AT&T's terms and conditions statement for its cell phone policy is over 7,700 words long. The length of the agreement is likely to deter the average consumer from attempting to read the entire document. For example, although AT&T advertises many calling plans without roaming charges, the company does not alert customers of its lengthy, and unclear ?Off-net Usage? policy. When condensed and reworded, this policy says that AT&T may terminate the service of users who spend more than 40% of their minutes ?roaming? off of the AT&T network. Other notable conditions of AT&T's cell phone policy include:
These hard-to-find terms and conditions are important for consumers to understand as they show how much a phone service will cost and what users can expect from the service. Consumers should do lots of research before choosing a particular phone service. The best forms of research may involve asking neighbors about their phone service and asking the telephone companies whether there are any restrictions on their phone plans. Kudos to the great Mouseprint.org consumer blog for alerting us to these details.
Source: Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org
