Long story short, I may be heading for a billing dispute with AT&T. They say I’m downloading hundreds of MB worth of data that I say I’m not. According to their records, this is happening about 12:30 am each day, when my phone is turned off.
Their tech support people are “looking into it and will get back to you” and I think I can make a pretty good case that I’m not downloading all this stuff, but if push comes to shove I need to know who to file a complaint with at the government level.
Does this come under the jurisdiction of the FCC? State Public Utilities Commission? Some other agency?
Since at least in theory there is competition between cell phone carriers, I always thought that they didn’t fall under the auspices of state utility commissions - but I’m too lazy to go look.
It start with the Utah Attorney General’s Office as well as the Attorney General’s Office for whatever state the cell phone company is based out of, while you’re at it, file a report with the BBB.
Does AT&T have the ability to pull real time reports, or at least see today’s activity within a day or so? You might be able to go to store at 11:00 explain the problem, and let them keep your phone until 2:00 maybe even pull the battery on it. The next day when they look on their system and see the activity they’ll believe you when you tell them you weren’t using it.
Usually your attorney generals office is a good place to start. Many times they have an office specifically for consumer affairs. At the very least if you send an e-mail to the AG they’ll point you to the right bureaucracy.
Is it possible that your phone has been cloned? I had one cloned, but that was ~15 years ago…I don’t know if it is still a problem. It would explain why it happens when your phone is off. I don’t know what the cell companies reaction would be…probably have to pay anyway.