Necessary Roughness

FOX News reports that the FCC wants cell phone companies to change cancellation fees for their services. Angry customers are suing the companies, and the companies want out of state court.

I understand letting the customer try a service for a month or so and then canceling the service. There’s a chance that a phone may not work in a certain area, and so there’s a sense of fraud when a cell phone company says their phone will work when it doesn’t.

Wireless companies said the cancellation fees are necessary to recover the cost of cell phones, which they subsidize under long-term service contracts, and to defray their costs for signing up new customers. Consumer groups said the fees are unreasonable and intended to discourage customers from switching among providers.

The rest of this issue is all about federal and state intrusion into voluntary contracts. The judges of these state courts should stop salivating at the prospect of socking it to the cell phone companies. If this goes through, expect cell phone innovation to drop and monthly bills to increase. I don’t need a higher cellular bill, thank you.