WIRELESS PHONES

CELL PHONES

MOBILE PHONES

WIRELESS PHONES

CONTRACTS: Read the contracts (General Terms and Conditions) first. There are two of them. One for equipment and one for service. They are in fine print and are long and involved. Many contracts allow for a $200.00 cancellation fee. Seek out carriers that do not require a long‑term contract. Make them earn your patronage every month.

WARRANTIES: Read the wireless phone warranty. Most will scare you away. Some wireless phone manufacturers take three weeks just to make an adjustment. It is much safer to rent a wireless phone on a monthly basis. Choose a wireless phone that uses a lithium battery.

ACTIVATION FEES: Avoid carriers that charge activation fees. Make them earn your patronage every month.

DEPOSITS: Some carriers require deposits of several hundred dollars that are not interest bearing, mostly to deduct the cancellation fee when you cancel. This is an indication that you will not be happy with their service. When canceled at the end of the contract, some carriers want to hang on to the deposit for another 90 days and even longer, then deduct a fee of $10.00. When these carriers go bankrupt, your deposit is lost.

ANALOG WIRELESS PHONE SYSTEMS: AMPS 30KHz or TACS 25KHz.

DIGITAL WIRELESS PHONE SYSTEMS: GSM, TDMA (considered the worst), CDMA and SMA, each with one of two different frequency ranges, 800MHz (considered the safest) or 1900MHz.

SWITCHING CARRIERS: You must change your wireless phone number. You must purchase a new wireless phone, because the wireless phone that you purchased from the first carrier will not be compatible with the next carrier.

Complaints about Wireless Phone Companies should be filed with your State Attorney General and the following Federal Agencies:

Enforcement Division

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

1270 Fairfield Rd

Gettysburg PA 17325‑7245

Consumer Response Center

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

6th St & Pennsylvania Av NW # H‑240

Washington DC 20580‑0001

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

935 Pennsylvania Av 11th Fl

Washington DC 20537‑9700

“A BABEL OF PHONES, CHOOSE WRONG AND WHAT YOU MAY HAVE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE.” U. S. News & World Report, November 25, 1996

“UNCLE SAM, PLEASE PICK A CELL‑PHONE STANDARD.”

Business Week, February 24, 1997

WIRELESS PHONES

by Robert A. Kroboth www.citizengadfly.com

Please print and distribute copies of this publication and put this link on your web site.

www.citizengadfly.com/DOCS/N/N-WIRELESS.htm

To:
C. Michael Armstrong, Ch BD, CEO	Dan Hessy, President, CEO
AT&T Corporation	AT&T Wireless Services, Incorporated
32 Av of the Americas	5400 Carrillon Pt
New York City NY 10013-2473	Kirkland WA 98033-7356
K. P. Wilska, President	Christine O. Gregoire, Attorney General
Nokia, Incorporated	Washington State
2300 Valley View Ln	PO Box 40100
Irving TX 75062-1721	Olympia WA 98504-0100
and to THE WORLD’S HIGHEST TRIBUNAL – THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION

When I purchased a Nokia 2120 Digital Cellular Phone, I was led to believe that I was buying the best. Store Manager Kate had one. I do not receive a lot of calls, so consequently it took longer than normal for me to ascertain the problem. I had the phone two months and a week when a caller told me that I was cutting out and they could not hear me. Thereafter, more and more people would tell me the same thing. I discovered that if I plugged the phone into an electrical adapter that, with the exception of onetime, it would work. AT&T gave me new batteries, but the same problem existed. I shipped the phone to Nokia at Melbourne, FL. They had the phone exactly three weeks to the day before shipping it back. All of this time to make an adjustment, and I still had the problem. I canceled my service.

Kate told me that no one else is having this problem. They must teach this phrase in Sales Idiot 101, for I have heard it so many times in my 63 years. If I am the only one that had the problem, it should have been taken care of. Why lose a customer. Why have an unhappy former customer spreading the word about his/her experiences with AT&T and Nokia? The fact is that I am not the only one having the problem. Additional proof is the three weeks that it took Nokia to adjust the phone and then return it.

This Nokia phone is only compatible with carriers that use the TDMA system. It is not compatible with the CDMA system. Consequently, AT&T is the only carrier in the United States within 2,000 miles of me that uses the TDMA system. This is demand for refund regarding the Nokia 2120 phone, Nokia nickel metal hydride battery and a pulse charger that fits only Nokia batteries in the amount of $407.54 plus any future costs of recovery.

In my opinion, buying a Nokia digital phone from AT&T is like getting married with a ring in the customer’s nose. This infringement forces me to use all remedies available, including the prerogatives given by the first amendment to the United States Constitution – the freedom of speech and press.

Robert A. Kroboth

1118 W Grace Av

Spokane WA 99205-3444

Please print and distribute copies of this publication and put this link on your web site.