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"Right now, there aren’t a lot of consumer protections for mobile broadband customers, and the Eshoo bill would help ensure consumers have certain rights and information when they sign up for a plan," said Consumers Union policy counsel Parul Desai.

“This bill might not have been necessary if there were enough competition in the wireless market, but there isn’t,” said Andrew Schwartzman, senior vice president and policy director for Media Access Project.

However, a group representing the wireless industry was less enthusiastic, arguing the new rules would oversimplify a complex issue.



“We are concerned that the bill proposes to add a new layer of regulation to a new and exciting set of services, while ignoring the fact that wireless is an inherently complex and dynamic environment in which network speeds can vary depending on a wide variety of factors," said CTIA—The Wireless Association vice president of government affairs Jot Carpenter.



"Congress should resist calls to impose new regulations and instead focus on the real issue, which is making sure that America’s wireless carriers have sufficient spectrum to lead the world in the race to deploy 4G services.”