Why Does T-Mobile Charge Me $4 a Month to Block Scam Calls?

If you’re a T-Mobile customer scratching your head over a $4 monthly charge just to block scam calls, you're not alone. Scam calls are annoying, intrusive, and increasingly common—and it feels wrong to pay extra just to keep them at bay. So what gives?

Let’s break down what that $4 charge is all about, what you’re actually paying for, and why the government isn’t stepping in to fix this mess.

What Is T-Mobile’s Scam Shield?

Exploring Potential Anti-Trust Issues Facing Apple iMessage

Tim Cook's Blunt Response To Green Bubbles Show Something Else About Him

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology and digital communication, Apple's iMessage has emerged as a dominant player in the messaging app market. However, this popularity and Apple's tight control over iMessage's functionalities have raised concerns about potential anti-trust issues. Let's delve into why iMessage might be under scrutiny from a legal and regulatory standpoint.

The Dominance of iMessage

Why an Apple Smartwatch that Only Works with iPhone Might Face Legal Scrutiny

In the competitive world of technology and consumer electronics, product exclusivity and compatibility have become hot topics, often leading to debates around consumer rights and fair competition. Apple's ecosystem is known for its seamless integration and interoperability, but the exclusivity of certain products like the Apple Watch, which only works with iPhones, has raised eyebrows and potentially legal concerns. Let's delve into why this exclusivity might be seen as problematic from a legal standpoint.

The Issue of Anti-Competitive Practices

Do Wireless Consumer Trust The FCC or FTC?

 

Americans Are Drowning in Spam & Robocalls & FCC Does Nothing

You're not imagining it: The flood of spam calls, texts, emails and social media posts into your life is getting a lot bigger.

Why it matters: Junk messages aren't just annoying — they also open the door to more fraud, cybercrime and identity theft than ever before.

Driving the news: The average American received roughly 42 spam texts just in the month of March, according to new data from RoboKiller, an app that blocks spam calls and texts.

• Spammers like using text messages because of their high open rates — and are now even mimicking targets' own phone numbers to get them to click malicious links, the New York Times reported.

What they're saying: "Just like with robocalls, it's extremely easy to deploy [spam texts] in enormous volume and hide your identity," Will Maxson, assistant director of the FTC's division of marketing practices, told Axios.

• "There's a large number of actors all over the world trying to squeeze spam into the network from almost an infinite number of entry points all the time."

It's not just texts. Every form of spam is on the rise.

• There were more spam calls last month than in any of the previous six months, per YouMail's Robocall Index.
• Spam emails rose by 30% from 2020 to 2021, according to a January report from the Washington Post.
• There was an unprecedented increase in social media scams last year, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission. Many scams were related to bogus cryptocurrency investments.

Between the lines: Experts attribute the sharp increase in spam to the pandemic. People's increased reliance on digital communications turned them into ready targets.

• The Federal Communications Commission saw a nearly 146% increase in the number of complaints about unwanted text messages in 2020.

And it's working: Americans reported losing $131 million to fraud schemes initiated by text in 2021, a jump over 50% from the year before, according to data from the FTC.

Our thought bubble: Email spam has been around forever, but email providers have largely filtered it out for us. Cell providers, though, are still behind.

What's next: The FCC tried to reduce robocalls in part by working with cell phone carriers to implement call authentication requirements. But now the agency is playing catch-up on policing spam texts.

• FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced a proposal in October to craft rules that would require wireless providers to block illegal text messaging, but her plan has not yet been voted on by the agency.

Yes, but: As regulators and service providers try to crack down, spammers keep getting more creative. Their latest tactic is mass FaceTime calls, often at late hours of the night.

Related Article:

Does T-Mobile's Scam Shield Spam Blocker Work & Why Not Free?

iPhone 6 & 7 Slowdown Scam Class Action Lawsuit

If you had an iPhone 6 or iPhone 7 that you noticed was slowing down significantly back in 2017, you can collect about $25 from Apple. The company agreed to pay $500 million dollars to settle a 2017 lawsuit that claimed it was intentionally slowing speeds on the devices to get customers to buy new, more expensive phones. You can submit a claim on the official settlement website. If you owned more than one device, you have to submit a separate claim form for each device.

Apple Settlement Website 

If you are or were a U.S. owner of an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, and/or SE device that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later before December 21, 2017, and/or a U.S. owner of an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus device that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017, you could be entitled to benefits under a class action settlement.

