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My cell phone contract is almost up and I want to switch carriers. Do any of the major carriers offer better service or are they all about the same?
Leonard B.

Acording to Consumer Reports magazine’s annual cell phone survey released in January, wireless service across the country is poor and not getting any better. Based on responses from 39,000 subscribers in 17 cities, the editors say wireless customers are having "chronic, major problems with service, billing and complaint handling with every national wireless carrier."

Only 45 percent of those who responded to the survey were completely or very satisfied with their cell phone service. Nearly 70 percent of those who use a cell phone frequently said they had at least one dropped call in the week before the survey.

Here’s the most important thing to do when choosing a new wireless service – ask about the free trial period. Most carriers now give you about two weeks (it may be longer in some states) to try out the phone. If you return the phone in good condition before the trial period ends, you can terminate the service without an early termination fee. You’ll only have to pay for the actual charges you incurred using the phone.

During that trial period test the phone where you’d normally use it – at home, at work, at your kid’s school. If the service isn’t good, take the phone back and cancel the service. Just don’t be late. Once the trial period ends you’ll be charged a hefty fee if you try to cancel before the end of the contract.

Consumer Reports has a step-by-step guide to choosing cell phone service on its Web site.

I've had a bill collector call 8 times in one day about my husband’s account, and when I asked them to stop calling they said only he could make that request. He is not home during their business hours and the payment was only a couple days late!!! We must have rights as to when we can say enough is enough! And how many times they can call in a day or a week!
Shauna W.

Bill collectors have a tough job, so they don’t give up easily. But federal law - the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act – limits what collectors can do. For instance, debt collectors cannot call you before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. (in the time zone where you live, not where they work!), unless you agree. They cannot tell lies, use obscenity, profane language, or “repeatedly use the telephone to annoy someone."

The law also spells out what you must do to make a debt collector stop calling – just saying “go away” on the phone is not good enough. The debtor (in this case that would be your husband) needs to put that request in writing. Once the collector receives your letter, the only contact they can have with you is to tell you that there will be no further contact or to let you know that they or the creditor plan to take some specific action.

Remember, if you actually owe money, this “leave-me-alone” letter does not make the debt go away. As the Federal Trade Commission points out on its Web site, “the consumer could still be sued by the collector or by the original creditor."

For more information on your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, including what a debt collector can and cannot do, go to the FTC Web site.

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