FCC Considers Ways to Simplify Cellphone Bills

October 13, 2009 at 9:47 am PT

If consumer advocates get their way, deconstructing that monthly cellphone bill could become a lot easier.

Comments are filing in to the Federal Communications Commission’s request for input on simplifying wireless bills.

The deadline comes amid a thicket of consumer-focused fee news, from credit cards to overdraft fees. Consumer advocates are arguing for more transparency in billing, both when shopping around for plans and for existing mobile subscribers.

Filing comment Tuesday is BillShrink.com, a site that analyzes the fine print of credit card bills and user profiles to find the cheapest cellphone plan. The average consumer overspends $300 a month on her cellphone plan a year, Schwark Satyavolu, BillShrink’s co-founder and president, said. In the last five months, the site has found $800 million in potential savings on cellphone plans.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Tagged with: BillShrink.com, cell phone bill, cellphone bill, consumer advocates, credit cards, digital, Digits, economy, Federal Communications Commission, frontpage, innovation, Mary Pilon, overdraft, savings, Schwark Satyavolu, subscribers, telecom, The Wall Street Journal, wireless

comments so far. Add yours.

Must-Reads from other Web sites

“You Get on the Internet and Pretty Soon You’re Drunk”: The Orthodox at Citi Field

Sean Patrick Cooper, Contributor, The Awl

Meet the Tireless Entrepreneur Who Squatted at AOL

Daniel Terdiman, Senior Writer, CNET

Mark Zuckerberg’s Unpleasant New Life

Felix Salmon, Finance Blogger, Reuters

Anyone Can Do It. Data Journalism Is the New Punk.

Simon Rogers, News editor, The Guardian

Fashion World Mulls Facebook IPO’s Impact

Rachel Strugatz, Editor, Women’s Wear Daily

The Unabomber’s Pen Pal

Jeffrey R. Young, Senior Editor, Chronicle of Higher Education

About Voices

Along with original content and posts from across the Dow Jones network, this section of AllThingsD includes Must-Reads From Other Web Sites — pieces we’ve read, discussions we’ve followed, stuff we like. Six posts from external sites are included here each weekday, but we only run the headlines. We link to the original sites for the rest. These posts are explicitly labeled, so it’s clear that the content comes from other Web sites, and for clarity’s sake, all outside posts run against a pink background.

We also solicit original full-length posts and accept some unsolicited submissions.

Voices is edited by Beth Callaghan.