateful call. Wanda’s call was fielded by Bilingual Environmental Outreach Coordinator Ivonne Hernandez…...
The local phone plans that AT&T just doesn’t like
Read CUB Executive Director David Kolata’s statement on the General Assembly’s passage of a revised Illinois Telecommunications Act over the weekend. After a months-long Save Our Service (SOS) Campaign fighting Big Telecom, the revisions were a mixed bag for consumer advocates. CUB was glad that big phone companies failed in their…...
CUB Director: Consumer protections never go out of date
AT&T has made no secret of the fact that the company wants to strip the Illinois Telecom Act of consumer protections and completely deregulate traditional home phone service. In the company’s perfect world, it would no longer have to fulfill the “obligation to serve” requirement— and would be able to abandon…...