It’s already hard enough for the average consumer to figure out all those plugs and wires behind a television and other video devices well enough to get all the channels working properly or record programs. So imagine what it would be like if the big media companies were suddenly able to virtually turn off some of those plugs and rendering your perfectly legal and reliable equipment incapable of picking up certain programming you now get just fine. As far-fetched as that might sound, it is exactly what would happen should the Federal Communications Commission go along with a waiver request now pending before it from the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the big movie and television studios.

We hear from thousands of consumers here at www.hearusnow.org and the two subjects they bring up the most – by far – are indecipherable bills and misleading marketing tactics. With that in mind, Consumers Union – the publisher of this blog – has teamed up with six other public interest groups to encourage the Federal Communications Commission to protect consumers from misleading, confusing and harmful advertising and billing practices by phone, cable and wireless providers.

AT&T and Verizon, the country’s two largest wireless carriers, each made announcements yesterday that could help consumers.

It’s no secret that cell phones sometimes drop calls. In fact, that is one of the top complaints we hear from cell phone consumers who email us here at www.hearusnow.org. But even we were a bit surprised by a story making the rounds in recent days about an iPhone user in New York City who took his unit into the local Apple store because he was experiencing so many dropped calls.