Schumer unveils list of almost 200 "dead zones" in New York City and Long Island with poor or no service

Schumer outlines 5 point plan to halt service decline, improve cell phone network performance and consumer choice

Armed with new data showing that cell phone service in New York City is the worst in the entire country, US Senator Chuck Schumer today unveiled a sweeping plan to upgrade cell phone service in New York. Schumer also unveiled a comprehensive list of "dead zones" throughout the City where New Yorkers have reported the most egregious areas of poor cell phone service. Schumer said his plan will help halt declines in service while improving network performance and consumer choice.

"Cell phones can be great. They make many aspects of our lives easier. But unfortunately, they can also be one of the most annoying and disappointing advances we've had," Schumer said. "We all know the frustration of dropped calls and the problem seems to be getting worse. There's no reason for poor reception and certainly no justification for not letting buyers know what their phones' reception will be like before they shell out large amounts of money on them. It's almost as if the system we have was designed to be inconvenient and costly. If we could step up service and make it easier to switch providers, then the cell phone would really be something."

Although New York City is the largest cellular telephone market in the country, call quality in New York City – a measurement standard that accounts for blocked calls, dropped calls, and ability to call in buildings– is the worst in the United States, according to J.D. Power and Associates, a leading market research firm. New York City cellular phone service ranked worst overall in customer satisfaction and call quality when compared against the largest 27 cellular phone markets in the United States in J.D. Power's recent 2002 industry survey.

In addition, consumer complaints leveled against New York City's wireless providers have increased at an incredible rate, up 1400% in 2001 from 2000, according to the New York State Consumer Protection Board, demonstrating that service is only deteriorating as wireless companies' networks become more crowded. To underscore performance problems with New York City's network, Schumer released a list of almost 200 "deadzones" throughout the five boroughs where wireless users reported severe problems with service.

The dead zone list, which Schumer handed out at the press conference, includes over 80 intersections in Manhattan along with over 100 other poor service areas throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx, Long Island and Westchester. The list includes those zones that New Yorkers have reported to deadcellzones.com and in a survey done by Schumer's office.

There are over 10.5 million cell phone subscribers in New Yorker City, Schumer said, and there are an estimated 150 million cell phone users nationwide. Rather than build up their internal infrastructures to support this huge number of customers, cell phone companies have aggressively marketed a system that is flawed and inadequate for the number of subscribers it needs to support. Almost all cellular networks can only handle 25 to 30 percent of their customers making a phone call at any one time, and the FCC does not currently put specific requirements on network quality or capacity.

"How many times have you heard people say they hate cell phones? It's a shame. What should be such a great technological step forward instead frustrates people and rips them off. And with more and more New Yorkers relying on cell phones for work, their livelihood is really compromised when cell phones don't function adequately or provide the service consumers reasonably expect. Pay phones are a thing of the past, and cell phones are the staple of today and tomorrow, so it's vital that we get them right and that we do it now."

Much of consumers' disappointment with the industry stems from expectations of service that are far beyond the capability of current wireless networks. In order to avoid this misperception and to allow consumers to make the best decision possible, Schumer unveiled a 5-point plan that would lead to better cell phone service and improved consumer choice.

"The only way to increase competition and provide incentives for these companies to improve service is to increase the flow of information," Schumer said. "Consumers should know as much as possible about what they are spending their hard-earned dollars on. And if the service turns out to be sub-par, there shouldn't be any barriers to switching providers."

Schumer's plan includes the following:

• "Dead zone" disclosure: In order for consumers to make an informed choice between wireless companies, cell phone providers must disclose the extent and quality of their coverage to their customers. The FCC should work with these companies to devise a standardized map that each vendor would have to give customers at the point of sale. This map would show each company's signal variation throughout the city (i.e. brighter colors where the signal is strong and darker colors where it was weak) in an effort to allow consumers to compare which provider has the best service in areas of greatest import to them. This step would provide wireless companies with incentives to improve their service levels because strong signal strength would become a major selling point to consumers. On contracts of one year or more, cellular phone users should also have a 30-day trial period to test out service quality in their areas during which time they can cancel the contract without penalty if it turns out the service is worse than advertised.

• No lost call charges: The FCC should also prevent companies from charging users for excessive connection times and dropped calls. Far too often, it takes fifteen seconds or more to make a connection or a user's call will be terminated in mid-conversation. Companies should be allowed to count only a fixed connection time for each phone call while users should not be charged for the minute in which a call was dropped. The current call structure makes cell phone customers bear the brunt of network service problems.

• Number portability: Cell phone buyers should be able to hold onto their phone numbers when they switch to a new cellular provider. Currently, when consumers switch providers, they have to give up their cellular telephone numbers at great inconvenience. To make this a reality, the FCC must stop extending the deadline for wireless providers to grant users this right known as "number portability." The FCC has three times granted the industry waivers to hold off in granting portability, essentially locking customers in to their original providers. Number portability will ensure that once a wireless contract has expired, users do not face any additional barriers to prevent them from switching to networks that provide better service.

• Wiring of buildings: Verizon has taken the lead in wiring New York City for cell phone service. Other providers need to follow suit in order to make sure cell phone service is available throughout the city. Even though there are many cell phone towers and antennae throughout New York City, the size and density of the buildings causes interference. Therefore individual buildings need to be wired for service.

• Emergency Services: Service problems can lead to more than just inconvenience. With an increase in 911 calls coming from cell phones, the FCC must ensure that effective emergency response services are available. To that end, Schumer's plan calls for the FCC to investigate why New York State, which has collected $1.20 in 911 compatibility fees from every cell phone subscriber's bill each month over the last ten years, has not used the money to create a functioning network that utilizes global positioning technology to physically trace 911 calls to their user's location.

"I am well aware that minimizing regulation of the wireless industry is a key to making it vital. Arguments against regulation, however, cannot be used to preserve a system that forces consumers to deal with poor service and prevents them from making a free and informed choice of provider," Schumer wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell outlining his suggestions. "The FCC is in the unique position to help push the cell phone industry in the right direction. If these common sense suggestions are implemented, I think we will see better service in New York City and across the nation."

Schumer was joined at the announcement by Eric Kissack, a freelance video editor from Brooklyn who relies on his cell phone for business and has had to buy 3 different phones, 2 providers, 4 plans, 5 batteries, and 3 chargers in the last three years alone.