FCC: 30 million Americans stung by cell-phone "bill shock"

As Consumers Union's advocacy Web site Hear Us Now reports, a just-released FCC survey says 30 million Americans have experienced "bill shock," a sudden increase in their cellular bill not related to a change in plan. That's one in 10 cell phone users, by our calculation. A third of that group got hit with bill of at least $50, and 23 percent got smacked for $100 or more.

Carriers typically didn't lift a finger to warn about the surprise charges, the FCC survey found; 84 to 88 percent of shocked cell users never received alerts from their carrier before or after. 

Cell-phone carriers won't say how many customers get snagged by overage charges, but appear to have a different take than the FCC. 

"I can tell you that it's a very, very small percentage," says Nancy Stark, a Verizon spokesperson. "It's a very, very, very low percentage," says Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesperson.

The threat of high overage charges, however, appears to be more valuable to cellular carriers than the overage charges themselves, because that nasty stick scares consumers into buying many more monthly minutes than they actually need—for a higher monthly fee.

"We have data that show it's the new customers to wireless who have the most overages. Over time, they buy a buffer as an insurance policy just in case, because they don't want to be hit with those overage fees again," says John Coyle, senior director for customer strategy at U.S. Cellular, the regional carrier that offers nationwide service to 6.2 million customers in 26 Midwest, Northeast, and Pacific Coast states. (U.S. Cellular is the only one of the five largest cell carriers that does warn customers of impending charges.)

Fear of surprise bills is part of what's behind some of the demand for unlimited voice and messaging plans. "Customers don't have to worry about what their bills will look like each month," says Roni Singleton, a Sprint spokesperson.—Jeff Blyskal

Tomorrow: For those who overspend minutes, help is on the way