A consumer advocacy group says Illinois residents are wasting as much as $1.4-Billion a year signing up for the wrong cell-phone data plan.
The Citizens Utility Board Tuesday says the average Illinois resident is overpaying for his smartphone data plan by about $194. CUB spokesman Jim Chilsen says the analysis smashes the stereotype that most cell phone users are data hogs: "Most consumers had the opposite problem -- they were chained to plans that gave them more data than they actually need. It seems that the cell phone industry is in this supersize mode, and they're chaining consumers to plans that they don't really need."
The figures, which CUB released along with wireless industry research firm Validas, show only a small percentage of smartphone users ever incur "overages" for using more data than their plan allows. Research released this month by the Pew Internet & American Life project shows 91 percent of Americans own a cell phone, and, for the first time, more than half have a smartphone.
More information from the Citizens Utility Board is available here.
