Telecommunications: usage notification.

Existing law requires a provider of mobile telephony services to provide subscribers with a means by which a subscriber can obtain reasonably current and available information on the subscriber's calling plan or plans and service usage. Existing law additionally requires that, on or before January 1, 2007, a provider of mobile telephony services provide subscribers with a means by which a subscriber can obtain reasonably current and available information, as determined by the provider, on the subscriber's text messaging and Internet usage and charges. This bill would, for a subscriber to a service plan that requires payment for a set amount of airtime or text messaging where the subscriber pays additional charges if that amount of airtime or text messages is exceeded, require that the provider of mobile telephony services alert the subscriber when the set allotment of airtime or text messages has been reached. The bill would require that a provider of mobile data services, including a provider of mobile telephony services that includes mobile data service, to provide subscribers with a means by which a subscriber can obtain reasonably current and available information on the subscriber's mobile data service usage and charges. The bill would, for a subscriber to a service plan that requires payment for a set volume of data or amount of connection time for mobile data service, where the subscriber pays additional charges if that volume or amount of connection time is exceeded, require that the provider of mobile data services alert the subscriber when the set volume or amount of connection time has been reached. The bill would prohibit a provider of mobile telephony services from charging a subscriber for providing notice that they have used their allotment of airtime or text messages and would prohibit a provider of mobile data services from charging a subscriber for providing notice that they have used their alloted volume or connection time of mobile data services.