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When you think of identity theft, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Credit card. Right? Ask most people, and that’s what they’ll tell you. Most other common answers have to do with financial institutions. Did you know that your cell phone account is a high-risk place for identity theft? Since it is a form of credit, all of your vital information is one file. This allows thieves to steal your identity in the same manner as they would a credit card. Consumerist points us to a study by the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, which shows that in 2007 Verizon Wireless had the most reported incidents of identity theft.

Read the rest of Watch out for wireless identity theft…

D’oh! Your cell phone broke. Clearly, there’s only one thing to do, right? Yeah! Head on down to your local retailer and have them replace it. After all, it’s under warranty. So you hop in your jalopy and putter down to the nearest store. You engage the first sales rep you see, and explain your situation. “The phone is great, it’s just that the [directional pad, trackball, numerical key, whathaveyou] is broken. It’s still under warranty, though, so I was wondering if you could just replace it.” A totally reasonable request, right? So the employee takes a look at the phone, and you notice that he takes the battery cover off. Must be standard procedure.

Then he turns to you and says, “I’m sorry, but we can’t replace your phone under warranty.”

Read the rest of Why your cell phone warranty might be void right now…

Just because there was a court ruling against shady ringtone practices doesn’t mean the participants will heed the rules. Just like a decision against a prepaid phone trafficker won’t deter others, and like Verizon suing spammers won’t stop that profession, either. So it comes as little surprise that the European Union’s consumer affairs commissioner has found that eight of 10 of these shady ringtone sites signs you up for a subscription, according to an Associated Press report.

Read the rest of Europe catching onto shady ringtone sites…

Mergers and acquisitions and spectrum auctions. What do they have in common? They’re ways in which large telecoms can create an even bigger footprint in the most attractive markets. Yet, when do we consider “too much spectrum in one market” a monopoly? The Rural Telecommunications Group wants to define that. They’re looking to reinstate a spectrum cap so that the playing field can be leveled, and other competitors can get a piece of the cellular pie.
Read the rest of Should the government cap spectrum holdings?…

Historically, the consumer has been at a disadvantage in dealing with manufacturers and retailers. This is because the manufacturers and retailers had a decent handle on the flow of information, or at least moreso than the consumer. The Internet, as we know, has democratized information, making it available to the masses. The problem is, this information can’t possibly reach everyone. So it is the responsibility of those who have heard to spread the message to anyone else who wants to hear. This is what we aim to do with Consumer Issues Corner. So if you read this, and know someone who might benefit from the knowledge herein, pass it along. Today, we’re looking at Best Buy’s Bluetooth pairing rip-off, the Cell Tax Fairness Act, and the practice of unlocking phones.

Read the rest of Consumer Issues Corner: Bluetooth, Tax, Unlocking…

Tax, tax, tax. It seems everywhere we go, something is taxed. Gas, cigarettes, consumer goods, our income, and our cell phones. In fact, you can plan to add about $10 to your monthly phone bill to account for the fees and taxes assessed. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) want to cut out some of those cell phone taxes though, at least those imposed on a local level. Seeing as the tax rate on wireless services, when you factor in state, local, and federal taxes, amounts to nearly 16 percent, or more than double most sales tax rates. The Cell Tax Fairness Act seeks to put a five-year moratorium on any state or local taxes.

Read the rest of Senators introduce Cell Tax Fairness Act…

While we haven’t seen the weekend sales numbers for the iPhone 3G, we do know that the launch could have gone a bit smoother. The whispers turned into yells early Friday morning, as customers began complaining that Apple simply could not get their phone activated. This happened basically across the board, as the iPhone launched in 21 countries. So it comes as no surprise that the global iTunes servers slowed down a bit, rendering many unable to receive service at first. It’s almost as if this fits some elaborate unwritten movie script.

Read the rest of Not a good launch for the iPhone 3G…

If this BusinessWeek report is accurate, it looks like MetroPCS might not be the only company to offer a phone unlocking service. Olga Kharif learns that Houdinisoft, the company providing Metro with the unlocking/reflashing services, is in talks with a number of other carriers to offer a similar program. This would be a boon for many Americans who are sick of their current provider, but wish to not purchase a new handset. GSM will still be GSM and CDMA will still be CDMA, but it might get a bit easier to migrate among a technology.

Read the rest of Is America moving towards unlocked cell phones?…

We’ve been talking a lot lately about early termination fees, seeing as the government is trying to figure out how it can best protect big telecom from lawsuits. (Opinionated much?) We heard what FCC Chair Kevin Martin had to say on Friday, and much of it was reasonable. He could have extended the reach of some of the proposed ideas, but for the most part it seemed consumer friendly. Except, you know, the part that preempts lawsuits filed against telecoms in regards to early termination fees. Comsumers Union has weighed in on the matter and unsurprisingly, they’re not too happy about ETFs and the lawsuit preemption proposal.

Read the rest of Consumers Union speaks on early termination fees…

We’re getting a bit deeper into the matter of government oversight of early termination fees. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin spoke up during hearings yesterday, and his sentiments, coincidentally enough, nearly matched the ideas of the wireless carriers, which were proposed last month. To me, this is a bad sign. Wireless carriers tend to rail against government oversight, except when it benefits them. So if their proposals are matched by a governing body, well, it’s not outlandish to think the worst.

Read the rest of FCC Chair chimes in on ETFs…