Phone Slamming - An Old Trick From Long Distance Phone Companies

Have you ever opened your phone bill and suddenly you discover it is from a completely different phone company than you signed up with? If so, then you have probably been slammed. Phone slamming is when your phone company switches your service to another provider without your permission. The practice is completely illegal!

If you think this may have happened to you already, go ahead and contact the telephone company that you did sign up with. Tell them very clearly that you want to reconnect your original long distance calling plan that you signed up for. The company is not allowed to charge you for this switch, and hopefully you haven’t already paid your bill because by law, you don’t have to pay the charges for the time you were switched to the other company without your permission.

However, if you did happen to pay the bill, the law says that the company that “slammed” you has to pay you back 150% of your payment. If they refuse, be sure to get in touch with the FCC to make a formal complaint.

Another way to avoid this altogether is to drop your long distance company. You can have a home phone line and with PhoneHog, you can earn free long distance minutes. It’s very easy to sign up and earn the minutes. It’s as easy as using a pre-paid phone card, but without the cost. Try it for yourself to see, and post a comment to tell us what you think!

Google Considering Bid on Mobile Airwaves

Any news about Google these days is interesting. I read an article stating that Google may bid in a mobile airwaves auction for 700-MHz band airwaves, which can go long distances and penetrate thick walls. Last week, Google executives met with the FCC Chairman and other officials to discuss the auction and they have started making the necessary preparations to bid. Google has not announced a final decision in the matter, however.

Right now, Google is all about openness in networks. Just this month, Google unveiled the GPhone and their plans to offer software for building internet cell phones and they are creating alliances with device and software makers to foster growth in that industry. It is a very competitive market that Google is about to enter, and it could potentially hurt the big players such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and Nextel. But in reality, it could set Google back because it would cost billions of dollars to create another national wireless network, but I guess we'll see what happens. This could all just be a tactic to make sure the FCC's $4.6 billion minimum bid is met and that the open-access provision that Google fought for will stay intact.

I guess we'll just have to wait to see what happens. It should prove interesting, though, if Google makes this move because it could change the entire industry.