The FCC should ban cramming on cellphone bills, Sen. Chuck...

Wireless customers should not be charged third-party fees unless they give explicit consent, Schumer said. While the FCC crafts rules, wireless carriers should voluntarily ban the practice, he said. “Cell phone cramming is merely scamming by another name -- it steals money from cell phone users and the FCC and carriers must take prompt action to snuff it out,” he said. Cramming legislation should cover wireless and VoIP, the Consumers Union said Monday. But the wireless and VoIP industries resist extending the rules beyond landline. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., plans to introduce a cramming bill soon but is still working out the details, a committee aide said. In a letter Monday to Rockefeller, Consumers Union said the bill should apply to wireless and VoIP and landline. The group praised recent announcements by AT&T and Verizon to end third-party billing on landline invoices. “But more needs to be done to protect consumers, especially in these tough economic times,” Consumers Union Policy Counsel Parul Desai said. “With more consumers moving away from landline services, it’s imperative that these same protections against unauthorized charges are extended to wireless and VoIP users.” Don’t blame wireless carriers for fraud committed by third parties, CTIA spokesman John Walls replied. “Instead of focusing on the carriers, who, like their customers, are victims of these scammers, the proper focus should be on putting the scammers who are responsible for perpetrating these frauds out of business,” he said. “All major wireless carriers … clearly display charges” for purchases from third parties and provide “a convenient means to challenge any suspect charges,” he said. The VON Coalition didn’t comment but historically has opposed applying cramming rules to interconnected VoIP. In FCC comments from October, VON said the VoIP industry already is “diligent about protecting consumers from unauthorized, third party charges.”