Committee on Finance
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the corporate authorities of the City of Chicago are committed to promoting the health, welfare and prosperity of all Chicago residents; and
WHEREAS, according to a new study released by the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), Illinois cell phone users are overpaying for their data plans by approximately $1.4 billion a year; and
WHEREAS, the analysis, which measured the difference between the amount of data paid for and the amount actually used, means Illinois users overpay by an average of approximately $194 on their smartphones and about $30 a year on traditional wireless phones; and
WHEREAS, the $1.4 billion in data overpayments is more that four times the combined team salaries of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, and the St. Louis Cardinals; and
WHEREAS, using 2012 Census population estimates, CUB quantified that Chicago consumers are overpaying by an estimated $295.2 million per year; and
WHEREAS, in 2010, the Wall Street Journal cited research that estimated that 70% of all cell phone users are oversubscribed; and
WHEREAS, CUB's analysis reveals that most of the waste is due to oversubscription by consumers who are on plans that give them more data than they will ever use; and
WHEREAS, only a fraction of the overpayments was due to consumers who incur overage penalties because they use more data than their plans allow, and
WHEREAS, CUB features a Cellphone Savings Center, which is a resource designed to help cut wireless costs; and
WHEREAS, CUB's Cellphone Savings Center offers a free online tool, which has instructed AT&T, Sprint and Verizon customers how to save an average of $300 per year by matching them with better plans with their current carriers; and
WHEREAS, the Pew Research Center recently reported that, for the first time ever, a majority of American adults own smartphones; and
WHEREAS, as smartphone use continues to increase, the corporate authorities of the City of Chicago intend to promote custom...
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