T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T will pay a combined $10.2 million in a settlement with US states that alleged the carriers falsely advertised wireless plans as "unlimited" and phones as "free." The deal was announced yesterday by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
"A multistate investigation found that the companies made false claims in advertisements in New York and across the nation, including misrepresentations about 'unlimited' data plans that were in fact limited and had reduced quality and speed after a certain limit was reached by the user," the announcement said.
T-Mobile and Verizon agreed to pay $4.1 million each while AT&T agreed to pay a little over $2 million. The settlement includes AT&T subsidiary Cricket Wireless and Verizon subsidiary TracFone.
[...]
The carriers denied any illegal conduct despite agreeing to the settlement. In addition to payments to each state, the carriers agreed to changes in their advertising practices. It's unclear whether consumers will get any refunds out of the settlement, however.
[...]
The three carriers agreed that all advertisements to consumers must be "truthful, accurate and non-misleading." They also agreed to the following changes, the NY attorney general's office said:
- "Unlimited" mobile data plans can only be marketed if there are no limits on the quantity of data allowed during a billing cycle.
- Offers to pay for consumers to switch to a different wireless carrier must clearly disclose how much a consumer will be paid, how consumers will be paid, when consumers can expect payment, and any additional requirements consumers have to meet to get paid.
- Offers of "free" wireless devices or services must clearly state everything a consumer must do to receive the "free" devices or services.
- Offers to lease wireless devices must clearly state that the consumer will be entering into a lease agreement.
- All "savings" claims must have a reasonable basis. If a wireless carrier claims that consumers will save using its services compared to another wireless carrier, the claim must be based on similar goods or services or differences must be clearly explained to the consumer.
The advertising restrictions are to be in place for five years.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by pTamok on Wednesday May 15, @06:44PM (4 children)
Don't blame the lawyers. They are merely good at exploiting bad law. They don't make the laws.
Who makes the bad laws? The politicians.
Who advises the politicians? The lobbyists.
Blame the lobbyists. They are extremely good at mis/re-directing blame.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 15, @07:21PM
Wrong question, you should ask:
Who reelects the politicians? The voters.
Blame the voters. They are much better at mis/re-directing blame.
In the meantime 95% of these politicians everybody likes to whine about will be reelected once again.. So please, when pointing fingers, most people should point into the mirror
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 15, @07:42PM (2 children)
Agree with AC: the ultimate blame is square at the feet of the voters (and those who choose not to vote.)
The unfortunate reality is: the voters are so easily manipulated, and our system is now so complex that referenda on all the significant issues would be chaos and possibly even more easily manipulated than the clowns we send to D.C.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday May 15, @08:10PM (1 child)
Yah, but...who 'advises' the voters?
In an ideal world, voters are rational and fully informed.
In our world, they get their information from a limited set of (mostly) controlled and (quite possibly) biased channels. Lobbyists and 'media moguls' have an awful lot of soft power.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 15, @08:37PM
>Lobbyists and 'media moguls' have an awful lot of soft power.
As they always have. Why else would a boy genius sink $44B into a media platform and proceed to make it unprofitable?
🌻🌻 [google.com]