In the News
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Girl burned when cell phone catches fire
Thursday, July 1, 2004

A cell phone and jeans pocket are charred after the phone suddenly caught fire Thursday.

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(CNN) -- A 16-year-old California girl suffered second degree burns Thursday when her cell phone caught fire in her back pocket, according to the Ontario Fire Department.

The teenager was volunteering at an Ontario youth recreation center when witnesses heard a loud "whooshing" sound, said Frank Huddleston, a fire department investigator.

Huddleston said the victim didn't even know what was happening, and witnesses said they thought it was fireworks.

Witness then saw her pocket explode with smoke and fire, he said.

The girl was in a kitchen and near a pot of water, so the flames were quickly extinguished, Huddleston said.

The victim was transported to Chino Valley Medical Center where she was treated and released with small second-degree burns to her right buttock.

The phone is a Verizon Kyocera, but because of damage investigators could not tell the model number.

Ontario is east of Los Angeles near San Bernardino.

Group sues over 'locked' wireless phones
Tuesday, June 8, 2004

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Claiming cell phone users are being unfairly denied the right to use existing handsets when they switch carriers, a California consumer group sued three of the nation's largest wireless companies Monday.

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In a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and T-Mobile USA were unfairly "locking" phones so that even if a customer changed their phone number to a different carrier, they could not continue to use the same phone.

A spokeswoman for Cingular, a joint venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. , said the company had not reviewed the suit and could not comment.

A spokesman for AT&T Wireless was not immediately available to comment. A spokesman for T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG , said the company does not comment on litigation.

In the lawsuit, the foundation said that because the companies all use the same wireless network standard, called GSM, customers should be able to use the same phone across those carriers' networks just by changing out an easily-replaced unit called a "SIM card" inside the phone.

But the foundation said the carriers use techniques to lock the phones so that customers can not carry them from one service to another, except in certain circumstances.

The suit seeks a cort order to block the process of "handset locking" and require carriers to unlock existing phones and to pay restitution to users.

Carriers generally provide for unlocking phones, but typically have restrictions like the length of time someone has been a customer and whether or not bills have been fully paid.

(AP)  Your cell phone company knows you hate it.
NEW YORK, June 4, 2004

Mobile phone service was the second-lowest ranked industry -- beating only cable providers among the 40 rated -- in the University of Michigan's newest customer satisfaction index.

And there's more: mobile companies were the No. 2 sector in complaints last year to Better Business Bureaus, dropping from first place in 2002. Only auto dealers did worse.

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"The industry claims that people love their cell phones and they're very happy with the service," said Carl Wood, a commissioner on the California Public Utilities commission who fought the industry for four years to establish state wireless regulatory power. "That's half right."

Consumers complain of frequently dropped calls, lousy customer service and exorbitant penalties for exiting a contract. Then there are the fees -- Verizon Wireless plans to collectively charge customers more than $173 million a year in fees for number portability alone.

The complaints range from mundane to dramatic.

After Julie McMurry's husband died last summer, Verizon Wireless told the Enumclaw, Wash. woman that she would have to pay an early termination fee on his cell phone contract. "I said, 'This isn't an arbitrary thing, I'd be glad to fax you a copy of the death certificate. The man's dead."'

The Verizon rep said McMurry could either pay the fee or give the phone to another family member.

She called Carl Hilliard, president of the Wireless Consumers Alliance. "I just happened to be in a meeting with Verizon Wireless's attorney and mentioned it to him," Hilliard said. "It was reversed."

California last week adopted a Telecommunications Bill of Rights that requires companies to inform customers about rate increases, bill customers only for services that they request and allow customers to drop a service, without penalty, within 30 days.

A tougher measure failed to pass. "In the last year or so, the industry has just gone all out on every front to stop this," said Wood, the utilities commissioner. The industry has promised to challenge the new regulations in court.

The new rules offer fewer safeguards against deceptive marketing and advertising than Wood proposal, which also would have blocked companies from changing the terms of an existing contract.

Eric Rabe, a spokesman for Verizon Communications Corp. said the company thought even the watered-down rules unnecessary.

"We do the majority of this stuff already," he claimed. "This is an attempt by a regulatory body to exercise regulatory authority where they have not heretofore had it."

But many consumers are frustrated.

Claire Smith, 21, of San Diego, set up automatic payments for her Cingular Wireless bill. Cingular charged her credit card, then sent paper bills. When she didn't pay the duplicate bill, they cut off her service, saying she was delinquent. "They tried to double bill me," she said.

Neil Coleman, 34, of Jersey City, N.J., asked for a national plan when he signed up with AT&T Wireless. He worked inside his local calling area for months, then was sent to Dallas. His next mobile bill was $600, most of it roaming charges.

Calls to AT&T Wireless's customer service ended with a representative telling him it was his responsibility to review his bill. There, on page four, in the left-hand corner, in small print, the bill said "local plan."

Even simple things, like making a call, aren't always possible.

