"Most people still don't know what a megabyte is, so it's hard to expect them to know when they have reached their limits," FCC chairman Julius Genachowski told The New York Times. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it was concerned about bill shock and that the way carrier's measured and communicated data usage was not up to par. Inadequate metering, complex pricing by carriers and roaming charges could lead to unexpectedly high bills for consumers, it said. "The ACCC sees benefits in the approach proposed by the FCC," an ACCC spokeswoman said. "The ACCC's concerns about data measurement typically concern the carrier's efforts to communicate data usage and generally relate to the clarity and accuracy of usage meters provided by service providers. The availability of real time information as to actual usage would be a very helpful tool for consumers in this regard." But the ACCC said if the FCC's scheme were adopted in Australia it would need the Federal Government to change legislation.

A spokeswoman for the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, said the FCC's proposal to address bill shock was being investigated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) as part of its inquiry into customer service. ACMA began the inquiry following a 54 per cent increase in complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in 2008-09, including a 120 per cent increase in complaints about complaints-handling and a 72 per cent increase in complaints about customer service. The inquiry will hold public hearings around the country from this month. The industry body, Communications Alliance, is also reviewing its Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code which Senator Conroy's spokeswoman said would incorporate provisions to reduce the incidence of bill shock. "These reviews will consider the effectiveness of developments in other countries, such as the US, to address bill shock and whether these are appropriate for the Australian marketplace," Senator Conroy's spokeswoman said. "The Government will be closely monitoring the progress and outcomes from the reviews in order to ensure that industry practices improve."

A spokesman for ACMA said its inquiry would conclude in April next year, but ACCAN has said it is foolish to wait that long before implementing changes to reduce bill shock. The Australian mobile industry is already fighting back against any extra regulations. "[Bill shock] is a problem that the industry is working hard to eradicate and certainly our experience is that when you get new environments like mobile data becoming incredibly popular you go through this period of people being a little bit careless," said Chris Althaus, CEO of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, in a phone interview. "I guess our key line here is that industry has a range of regulatory obligations is has to meet and moving quickly to regulate these things while the market is maturing is not our preferred option." Althaus said the industry already provided tools for people to monitor their mobile usage. He pointed to research indicating that people "were aware of the monitoring tools available but essentially couldn't be bothered using them".

"You can put all of these things in place but if the consumer then chooses not to use them then that's in a sense their choice," said Althaus, adding that people who were still getting used to their data usage patterns should use prepaid. Teresa Corbin, CEO of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, rejected Althaus's claims that people did not want to monitor their usage. "It's not surprising to me that the consumers may not use [the usage monitoring tools currently provided]. It's not because the don't want to make sure they know what they're spending, it's probably because they find these tools are not exactly user friendly," she said in a phone interview. Corbin called on the mobile industry to stop confusing consumers by using marketing terms like capped and unlimited, when in reality there were all sorts of exclusions and fine print. She also demanded that consumers have the option of "hard caps", where people can nominate an amount, say $100, and their service will be cut as soon as they reach that spend. This would effectively eliminate bill shock.

Loading "The industry says we've got those [hard caps] because we've got prepaid, but you pay a higher price for your prepaid services so most consumers choose post-paid," she said. "Research shows 60 per cent of consumers that choose a capped plan exceed their cap - that's a staggering number when you think about it."