Does The CTIA Listen To Consumers?
I saw a post on the CTIA Blog saying they were opposing some legislation the Consumers Union–the folks behind the Consumer Reports magazine–were proposing to “regulate” the wireless industry. The blog entry, nor the letter, make any reference to the details about what the Consumers Union is proposing, but instead focus on lowering wireless taxes and improving tower sitings, i.e. the ability to place towers and antennas to provide wireless service.
While I seem to discount much of what the CTIA actually says, these two suggestions for areas of improvement are fairly reasonable. I’d like to see lower taxes on my wireless bills. Who wouldn’t? I’d also like to see more towers, too, and I know that municipalities make it difficult to place towers in order to provide adequate service.
With that in mind, I left a comment on the CTIA Blog asking for clarification on the legislation the Consumers Union was proposing. Their comments are moderated–surprise, surprise–and as near as I can tell, there are no “approved” comments in any of their recent posts. Makes me wonder: do they read and respond to comments left on their blog?
The good news is that I am having a private email exchange with someone at the CTIA to try and find out what exactly the CTIA is disagreeing with. At this writing, it appears to be some email that the Consumers Union sent out to their members. Once I can get them to provide the text of this email, then we can take this further. Why this isn’t being done on the blog, in the open, is another matter entirely.
They allow *some *comments, as you can see in this post where the CTIA responds to Walt Mossberg’s reading of the riot act to the U.S. mobile carriers. But there’s gotta be more people than that commenting on the CTIA blog.
If the CTIA was really interested in showing us how good we have it–debatable, I know, but it’s their position–they could use their blog as a way of engaging the public in a more meaningful dialog. Clearly I’m getting some private dialog, but that seems so last century.
Disclaimer: My employer may have an opinion and agenda on this topic, but this is my own opinion and my own agenda.