"Wireless carriers have been the victims of people believing their advertising," said Roger Entner, director of the wireless mobile services practice at The Yankee Group. "The carriers have been able to position it as a utility in the eyes of the customers, but it can't live up to that."

Companies insist they're working on improvements, that they're investing in their networks, simplifying billing and tying bonuses to customer satisfaction.

But they've got some ways to go.

Sprint PCS ads even acknowledge consumer's frustration. A four-page ad in USA Today asked, "What if the rest of the world were like the wireless industry?"

It showed a group of children outside a fenced playground, reading the rules, which included, "You have to guess how many minutes you're going to use your ball - for the next two years. Don't guess too high or too low, or you'll be sorry."

The final rule: "If you don't like the rules, try another playground. It'll be exactly the same."

To improve service, the company has increased training for customer service employees to 10 days a year, introduced a new plan it said addresses common complaints and tied executive compensation to customer satisfaction, said Cindy Rock, senior vice president for customer solutions at Sprint PCS.

Cingular Wireless's chief operating officer, Ralph de la Vega, claims the company's service is also improving.

In April, it started giving new customers a summary of contract terms and costs. It also gives them a sample copy of what their first bill will look like.

AT&T Wireless, which has led the industry in complaints, according to Federal Communications Commission statistics made public by Consumers Union, was bought by Cingular for $41 billion in February. Cingular is in the process of merging the two companies.

Verizon Wireless said it added 1,600 customer service employees last year.

The company has led customer satisfaction surveys, although the Michigan survey, a quarterly index which this past week included wireless for the first time, said it was tops in "a lackluster field."

Asked about the ranking, Verizon's Rabe said, "Compared to what? Lands' End? You have to compare apples to apples. I wouldn't compare the customer experience of dealing with a complicated technology with buying a shirt. It's just a whole different challenge."

Cell phone troubles even dogged the reporting of this story.

Twice spokespeople for different wireless companies called on cell phones whose signals faded to silence.

Man angry at Verizon hurls phones More than $2,000 in damage results
Friday, May 14, 2004

FARGO, North Dakota (AP) -- A man who said he was fed up with his cellular phone service went to a Fargo mall and started hurling phones across a store, striking an employee and causing more than $2,000 in damage, authorities said.
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Jason Perala, 22, of Fargo, told The Forum newspaper that he planned only to yell at employees at Verizon Wireless.

"Then I just lost it," he said. "I just started grabbing computers and phones and throwing them. I just destroyed the place. ... I kind of regret that I did it, but I hope my message got across."

Police said Perala took off his shirt and put on safety glasses before throwing around computers, phones and other items.

One employee was struck in the shoulder by a phone before he and other workers dashed into an office, locked the door and called police, Sgt. Kevin Volrath said. Other businesses in the West Acres mall lowered their steel security gates during Thursday's incident.

Perala was arrested without incident and jailed on charges of felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor simple assault.

Toilet farce causes rush hour chaos
Friday, October 31, 2003

Thousands of New York commuters were stranded after a man's arm became wedged down a train toilet as he tried to retrieve his mobile phone.
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The man was on a suburban train from Grand Central Station on Wednesday night when he went to the bathroom to make a phone call, dropped the phone into the toilet bowl and then his hand and arm became stuck trying to retrieve it, officials said.

Metro-North Railroad staff could not help the man, so they stopped the train and called police officers and firefighters to extricate him, a process that took 90 minutes using "jaws of life" rescue equipment.

"The toilets are made of aluminum so I imagine he was down on hands and knees with his shirt rolled up and hand and arm down inside, trying to flush out his cell phone," said Jim Cameron of the Connecticut Metro-North commuter council.

He said that because of the design of the train toilet, the mobile probably ended up in a chemical holding tank.

A spokesman for the railroad that serves the northern suburbs of New York and Connecticut identified the man as Edwin Gallard, 41, of New York, who suffered a minor injury to his arm as firefighters cut the toilet apart.

The track was closed and thousands of commuters were delayed during the evening rush hour.

The phone has not yet been recovered.

Loud c-phone call leads to pregnant woman's arrest
Tuesday, September 28, 2004

A pregnant woman said she was handcuffed by transit police and forced to lie on her stomach during an arrest that began with her talking too loudly on her cell phone.
Sakinah Aaron, 23, said she feared her unborn baby would be harmed when the officer forced her to the ground and put his knee in her back at a bus stop earlier this month. A doctor later said her 5-month-old fetus was not harmed.

"I'm thinking between the ground and his knee, my water is going to break and I'm going to have a miscarriage or something," she said of the September 9 incident.
Deputy Chief Timothy Gronau said Monday that Officer George Saoutis followed police procedure after Aaron refused to stop cursing loudly during a cell phone conversation and became abusive and uncooperative.
Aaron said the officer approached her as she walked to catch a bus, telling her to keep her voice down. She twice tried to break away, but he caught her arm, then placed her face down, handcuffed her, and charged her with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Aaron was scheduled to appear in court on October 21, 2004.

They should have called Smashmyphone instead!