**GAO-09-800T**                      Published: Jun 17, 2009. Publicly Released: Jun 17, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

The use of wireless phone service in the United States has risen dramatically over the last 20 years, with an estimated 270 million subscribers as of December 2008. Americans increasingly rely on wireless phones as their primary or sole means of telephone communication. Concerns have been raised in recent years about the quality of this service, including specific concerns about billing and carriers' contract terms, such as fees charged for terminating service before the end of a contract period. Under federal law, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has flexibility in regulating wireless phone service carriers. FCC's rules include procedures for addressing consumer complaints. This testimony provides preliminary information on (1) consumers' current satisfaction with wireless phone service and problems consumers have experienced with this service (2) FCC's efforts to assist wireless consumers with complaints. The statement is based on related ongoing work that GAO is conducting for this committee and plans to report on later this year. To conduct this work, GAO surveyed 1,143 adult wireless phone users from a nationally representative, randomly selected sample and interviewed and analyzed documents obtained from FCC and various stakeholder organizations representing consumers, state agencies and officials, and industry.

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## Topics

Business Regulation and Consumer Protection

AccountabilityBilling proceduresCellular telephonesConsumer protectionContract termination costsContract termsCustomer serviceData collectionFederal lawFederal regulationsGrievance proceduresInternal controlsQuality assuranceQuality improvementStrategic planningSurveysTelecommunicationsTelephonesUser feesWirelessComplaints processingCustomer satisfactionPolicies and procedures