AT&T Settles D.C. Attorney General Lawsuit for Overcharging Customers and Gov’t Entities for Wireless Voice and Data Services

By B.N. Frank

Telecom expert Bruce Kushnick has written many articles exposing how Americans have been and continue to be overcharged for telecom and cable services (see 1, 2, 3). The D.C. Office of the Attorney General seemed to agree and took legal action against AT&T.

From Fierce Wireless:

AT&T to pay $1.5M to settle D.C. lawsuit for overcharging on mobile service

AT&T agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) related to overcharging the District and government entities for wireless voice and data services.

The D.C. OAG filed a complaint in February, alleging that AT&T knowingly charged for features, add-ons and other services that D.C. didn’t need and failed to comply with contract requirements to provide the most cost-effective and lowest price plans available.

AT&T denied the accusations but said it decided to settle the case.

“While we continue to dispute the allegations in this lawsuit, we settled this case to avoid drawn-out and expensive litigation,” AT&T said in a statement provided to Fierce.

The alleged overcharging happened over a six-year period from 2012 to 2018 and resulted in AT&T improperly billing millions of dollars, according to D.C.’s OAG. The contract covered accessories and equipment, in addition to mobile service.

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Kushnick is a member of a group of telecom experts (“The Irregulators”) that sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). According to his research, the Department of Justice and all state Attorneys General should take action immediately to break-up Big Cable and Big Telecom (see 1, 2, 3).