Media Reform

TALLAHASSEE ―Florida PIRG has learned that AT&T/Cingular recently began blocking phone numbers on its wireless service used by consumers to access free conference call services, such as those provided by Free Conference Call.com.   The telephone giant has argued that calls to free conference call services are resulting in millions of dollars in losses to the company due to re-routing and termination fees, and has sued free conference call services and local phone companies in Iowa over the fees.  

“AT&T/Cingular is penalizing their customers for using their phones to access a legal service,” said Brad Ashwell, advocate for Florida PIRG.   “If getting out of a cell phone contract were easy, AT&T/Cingular would never dare take this anti-consumer step.”  Ashwell also noted that Cingular offers competing conference call services for its cellular customers.  

AT&T/Cingular is informing customers who complain that the company made the decision “because of billing issues,” “charges associated with calling certain numbers,” and because Free Conference Call.com numbers are “circumventing their billing practices.”  

After receiving a tip from a consumer in Illinois who was blocked from accessing a conference call on his cellular phone, Florida PIRG’s sister group in Pennsylvania, PennPIRG, confirmed the practice with several customer service representatives at Cingular/AT&T, as well as with customer service at Free Conference Call.com.  PIRG also confirmed the blocks by calling several phone numbers used by Free Conference Call.com on a Cingular cellular phone.

According to PIRG’s research, AT&T/Cingular had not yet blocked all phone numbers as of Tuesday, March 13th.  Customer service representatives informed consumers that AT&T/Cingular was blocking new numbers as they learned of them.   As far as Florida PIRG has been able to learn, the number-blocking practice began sometime around March 9th, 2007.   The consumer group is unaware of any other cellular phone carriers engaging in a similar practice, or if the numbers are also blocked on AT&T’s land line service.  

Ashwell noted that AT&T’s anti-consumer action in this context has broad implications.  “This is an example of what is at stake in the fight for Internet freedom -- a corporation’s financial interests limiting consumer choice and access to legitimate, publicly available services.  AT&T, of course, is one of the companies opposed to Internet freedom,” said Ashwell. 

Florida PIRG called on AT&T/Cingular to restore service to legitimate business phone numbers, and called on regulators at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to determine if AT&T/Cingular has violated any laws in blocking phone numbers. 

# # #

Florida PIRG is a citizen-funded non-profit public interest advocacy group.  For more information, visit www.Floridapirg.org