Inside The Beltway 11/07/12

Following a FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation pursuant to customer complaints that began in 2009, AT&T will pay $700,000 as part of a consent decree to resolve complaints that the company switched certain consumers to its mandatory monthly wireless data plans even though it had promised they could retain their existing pay-as-you-go data plans under a "grandfather" clause. The carrier agreed to refund excess charges paid by individual customers (in some cases totaling $25 to $30 a month) depending on data us. Also under the terms of the Consent Decree, AT&T will make a voluntary $700,000 payment to the U.S. Department of Treasury along with the customer refunds. AT&T also agreed to provide better consumer notification, training of customer-care reps and periodic compliance reports to the FCC.