Notice of Public Action

What is the Lawsuit About?

In a consolidated class action lawsuit pending against Apple, Plaintiffs claimed that a performance management feature introduced for iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, and SE devices in iOS 10.2.1, and introduced for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices in iOS 11.2, diminished the performance of some of those devices. Apple denies all allegations and is entering into this settlement to avoid burdensome and costly litigation. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by Apple.

What Does The Cash Payment Provide?

Apple will provide a cash payment of approximately $25 per eligible device, provided that Apple will not pay more than $500 million in aggregate to the Settlement Class Members. If the total value of approved claims submitted exceeds the $500 million Ceiling, the value of each approved claim (per eligible device) will be reduced on a pro-rata basis. Additionally, under the proposed settlement, if the total value of approved claims submitted by Settlement Class Members do not exceed the $310 million Floor, the value of each approved claim (per eligible device) may be increased on a pro-rata basis, up to a maximum of $500 per device. For more details, please refer to the Settlement Agreement available at www.SmartphonePerformanceSettlement.com.

The cash payment per eligible device depends on the actual number of approved claims and other factors, including the award of attorneys’ fees and 5 expenses and Named Plaintiff service awards. Under the proposed settlement, Apple shall pay a minimum of $310,000,000 (the “Floor”) and a maximum of $500,000,000 (the “Ceiling”). Under no circumstances shall any of the Floor revert to Apple.

How to get the cash settlement?

To qualify for a settlement benefit, you must submit a valid Claim Form. The online Claim Form, including instructions on how to make a Claim, can be accessed at www.SmartphonePerformanceSettlement.com. If you wish to receive this cash payment electronically by ACH, please be sure to have your routing and bank account number available when completing the online Claim Form. You can also download a Claim Form to mail in by clicking here, or you may request a Claim Form by emailing the Claims Administrator at: Questions@SmartphonePerformanceSettlement.com or by calling toll-free 1-833-649-0927.

Why Your Home Cell Phone Signal Has Stopped Working

Cell Towers vs Distributed Antenna Systems

If you live in a rural area of the United States it is likely that your cell phone signal strength has been fluctuating or might have dropped entirely in recent years as carriers move from 3G to 4G LTE.  Wireless carriers are increasingly moving services in areas from the very tall cell phone towers to the smaller distributed antenna systems as you see in the picture above.  Why?  

These very tall cell phone towers can provide 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE coverage of 1 to 2 miles and service several thousand people and homes from a single tower.  Carriers are increasingly dealing with capacity issues on these tall towers and have to turn wireless signals down or off in areas on antennas where there are congestion problems (too many users) or not enough customers (not profitable).  

This could result in your home that previously had several bars of cell phone signal suddenly not having any signal at all.  The wireless carrier may put up a DAS system in your neighborhood to fix the problem if you complain enough.  DAS or Distributed Antenna Systems are essentially smaller and lower power cell towers that are installed on top or inside of buildings or utility poles most commonly.  DAS antenna systems will provide service to a smaller number of people.  The theory is that your signal will be more reliable and faster.  

Unfortunately, the FCC or FTC has no mandate for the wireless carrier they have to inform you of changes in signal strength in your neighborhood.  Carriers might not even reflect this coverage accurately on their coverage maps for several years.  Deadcellzones.com has been operating for the last 18 years collecting complaints on a map of where customers have trouble getting cell phone signals.  

The complaint latest trend in the industry seems to be carriers optimizing their networks in markets and dropping coverage for "unprofitable" markets.  There is no guarantee that coverage will be provided at your home and this is the biggest portion of customer traffic adding data to the dead zones map.  

I am curious what some homeowners have done to remedy this problem with carriers.  Please comment below if you have any feedback or suggestions on how to solve this problem with each carrier.  These carriers have gotten so big that bureaucracy is probably the biggest obstacle to getting solutions for customers who have lost good home cell phone signals.  

Bizarre Letter From Frontier Communications?

Every year, Frontier negotiates contracts with local TV broadcasters and national cable networks to offer their programming. Some are demanding unreasonable rate increases. Frontier is working hard to negotiate a fair deal and avoid any channel disruption by the broadcasters. We understand how important your local programming is to you and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Our goal is to deliver the highest quality in TV entertainment at the best value for your money. If any stations are removed from your lineup, Frontier will work on your behalf to return those channels to your lineup as soon as possible and at a reasonable rate.

 As always, thank you for being a Frontier customer!

