II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 732 

To improve billing disclosures to cellular telephone consumers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 5, 2011 

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve billing disclosures to cellular telephone 

consumers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cell Phone Bill Shock 

5 Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) A recent survey conducted by the Federal 

9 Communications Commission found that 1 out of 6 

10 consumers who subscribe to commercial mobile serv11 ice has experienced ‘‘bill shock’’, which is the sudden 


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1 increase in the monthly bill of a subscriber even 

2 though the subscriber has not made changes to their 

3 monthly service plan. 

4 (2) Most consumers who experience bill shock 

5 do not receive notification from their provider of 

6 commercial mobile service when the consumer is 

7 about to exceed the monthly limit of voice minutes, 

8 text message, or data megabytes. 

9 (3) Most consumers who experience bill shock 

10 do not receive notification from their provider of 

11 commercial mobile service that their bill has sud12 denly increased. 

13 (4) Prior to the enactment of this Act, a pro14 vider of commercial mobile service was under no ob15 ligation to notify a consumer of such services of a 

16 pending or sudden increase in their bill for the use 

17 of such service. 

18 (5) Section 332 of the Communications Act of 

19 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332) requires that all commercial 

20 mobile service provider charges, practices, classifica21 tions, and regulations ‘‘for or in connection with’’ 

22 interstate communications service be just and rea23 sonable, and authorizes the Federal Communications 

24 Commission to promulgate rules to implement this 

25 requirement. 


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1 SEC. 3. NOTIFICATION OF CELL PHONE USAGE LIMITS; 

2 SUBSCRIBER CONSENT. 

3 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘commer4 cial mobile service’’ has the same meaning as in section 

5 332(d)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

6 332(d)(1)). 

7 (b) NOTIFICATION OF CELL PHONE USAGE LIM8 ITS.—The Federal Communications Commission shall pro9 mulgate regulations to require that a provider of commer10 cial mobile service shall— 

11 (1) notify a subscriber when the subscriber has 

12 used 80 percent of the monthly limit of voice min13 utes, text messages, or data megabytes agreed to in 

14 the commercial mobile service contract of the sub15 scriber; 

16 (2) send, at no charge to the subscriber, the no17 tification described in paragraph (1) in the form of 

18 a voice message, text message, or email; and 

19 (3) ensure that such text message or email is 

20 not counted against the monthly limit for voice min21 utes, text messages, or data megabytes of the com22 mercial mobile service contract of the subscriber. 

23 (c) SUBSCRIBER CONSENT.—The Federal Commu24 nications Commission shall promulgate regulations to re25 quire a provider of commercial mobile service shall— 


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1 (1) obtain the consent of a subscriber who re2 ceived a notification under subsection (b) to use 

3 voice, text, or data services in excess of the monthly 

4 limit of the commercial mobile service contract of 

5 the subscriber before the provider may allow the 

6 subscriber to use such excess services; and 

7 (2) allow a subscriber to, at no cost, provide the 

8 consent required under paragraph (1) in the form of 

9 a voice message, text message, or email that is not 

10 counted against the monthly limit for voice minutes, 

11 text messages, or data megabytes of the commercial 

12 mobile service contract of the subscriber. 

Æ 


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