Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership Choosing a wireless service provider Take a cell assessment Making a commitment Avoid surprises.

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Choosing a wireless service provider

Take a ‘cell assessment’Making a commitment

Avoid surprises in your wireless billPrevent theft and fraud

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Welcome

• Why are you here?

• To learn how to choose the best wireless plan and avoid potential pitfalls.

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

What you will learn:

• Choosing the best plan• Cellular industry vocabulary• Prepaid vs. Monthly Wireless plans • Choosing the right phone for the plan• Reading wireless bills

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

What’s in your folder?

• Brochure• Backgrounder guide• Slides in handout form• Activities• Sample billing statement• Quiz• Order form for free multilingual

materials

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Expectations Activity

• Your name• Your agency & title• What you hope to get out of this

seminar today

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Available plans

• Local• Roaming• Regional • National• International

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Local Plans

• Allow calls within a metropolitan area or portions of a state without long distance charges

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Roaming

• Making calls outside of the carrier’s network

• Higher per minute charges with some plans

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Regional plans

• Users can make calls within a state or group of states without any long distance or roaming fees

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

National plans

• Often called nationwide plans• Users can make calls within the U.S.• No long distance or roaming charges

*Remember to clarify all plan details with your carrier in advance

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

International plans

• May provide better deals to other countries

• Prepaid plans also offer overseas calling options

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What to ask?

• What type of questions should you ask when comparing calling plans?

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What to consider?

• Basic monthly charge• Anytime minutes• Free nights & weekend minutes• Per minute rate if exceeded• Long distance charge• Roaming charges• Peak vs. off peak hours• Text messages / Internet access• Contract issues

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Family plans

• What is a family plan?

• Does anyone have a family plan?

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Family Plans

• A less expensive way to add multiple phones and services to one account

• Share minutes• Difficult to control shared minutes

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Family plan features

• Two or more cell phones share one bucket of minutes

• Bucket of minutes is an industry term for an allotment, usually monthly

• Plans offer buckets of 250, 500, 700 or 1000 minutes per month

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Family plan features

• With some plans, unused minutes roll over to the next month

• Outgoing & incoming calls and toll free calls will use bucket minutes

• Buy enough minutes to cover calling pattern

• Going over minutes = 40 cents/min

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Comparison sites

• www.point.com• www.myrateplan.com• www.letstalk.com• www.wirefly.com• www.consumerreports.org (fee)

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

What do you think?

• Are all cell phones the same?• What is free mobile to mobile?• Can you estimate your monthly usage?

How?• Can you control incoming calls?• Do U.S. cell phones work overseas?

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Break

• See you in 15 minutes!

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Activity - 15 minutes

• Break into small groups• Choosing a wireless service activity (page

9 in training curriculum)

• Choose a spokesperson• Choose a recorder• Be ready to share findings

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Cost of service

• First bill can be higher than normal due to activation fee

• Pro-rating of charges can increase your bill when changing plans or adding new features

• Request an estimate• Final charges include taxes/surcharges and will

be higher than calling plan fee

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Carriers may allow

• Checking minutes

• Checking balance

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Data Service

• What is data service?

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Data Service

• Downloading photos• Checking e-mail• Reading news headlines• Text messaging• Usually billed by kilobytes

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Billing mistakes

• Contact carrier immediately• Take notes on your conversation• Request an e-mail confirmation

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Activity

• Break into small groups• Review Laura Fish’s wireless bill• Answer the questions on page 12• Choose a spokesperson• Choose a recorder• Be ready to share findings

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Choosing a phone

• How many people here have a cell phone?

• Family members?• What kind of cell phone do you have &

why?

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Types of phones

• Flip up & ‘candy bar’ phones• PDAs - Personal digital assistants• Smart phones• Retractable antenna• Ringer levels / vibrate settings• Separate volume controls

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Making a choice

• Accepting a free phone• Blocking the purchase of ring tones• Rebate offers• Phone replacement insurance

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Thank you!

• Did we meet your expectations?• If you were facilitating this workshop

tomorrow or next week, what information would you need to be effective?

• Other comments?

Consumer Action - AT&T Wireless Phone Education Partnership

Contact us

• Consumer Action - 1.800.999.7981

• www.consumer-action.org