Validas Reports Proposed 'Bill Shock' Fix Avoids the Real Problem

HOUSTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Congress and the FCC have pulled the "Bill Shock" issue into the wireless industry spotlight, but Validas (http://www.validas.com) says their proposed notification fix does not address the real problem; overage minutes are billed at 5 to 11 times the price of normal minutes, which is the root cause of "Bill Shock."

Validas has analyzed hundreds of thousands of consumer, small business, and enterprise wireless bills and determined that people actually pay an average of five cents per minute for all of the voice minutes they use. When adjusting for "free" minutes like nights and weekends, in-network calls, and calls to a customer's five favorite numbers, the cost per minute jumps to 13 cents. Overage minutes, on the other hand, are typically billed at 25 cents to 55 cents per minute.

"Telling a customer she is about to be slammed with massive charges does not change the fact that she can be slammed with those charges," says Ed Finegold, Chief Analytics Officer for Validas. The aftereffect of excessive overage, which hits between 6 and 8 percent of bills every month, is that 75 percent of all wireless users buy far more minutes than they ever use in order to avoid the excessive fees.

An ideal remedy would be for carriers to let customers buy extra minutes at the same rate they otherwise pay. That would be a consumer- and business-friendly solution that would keep Congress and the FCC out of the argument.

About Validas

Validas® provides consumers, businesses and government agencies with a simple, secure online service that cuts bottom line wireless costs by an average of 20 to 40 percent.  Founded by wireless industry experts, Validas eliminates wireless billing and rate plan confusion to improve customer care for wireless users.  The on-demand software platform leverages patent-pending algorithms, processes and PDF scanning capabilities to deliver powerful business intelligence in seconds. For more information visit http://www.validas.com.

SOURCE Validas