SAN FRANCISCO — One wireless phone plan allows customers to upgrade to a new phone in less than two years. Another allows a pool of data to be shared across multiple devices. Yet another offers unlimited data, but only at slower Internet speeds. All these perks are there for the taking, yet the average wireless phone bill continues with its monthly sting.
Confused yet?
Welcome to the confounding world of wireless phone billing plans. Even executives at the wireless phone companies say their industry has created a Tower of Babel of competing plans, with highly specific requirements and offerings and even, in many cases, unique language buried in the fine print.
“I think we’re propagating some confusion in the marketplace — us as an industry,” Glenn Lurie, the new chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said in a recent interview. “There’s been so much noise that customers are getting confused.”
For cellphone customers, all this competition has meant they will occasionally receive more for their money, or they might even obtain a better deal when they switch to a different phone carrier. But with that savings opportunity has come the risk of phone bill surprises even for knowledgeable consumers.
“Since there are new deals every couple of weeks, even if you go with the best deal today, things might change tomorrow,” said Jan Dawson, an independent telecommunications analyst. “Ultimately, all this is good for consumers, but it takes more work now than it did to figure out the best deal.”
This month, Sprint said it would, for a limited time, cut the bills of any Verizon and AT&T customers in half if they switched to Sprint. But with one big caveat: Sprint said it could not promise that customers would be billed the same rates for future device upgrades. And last week, T-Mobile announced an offer to roll over customers’ unused mobile data month after month. It was reminiscent of older phone plans but remarkable in today’s market because cellphone customers often buy more data than they need to hedge against running out and paying more for going over.
Industry insiders acknowledge that, short of creating a spreadsheet to sort out the pitches, expecting consumers to navigate all of these offers is unrealistic.
“We’re in a state of the industry where the carriers have sown a massive amount of confusion,” Mike Sievert, the chief marketing officer for T-Mobile USA, said.
Confused yet?
Welcome to the confounding world of wireless phone billing plans. Even executives at the wireless phone companies say their industry has created a Tower of Babel of competing plans, with highly specific requirements and offerings and even, in many cases, unique language buried in the fine print.
“I think we’re propagating some confusion in the marketplace — us as an industry,” Glenn Lurie, the new chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said in a recent interview. “There’s been so much noise that customers are getting confused.”
For cellphone customers, all this competition has meant they will occasionally receive more for their money, or they might even obtain a better deal when they switch to a different phone carrier. But with that savings opportunity has come the risk of phone bill surprises even for knowledgeable consumers.
“Since there are new deals every couple of weeks, even if you go with the best deal today, things might change tomorrow,” said Jan Dawson, an independent telecommunications analyst. “Ultimately, all this is good for consumers, but it takes more work now than it did to figure out the best deal.”
This month, Sprint said it would, for a limited time, cut the bills of any Verizon and AT&T customers in half if they switched to Sprint. But with one big caveat: Sprint said it could not promise that customers would be billed the same rates for future device upgrades. And last week, T-Mobile announced an offer to roll over customers’ unused mobile data month after month. It was reminiscent of older phone plans but remarkable in today’s market because cellphone customers often buy more data than they need to hedge against running out and paying more for going over.
Industry insiders acknowledge that, short of creating a spreadsheet to sort out the pitches, expecting consumers to navigate all of these offers is unrealistic.
“We’re in a state of the industry where the carriers have sown a massive amount of confusion,” Mike Sievert, the chief marketing officer for T-Mobile USA, said.
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