Wireless-Health Inquisition

Would your CSRs have a difficult time providing information to customers who are concerned about health issues related to wireless phones?

Dobson Communications
Total Hold Time: 1 minute
Transfers/IVR Layers: 1

CSR: Thank you for calling Dobson Communications. This is (name). How can I help you?

WR: I'm thinking about buying a house, but there's a cellular antenna across the street. Are there health hazards to consider when living near cellular towers?

CSR: No, because we put towers on people's land all the time. We wouldn't do that if it wasn't safe.

WR: OK. I've also been worried because my grandfather has a pacemaker, and he just moved across the street from a cellular tower. Could the tower cause his pacemaker to stop working?

CSR: No. They're tested before they're put out. There are people with pacemakers who have cellular phones.

GTE Wireless
Total Hold Time: 2 minutes
Transfers/IVR Layers: 1

CSR: Wireless support. This is (name). How can I help you?

WR: I'm doing research for a college class and I just read a report that said there's a link between using wireless phones and fatigue, headaches, and tingling and heat sensation on the ear and skin. Is that really a problem for wireless-phone users?

CSR: I think that anything that rubs against your ear for any length of time ... I mean the way I see some people on their cellular phones, I'm surprised their ears aren't swollen. (Laughs). But it's not a chemical thing, and it has nothing to do with the electronics. Some people just have sensitive skin I suppose, and it's not difficult to get a rash, especially in the heat. I don't think there's anything to that report. I was in college many years ago, but I only believe half of what I read and very little of what I see.

WR: OK. Well, do cellular towers produce radiation like power lines?

CSR: No. Whatever type of emission comes out of a cellular phone is then tested and shielded, and it's within a certain minimum standard. I don't know what they emit, but I do know that cellular-phone use has been proven to be safe. It's like computer screens — how many years do some people sit in front of them? I don't think there's anything in a cellular phone that's going to harm you.

Price Communications
Total Hold Time: 0 minutes
Transfers/IVR Layers: 0

CSR: Price Communications. Can I help you?

WR: Is it safe for my kids to play near a cellular tower?

CSR: It's like playing under a high-voltage wire — they're at a certain height. They're highly regulated and that's why they're in certain neighborhoods. Personally, I wouldn't let my kids play around power lines. But with the cellular-phone towers, I guess it's a matter of if you live there vs. if you play there.

WR: Are there any safety standards I should know about?

CSR: The federal government has safety standards as far as height and power output. So it's totally safe as far as they are concerned. On the other hand, as a parent, what you consider to be safe for your child and what the government considers to be safe for your child is like black and white.

WR: Are radio waves the same as X-rays?

CSR: No. With X-rays, too much of it could kill you.

WR: I heard that radio waves can cause miscarriages, birth defects and even cancer, so should pregnant women not use cellular phones?

CSR: A lot of pregnant women carry cellular phones for emergencies. To be honest, each person's body accepts RF differently. For anyone who says it causes cancer, I say that whoever gets it is by an act of God more than from whatever's coming out of the phone. I've been using a cellular phone for more than 10 years, and the only effects I've felt are some occasional headaches.

WR: Well, my sister-in-law is pregnant and she uses her wireless phone all the time, and she has headaches a lot — do you think that's why?

CSR: It's a possibility of the phone because people are affected differently. If she wasn't talking on the phone, maybe her head wouldn't hurt.

Mystery Caller is Wireless Review's ongoing series of random calls to service providers to determine how a customer might be treated and the accuracy of distributed information.