Look out! Over UCAN's protests, a State Senate committee just voted unanimously for a bill that will strip the California Public Utilities Commission of the power to regulate phone companies. If passed, Senate Bill 1161 will also jeopardize landline phone service and telecommunications programs that aid low-income and hearing-disabled persons. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, the bill's author, Senator Alex Padilla, has received significant campaign contributions from AT&T and other telecom interests. More.

As a UCAN member, you’ve no doubt already signed up to receive our latest and greatest offer: UCAN's Blackout Buster, an emergency crank radio. This is a great little piece of technology, as it is not only a flash light and a radio but it is also a charger for your cell phone. Most people with smart phones know just how atrocious the battery life can be. The UCAN emergency crank radio is great for charging phones and you should consider it a vital tool in your emergency kit.

However, just like any handyman worth his salt has multiple tools in his tool kit to tackle any job, a prepared UCAN member should have more than one tool in their emergency kit. In addition to the UCAN crank radio, you can now get an emergency cell phone that is powered by a single AA battery.

One of the greatest things about this country is the availability of choice. Want a breakfast cereal? You can choose from a multitude at your local grocery store. A loaf of bread? White or wheat no longer cut it--now, the more grains you have the better. 5? 10? 15? The grain sky is the limit. The ability for consumers to choose can be a good thing as long as there is actual choice. However, when we look at certain consumer areas--cell phone providers, for example--the actual ability to choose a specific provider is a limited one. The culprit? The early termination fee.

Spoof? I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO GHOST! Oh, you said spoof, not spook. As in caller ID spoofing? Well, I guess I had been afraid of spoofing in the past. But with the new enforcement rules laid down by the FCC, spoofing isn't as scary as it used to be. Read more after the jump. 

If you are a Cox subscriber, you will probably receive an email from Cox explaining a nifty new tool for its customers. Called the Data Usage Meter, Cox believes this tool will help its customers make informed decisions about their internet data consumption. And here at UCAN we're all for giving customers information and tools to help them make informed decisions. But tacked at the end of the second paragraph of the e-mail (see the PDF copy attached at the bottom of this post) was a startling piece of information: Cox gives you a data alottment that depends on your Internet package. Surprise!

And now, for T-Mobile's next trick, making an entire prepaid cell phone plan disappear! But where did the plan really go? Was it a trick or all part of another devious plan? Time to put on our sleuth hats, boys and girls, for this is the case of the missing plan.

AT&T Smartphone Without a Data Plan? Don't count it. On T-Mobile? Maybe. 

Don't you just love it when companies charge you for absolutely nothing? No service provided, no goods consumed.Nada. Zip. Zilch. Well, that's what AT&T is doing to its long distance customers with something called a Minimum Usage Charge.