Sky-high travel phone bills nearly bu... CNN
28.08.09
"The sheer reason is that people are using their phones more for data than voice calls," says Azita Arvani, a wireless hustle consultant based in Los Angeles.
With a conventional call, users can gauge the cost per minute and adjust their talk measure. But gauging data use isn't as straightforward. An e-mail, Web site or video can gobble up a lot more bandwidth than you'd think.
The European Coherence limited roaming charges two years ago. And this month, a new set of regulations go into effect that cap text-message costs to 11 Euro cents, limit details rates to a reasonable 1 Euro per megabyte, and boost requirements for billing transparency.
No comparable laws have been proposed in the Merged States, where the guiding philosophy behind this almost total lack of regulation is that market forces alone will stop wireless carriers from overbilling their customers.
Here's one way those market forces line: Brown dropped Verizon at his first opportunity and signed up with AT&T.
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