3 posts and columns on consumer advocates

Voices

FCC Considers Ways to Simplify Cellphone Bills

in News on 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.

Verizon to Bust a Cap in Your Asymmetric Bandwidth

in News on September 29, 2009 at 12:35 pm PT

Get ready for metered broadband. Speaking at the FTTH Conference and Expo in Houston Tuesday, Verizon Communications CTO Richard Lynch said the broadband industry is headed toward a pricing paradigm shift that will see it embrace the usage-based pricing common to the wireless broadband industry.
bandwidth-cap

Voices

Ex-Googler's New White House Job Rankles Some

in News on June 3, 2009 at 3:01 pm PT

Andrew McLaughlin’s departure from Google to the Obama administration has prompted a little grumbling among some consumer advocates and the search giant’s corporate foes. Mr. McLaughlin, who was Google’s head of global public policy and government affairs, is leaving Silicon Valley for Washington, D.C., to become a deputy to Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, who’s in charge of advancing the president’s tech agenda.