A Crusade Against Roaming Charges

Mobile phone roaming charges and fees are nothing but an out-and-out scam by mobile phone carriers. A collusion? A rip-off! Let's be real about this.

Check the calendar. It's not the Dark Ages. There is no reason why I cannot pay the local rate for a call anywhere in the world. Why should an additional "roaming charge" be dropped on top of the normal cost? All the mobile phone CEOs attend the same meetings. They all supposedly want the same good deal for their customers. They know each other personally and hop from company to company. So why does this roaming scam still exist? Surely, they could agree on some sharing service that was fair.

But I miss the point. These folks like this "bonus." It's a way to gouge their loyal customers.

This column stems from a report that some hapless Canadian family went on vacation and let their children stream Netflix movies on a laptop, unaware that there would be roaming charges. The result: an $11,000 bill.

Example after example of this fraud show up in the media, mostly because people use their mobile phones when traveling. The biggest bill I've heard of, rung up by a Florida woman traveling in Canada, .

Some people do not even use their phones overseas but leave the data service on, resulting in endless pings to various servers and a huge roaming charge. How many users know to turn this off?

If you make enough of a fuss and complain to the newspaper or a local TV station, the phone company will often void the bill. This in itself makes you wonder what is going on.

So, let me tell you. This is a blatant scam that could be resolved by some international treaties or agreements at the next meeting in Davos or in the back rooms at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 30 million Americans have faced bill shock over some ludicrous charge. Why? Because they did something they did not know was wrong and were gouged, that's why. The FCC chairman says that consumers should be made aware of excess charges as they begin. Really? How about this for an idea: Stop the scams! Why do these phone companies get away with this?

All fees should be fixed. There should never be roaming charges. If two mobile phone companies cannot agree on this, then they should not be able to use each other's networks. If the phone companies can't agree on terms, they should be fined by a regulatory agency.

How hard are the terms? If I have Provider A, where I pay 10 cents a minute for a call, and I roam into Provider B territory, which charges its customers 15 cents per minute, then I will pay 15 cents per minute and the money will go to Provider B. How hard is this? We use computers nowadays, you know.

Instead, I pay 10 cents locally and when I roam into another area, I get charged the 15 cents plus a huge roaming fee. Why the extra bogus fee?

I'll tell you why. It's to stifle competition. There are enough people in a 15-cent area bordering a 10-cent area who would force their phone to use the 10-cent carrier. Heaven forbid. It's all a scam to make sure mobile monopolies stay in place to gash the customer at every turn.

Where are the good anti-trust lawyers when we need them? This outrageous trick must stop. The public needs to write the FCC and demand real regulations of these companies. Why are they allowed to ride roughshod over the public like this? More importantly, why does the public put up with it?