Wireless and the Law: August 2008 Archives

According to Telecommunications Industry News the Federal Trade Commission will put into effect rules, that put an end to  those nasty, annoying, aggravating, prerecorded sales calls.

Starting September 1, 2009  telemarketers can make recorded calls only to people who have agreed in writing to receive them.

The FTC also will require all telemarketers to provide an opt-out feature on all prerecorded messages that allow customers to  add themselves to the company's do-not-call list.

Comment from Wireless and Mobile News
IImmediately after the last earthquake in SoCal, we received pre-recorded telemarketing calls that tied up our lines while relatives were trying to call to find out if we were still alive!

Just imagine how many lines can be tied-up in a major emergency.

Please note telemarketers are banned from calling cell phone numbers. If you do receive a telemarketing call on a cell phone, you can file a complaint with the FCC.

A settlement has been reached with Mobile Messenger in class action litigation involving claims that unauthorized charges for "mobile content" were placed on the cell phone bills of consumers throughout the country. The settlement, which was preliminarily approved by the U.S. District Court in Miami last week, entitles wireless customers across the country to receive refunds for unauthorized mobile content charges. Mobile Messenger has denied any wrongful conduct.

Mobile Messenger acts as an intermediary, between content providers, marketers and mobile operators, providing clients with advice on consumer protection, billing and payment, and direct customer support for users purchasing mobile content through its system.

The lawsuit alleged that there were not adequate safeguards in place to ensure that customers are only billed for services they agreed to purchase. This settlement is the first nationwide settlement with a company of this kind and follows a similar settlement reached with AT&T Mobility, LLC over similar issues.

T-Mobile USA has obtained two final judgments and permanent injunctions as part of the company's ongoing efforts to combat the unauthorized bulk purchase and resale of T-Mobile prepaid mobile phones.  One judgment was entered against defendant Rafiq Wazir Ali, individually and doing business as Fone Xchange, in a federal lawsuit filed in Houston. The other judgment was entered against ASPAC Inc., its principals and affiliates, by a federal court in Dallas, and awards T-Mobile $6.5 million in damages in addition to a permanent injunction against the defendants.

T-Mobile subsidizes its prepaid wireless phones making them more accessible to consumers who want to become T-Mobile customers. Traffickers such as Ali, Fone Xchange and ASPAC profit by pocketing those subsidies, preventing consumers from receiving the benefit of the subsidies and depriving T-Mobile and other wireless providers of new customers. Traffickers typically buy, or solicit others to buy, prepaid mobile phones in bulk from retail stores, remove the phones from their original packaging, discard warranties and manuals, hack into the phones' software, and resell the phones and accessories to unsuspecting customers at a substantial profit.