Cell Phone Nightmare: One-Third of Surveyed Readers Ready to Switch Plans (Jan. 2003).

Consumer Reports rates carriers, ranks best phones, offers 911 alert

YONKERS, NY- Of nearly 22,000 subscribers to www.ConsumerReports.org surveyed in the fall of 2002, one-third said they are seriously considering a change in wireless-phone companies. In our survey, many complained about repeated problems: ten percent said they couldn't get service; 14 percent said they experienced dropped calls, and 11 percent said their calls were marred by severe static or difficulty hearing the other party clearly.

And while Verizon Wireless was consistently at the top of CR's rankings of cell-phone carriers in each of the six metropolitan areas covered-Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.-overall satisfaction with the companies, including Verizon, is lower than for most other businesses and services we rate. In fact, poor phone service was a leading reason our respondents switched providers in the first place.

Also consider that consumers have no easy way to compare phone plans, still cannot keep their phone number when they switch carriers, and are no longer guaranteed coverage maps.

Welcome to cell hell. The "Complete Guide to Cell Phones" is the cover story of CR's February 2003 issue.

"As cell-phone customers, we have to crawl through a maze of calling areas, dead zones, roaming charges and fees, hoping our phones will work when and where we need them. And we often overpay for this cellular confusion," says Jim Guest, President of Consumers Union, the independent nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. "In the ten years since Consumer Reports started rating cell phones and calling plans, we've never found an easy way to compare actual costs. Deciphering one plan is hard enough, but comparing plans from various carriers is nearly impossible. It should not be so difficult, and we believe it could be made far simpler."

"To conquer the confusion, CR proposes a solution: Present all cellular calling plans to consumers in a standard format with readable type, similar to the required box about interest rates and terms that you see in credit-card solicitations," added Mr. Guest.

In the meantime, to guide consumers to the best cell-phone deals now, CR's cell-phone cover package offers practical advice, including the importance of carefully matching your phone-plan with your calling patterns. CR encourages consumers to focus less on the big bucket of minutes trumpeted in ads and more on details about night and weekend calling, roaming, and other specifics.

A chart developed with the help of TeleBright, a phone-rate tracking company, underscores this point. For example, among the family plans, an AT & T Shared Advantage plan has a monthly fee of $90; a comparable T-Mobile Family Time plan is $70. But the AT & T plan would cost our typical family of four $71 more per month than the T-Mobile plan ($161 vs. $90), mainly because the AT & T plan has additional roaming charges plus higher fees for the third and fourth family members. Cell-phone and long-distance calling plan selectors, powered by TeleBright.com, will be offered free for one month from www.ConsumerReports.org (January 6th through February 10th).

OTHER CR TIPS INCLUDE:

• Before you sign up with any cell-phone carrier, seek recommendations from friends, neighbors or business associates who drive the same roads and walk the same sidewalks you do.

• Don't fall in love with the first phone you see. It's important to remember that only after you've picked a carrier and a plan should you buy the phone.

• Keep in mind that a regional plan may be a better deal than a local plan for people who don't use a cell phone enough to take advantage of a local plan's more generous time allotment. Twenty-eight percent of the subscribers CR surveyed said they had a regional plan. Only 15 percent had a local plan.

• Take advantage of the trial period. Most carriers offer about two weeks for a test drive before a stiff early-termination fee kicks in. But be aware there is always a non-refundable start-up fee.

• Review your bill carefully each month. Eleven percent of our respondents said they had serious or persistent billing problems in the past year, such as overcharges or mistakes. And 30 percent said they had called the company because of a question or complaint about billing.

• Consider a prepaid calling plan if you just want a phone for an emergency, don't want to enter into a contract, or have problematic credit.

• Be aware that carriers have started to offer package rates to households willing to combine all their phone usage. Companies in some areas will bundle cellular and DSL Internet access, too.

• Take a comprehensive look at all your household telephone bills — local, long-distance, and cellular — and make sure you are using all your minutes strategically. You don't want to be spending more on your local and long-distance and not using up your cell-phone plan minutes. For long-distance, you may also want to try a reseller or Internet provider.

• Choose a phone with analog back-up if you want a cell-phone for emergencies. Phones that can work in both digital and analog modes give you more opportunities to get through in an emergency. Analog is the common wireless language, which is widely available nationwide.

• Check out CR's ratings of 17 cell phones, grouped for the first time by provider. CR chose phones that offered the widest compatibility options, so digital-only phones were not included. Consumers should know that phones with higher sensitivity scores are more likely to connect in spots where the signal is very weak. And don't expect a phone priced over $100 to perform better than models costing less.

EMERGENCY CALLING: WILL YOUR CELL PHONE REACH 911?

One in three people who own a cell phone say they bought it mainly for safety and at least one-third of all 911 calls are now made on cell phones-just under 57 million calls in 2001, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. When we surveyed 11,500 subscribers to ConsumerReports.org last fall, 1,880 said they had tried to call 911 using a cell phone in the previous year. Some 15 percent of them, or 280 people, said they had trouble connecting; that includes 4 percent who never got through at all. For most a weak signal, bad connection, or other phone system problem seemed to have caused the trouble.

CR conducted its own real-world tests, running two rounds of trials making 911 calls to active emergency-communications centers with phones that had both analog and digital capability. CR had the full cooperation of local officials in Steuben County, Ind., and Sullivan County, N.Y., and were assured that our testing did not interfere with response to real emergencies.

Every phone has a "home carrier," the company you signed up with when you got the phone. We were looking specifically at what would happen in places where a cell-phone's home carrier has a weak signal but competing carriers have strong signals, a situation consumers may face. There were 18 phone-and-service-provider combinations tested. Nine out of a total of 21 test calls made failed to connect to 911 (Some phone and service-provider combinations were tested more than once).

"We believe that the cell phones and carriers we tested did not do all they could to make the connection to 911. A cell-phone used in an emergency is like a parachute-when the time comes to use it, it's critical that it works," says R. David Pittle, Senior Vice-President for Technical Policy at Consumers Union. "The nine calls that failed to connect to 911 give us pause because in every instance, there was a strong signal from another carrier that the phones could have used. Consumers have a serious need for their emergency calls from a cell phone to get through to 911. Industry and government should do everything in their power to ensure that those needs are met," added Dr. Pittle.

Some of CR's tips to maximize your chances of getting through to 911 include:

• While driving, leave the phone on and its antenna extended. That may shorten the time it takes to reach 911.

• If you have trouble connecting to 911 from inside a car, get out, if possible, and call from the side of the road; that may help you get a better signal.

• In an emergency, ignore a "no service" message on the phone's display. Try the call anyway.

The February issue of Consumer Reports also includes safety tips for minimizing your exposure to radiation, an update on Enhanced 911, policy recommendations, and a glossary of cellular terms. More information can also be found at www.ConsumersUnion.org/wireless.