UPDATE: Frontier continues negotiations with local TV broadcasters who are demanding unreasonable rate increases. Channels listed below may be removed at any time. If any of your channels are impacted, Frontier will provide further details on this page.
Dear Frontier Customer,

AT&T Customers Give $88M In Refunds

U.S. wireless carrier AT&T is set to give back more than $88 million in refunds to customers who had unauthorized third-party charges added to their mobile bills, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday. The Commission said the award represented the most money ever returned to customers in a mobile cramming case to date. The FTC indicated the refunds are related to 2014 settlements with AT&T and the companies behind two mobile cramming schemes, Tatto and Acquinity. According to the FTC's complaint in the matter, AT&T levied third-party charges – usually amounting to around $10 per month – for ringtones and text message subscriptions on customer accounts without their knowledge. The FTC alleged AT&T kept at least 35% of the fraudulent charges. According to the FTC, the refunds will go to some 2.7 million AT&T customers across all 50 states. The Commission said 2.5 million individuals getting refunds are current AT&T customers who will receive a bill credit within the next 75 days, while an additional 300,000 plus former customers will receive a check in the mail. The average refund is expected to amount to around $31, the FTC said As part of the settlement, the FTC said AT&T has also made changes to improve its third-party billing practices. “AT&T received a high volume of complaints related to mobile cramming prior to the FTC and other federal and state agencies stepping in on consumers’ behalf,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. “I am pleased that consumers are now being refunded their money and that AT&T has changed its mobile billing practices.”  Read more 

Cell Phone Consumers Pay Over $17 Billion in Taxes & Fees Each Year

Cell Phone Taxes By State

18.6% of the average wireless customer’s bill goes to federal and state taxes and fees. Put another way, a family of four that pays $100 a month for their cell phone plan will pay about $225 a year in taxes, fees, and government surcharges. Most customers pay a variety of fees on their wireless bills, including federally mandated charges, plus state and local taxes — as well as surcharges imposed by the carriers as a way to recover the costs of divvying up the money to the required agencies.

Tax Foundation found that American wireless customers annually pay approximately $17.2 billion in taxes, fees, and government surcharges. The biggest chunk of that, about $7 billion, goes to sales taxes, while over $5 billion is paid as part of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) surcharges.  Read More

Can You Trust Your Carrier To Measure Your Data Usage?

Overage charges for data usage is one of the biggest new wireless industry scams that is starting to develop.  How can carriers charge consumers for data usage when consumers have no context to understand how much data they are actually using?  What regulatory parameters have the FCC and FTC done to manage the developing crises?  How can you trust the carriers themselves to self regulate their own customer data usage?  Who or what independent application is measuring the amount of data you are using on the phone?  How can carriers charge you the ridiculous overage fees similar to what they have done in the past for text messaging?  Text messaging is a scam and its a $10 billion dollar business for both Verizon and AT&T.  Data usage will probably be a $100B dollar business without any fair competition.  

Are You A Sucker for Marketing Scams?

Have You Purchased Cellular Service Based on Coverage Maps?

Do You Buy Products Because They Labeled As Green?

Trust the Financial Press & Sell Stock in 2009?

Do You Believe the Nielsen TV and Internet Ratings Are Accurate?

Get Cash For Gold for Only 30 Cents on the Dollar?

Invest in any Hedge Funds of Mass Destruction?

Did You Buy Real Estate With No Equity or Money Down?

Have Anything But the Highest Deductible Health Insurance Plan?

Did You Believe The Iraq War Was For Safety or Money?

Did You Believe These Old Cigarette Ads?

Taxes on Your Cell Phone Bill

Consumers are paying an average of $7.67 per month on their cell phone bill taxes per month.  Did you know that cell phone state tax rates range from 5% to 20% per month depending on where your cell phone bill is sent?  That is approximately $92 per year for the average cell phone bill which is $47.21 per month.  All together US consumers per $26,875,860,000 in total taxes from mobile phone customer each each by AT&T and Verizon.  No wonder AT&T and Verizon are the largest donors to Congress because it appears that its one big ponzi scheme.  We look for companies like Google to come into the market in the near future and provide advertising supported wireless to disrupt this telecom corruption and tax on consumers.   See the tax map provided by the TaxFoundation.org.  

Related Stories:
AT&T Steals $1 Billion from Customers in Illegal Taxes
Verizon Steals $93.5M From Taxpayers with Fake Surcharges & Taxes