Escape Cell Hell

Posted: 11/2003

Escape Cell Hell

EscapeCellHell.org, a service of Consumers Union, allows users
to contact their members of Congress directly, urging them to uphold a Nov. 24
Federal Communications Commission deadline requiring companies give customers
their phone numbers when they change providers (see related story
here).
One-third of the nearly 22,000 subscribers of www.ConsumerReports.org
surveyed
last fall said they were seriously considering changing wireless phone
companies, but one of the major reasons they cited for not doing so was they did
not want to get a new phone number.

The campaign soon will focus on improving 911 service for cell
phone users and seek passage of the California Telecommunications Consumer Bill
of Rights, a set of new consumer safeguards that would cover the cell phone
industry for the first time. The campaign will support similar efforts in other
states and at the national level.

Overheard…

What seems clear to us is that this move is one of
desperation, one that will at best simply annoy the FCC commissioners who
already have a dim view of the telcos, and at worst lead to a full-scale rout in
Washington as the Beltway types turn on the telcos.

Allan Tumolillo, COO, Probe Financial Associates,
regarding a lawsuit filed by SBC Communications Inc., BellSouth Corp. and Qwest
Communications International Inc. with the Federal Court of Appeals in
Washington, D.C.
to overturn the FCCs order in the Triennial Review of the
mandated unbundling rules.

Towers of Terror

As the information superhighway takes to the skies, inquiring
minds at the FCC want to know what possible effect communications towers may
have on migratory birds. The agency is seeking a reliable estimate of the number
of migratory birds that may have died after colliding with communications
towers. In addition, they want to know how and to what extent tower height,
lighting systems, type of antenna support structure and location increase or
decrease the hazards towers pose to migratory birds. The notice of inquiry is
part of the commissions environmental and historic preservation action plan
announced by FCC Chairman Michael Powell in May 2003.

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