Carriers Will Now Provide High Bill Alerts, Says FCC

The FCC has announced that ahead of yesterday's deadline, carriers have instituted an alert system that will give subscribers a heads up when they're nearing what will be a large bill. This follows many stories about unsuspecting consumers who have gone about their daily mobile usage, only to be faced with a massive bill at the end of the month for exceeding their limits.

Says the Federal Communications Commission, 97-percent of mobile device users in the United States are now covered by the high bill alert system. The remaining 3-percent are using carriers who weren't part of the voluntary agreement Consumer Code for Wireless Service. That doesn't mean those carriers won't send out alerts to their customers, only that they won't be doing so under the CTIA-sponsored agreement.

Participating carriers include Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Clearwire, Cellcome, and a few others, all of which provide voice, data, roaming, and text alerts (if applicable). The high bill alerts will be provided free of charge, so users don't have to worry about the notifications eating into their text limits, for example.

Obviously, the alerts will only be given to those who have a plan where there's a limitation in place with penalties for going over it, such as a limited number of minutes. Also, alerts will be provided if someone is roaming and doesn't have a roaming package, putting them at risk of higher fees. The alerts are automatically generated and delivered. Those who want more info should head over to the CTIA's website.

[via FCC]