Lawmakers Want Per-Second Billing

It might not be your typical David and Goliath story, but New York lawmakers are trying to topple the billing method used by most wireless providers in the Empire State.

As is common industry practice, most providers there charge by the minute whether a call lasts a few seconds or exactly one minute. That practice prompted New York State Assemblyman Scott M. Stringer (D-Manhattan) and New York State Sen. Guy Velella (R-Bronx) to co-sponsor the "Wireless Communications Consumer Protection Act of 2000." The bill is currently in committee in both the Assembly and the Senate.

The legislation would:

• Require billing by the second

• Prohibit retailers from requiring customers to sign contracts for service when they purchase a phone

• Prohibit wireless providers from imposing any charges for calls that result in a busy signal, no answer or aren't completed

• Prohibit providers from charging until the telephone number and, when necessary, a personal identification number, have been entered.

If it doesn't pass, Stringer still hopes the effort will educate the public and the industry.

"We started to talk to constituents and people about the billing of cell phones," Stringer said. "People would say, 'I ordered the $59 package, so how come my bill's $187?' It's because these cell-phone companies are not billing by the number of seconds you actually use."

Stringer estimates that rounding up costs each New York subscriber nearly $1,000 in extra charges annually. But some providers say conversion to per-second billing would cost consumers more.

"The bottom line is, if I have to go in and develop a system that tracks things by the second, that could potentially raise the price of the service," said Ritch Blasi, AT&T spokesman.

Fran Malnati, Verizon Wireless executive director of regulatory matters, said customers are happy with current billing methods.

"It may have been well-intentioned, but (the bill) is clearly misguided," Malnati said. "There are a number of things in the bill that are just bad for consumers. It is just unnecessary legislation, not only because of the way we operate but because of the entire competitive nature of our business. I'm not sure who thought per-second billing was a good idea. There are other providers who bill by the second, 6-second increments, 30-second increments or in full minutes. Some bill the initial period as two or three minutes. Why shouldn't it be a half-second? Why not?"

AT&T's Blasi thinks consumers like flat-rate plans.

"We think that customers are really not concerned with (billing methods)," he said. "They have flat-rate pricing. They know about how much usage they have each month, and they use that."

Stringer said wireless providers haven't responded to his efforts on the legislation. "They're hoping it goes away," he said. "But if we really start moving the legislation in Albany, they (providers) will look at it."

Malnati said The New York Wireless Carriers Coalition has filed memos with the bill's sponsors stating that the proposal "may have been well-intentioned, (but) it is not good for us to be able to compete strongly to attract and retain consumers."