Okay, I can hear the laughter out there now, but let me ask you, why do you think they’re so confusing?  Certainly they don’t have to be.  Most people simply dismiss this fact and say, “Everyone has to deal with it” (That’s right, but not everybody does, more on that later)

If you were to ask a telephone company exec (and trust me, because I used to be one) why do you make the bills so confusing, a pat answer might be that “the complexity of your bill is directly in alignment with the various features, add-ons, ancilary charges and most agregiously – those darn taxes we HAVE to charge you from the goverment!”  Not bad as I think that is what I was asked years ago in an interview.

According to a recent study by Gartner Group, a leading information technology research and advisory company, when it comes to telephone and data bills, an estimated $13 billion in overcharges will be generated in the next 12 months and less than 2% of these telephone billing errors will ever be identified.

Take for instance the new Motorola phone that Verizon is rolling out called the Droid running Google’s Android operating system.  Many industry pundits have labeled it everything from the next best thing in smartphones to an outright iPhone killer.  It will cost subscribers a competitive $199 for the phone if you sign a 2-year contract, and add a MANDATORY $30 unlimited data plan.  In my mind, unlimited means just that, “all you can eat”, but in Verizon’s vernacular unlimited means a cap of 5 GB or 5,120 MB per month.

The ability for you to “tether” an external device like a laptop is an aspect of your smart phone that some people have started to use to be able to be connected where Wi-Fi might not be available.  If you’d like to use that feature, guess what?  Verizon’s going to charge you more, add an additional $30 more PLUS the required $30 before ABOVE your “normal” wireless plan AND still with the extra $30 (which they call unlimited) is capped at 10GB per month.

In addition to that, Verizon isn’t stopping there with the upcharges. It also announced that as of November 15 the early termination fee will be double just for high-end devices like smartphones (read- the Droid phone).  Users who cancel out of the agreement before the two years are up can expect a $350 bill.

Head spinning yet?  Well hang on.  On your $30 “unlimited” 5GB maximum usage plan, it’s okay for any traffic just as long as it doesn’t come from a Microsoft Exchange server, because that will cost you $45 per month instead.

Also on the third Friday of each month with an “r” in it, your data plan only works 3/4 of the time but you can use it as much as you like – okay, I just made that one up but I couldn’t resist.

This is just policy for ONE phone, think about your organization with hundreds of wireless devices.  We see companies that have “rogue” phones that add and change aspects of their data plan and make it a nightmare to manage.  Additionally, companies also leave language in your contracts that allow them to change these terms at ANY time.  If you’re concerned about managing your telecom costs, this is where an audit can identify and help reel in your costs, because believe me the phone companies aren’t going to help make it any easier for you ANYTIME soon.

AT&T has been accused of being at the bottom of the reason that application has been denied availability from Apple iPhone, and in return AT&T has given Google a “shot across the bow” by accusing the Google Voice application to not be allowed to call certain rural areas, conference calling services, and “chat lines” (the reason being is that carriers pay rural telecom companies a higher revenue amount by terminating calls on their network – more on this at a later date).  Their claim is that Google should operate in the same manner as they have to (read: they have to do this, why shouldn’t Google?).  However, Google’s claim is that they only offer certain services and shouldn’t be regulated as a wireless company.

The end result is uncertain, but what I can say is that Google is making some inroads.  Last Tuesday Verizon announced that Google Voice application would be supported and even AT&T indicated, without mentioning Google to allow iPhone users to utilize VoIP applications on the AT&T 3G network.

The times they are a-changing.  What the end result allows for will have to be seen, what we know for sure is that you can be certain your bills will be effected, up or down – stay tuned.

Because of a lack of bandwidth available and the inability to implement 4G network upgrades any time soon, what does he think is an ideal solution would be?

“Without the proper management of these networks, De la Vega said, regular data users will be ‘crowded out’ by the small number of users [read iPhone users] who use massive amounts of data.  ‘We have to manage the network to make sure that the few cannot crowd out the many,’ De la Vega continued. He said the words ‘crowded out’ at least five times in that part of his keynote address.”

According to PC World’s Mark Sullivan, he seems to think this will mean a “throttling down” of the network.  Yikes.

So with all the talk about the iPhone being available on more networks than AT&T’s this turns into an interesting drama.  Keep your eyes peeled.

ref: PC World