Cell Phone Text Message Rate Lawyers
The lawyers and attorneys at our firm are investigating allegations that major cell phone companies are setting unfair text message rates. In September 2008, Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), Chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, sent a letter to the nation's top four cell phones carriers, directing them to justify the "sharply rising rates" they charge people to send and receive text messages. If you are a customer of Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, and have paid to send and receive text messages, we urge you to contact one of our cell phone text message rate lawyers as soon as possible in order to protect your legal rights.
Rising Text Message Rates
According to a 2008 survey conducted by the industry trade group CTIA, American cell phone subscribers are sending more text messages than ever. About 75 billion SMS text messages were sent in June 2008, averaging about 2.5 billion messages a day, the report said. This represents an increase of 160 percent over the 28.8 billion messages reported in June 2007.
As text messaging has become more and more popular, the price for the service has risen higher and higher. Our cell phone text message rate lawyers have found no justification for the rapid increase. We believe that the four major cell phone carries - Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile - are simply taking advantage of a lack of competition in the market place.
Since 2005, customers of Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have seen their text messaging rates jump from 10 cents a message in 2005 to 20 cents a message. The latest price hikes came just one year after all the major carriers raised individual text messaging rates from 10 cents a message to 15 cents per message. Sprint was the first carrier to increase the text message rate to 20 cents in the Fall of 2007, and all of its three main competitors quickly followed suit.
These text message rate increases do not appear to be justified by the cost of transmittal. Because text messages are generally limited to 160 characters per message, they are very small data files - generally a fraction of the size of a typical email. Therefore, they cost carriers very little to transmit. One website calculated that at the rate of 20 cents per message, cell phone carries were charging the equivalent of $1300 per megabyte to transmit a cell phone text message.
Though text messaging rates have risen all over the world, the increases are particularly onerous to U.S. cell phone users. Unlike in the rest of the world, customers in the U.S. pay for messages that they send and receive. Just about everywhere else incoming texts are free.
Timing of Rate Increases
These cell phone text messaging hikes have occurred during a consolidation of the industry, which has reduced the number of national wireless carriers in the U.S. to four from six. Our cell phone text message rate lawyers have concluded that the rate increases might have more to do with lack of competition in the industry, rather than the actual cost carriers incur to carry these messages.
It also appears that Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile increased their text messaging rates at nearly the same time, with identical price increases. This conduct is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition that should occur in a competitive marketplace. Our cell phone text message rate lawyers doubt that these identical, near-simultaneous rate increases are coincidence. We are investigating the possibility of price fixing among the major cell phone carriers.
Senate Investigation of Cell Phone Text Message Rates
In September 2008, Senator Herb Kohl wrote to Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T, directing them to justify their rate increases. Senator Kohl said that he was concerned with the size of the increases, their timing and the fact that they appeared to be the result of a lack of competition in the market. He asked the companies to provide information on cost, technical, or any other factors that justify a 100% increase in the cost of text messaging from 2005 to 2008.
The Senator also challenged each carrier to provide specific data relating to usage; charges compared to other services, such as email and the cost of voice; and the price of data services from 2005 to 2008. He also asked each company to disclose whether or not their pricing structure differs significantly from their main competitors.
Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile were given until October 6, 2008 to respond to the Senator's letter. Our cell phone text message rate lawyers will be watching Senator's Kohl's investigation of the four major cell phone carriers closely.
Legal Help for Victims of Unfair Cell Phone Text Message Rate Increases
If you are a Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile cell phone customer, and you believe that your text messaging rates are unfair, you may have valuable legal rights. Please fill out our online form, or call 1-800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to discuss your case with one of the cell phone text message rate lawyers at our firm.