US looks to Europe to prevent wireless 'bill shock'

US government regulators unveiled plans Tuesday to help consumers avoid "bill shock" from unexpectedly high wireless phone charges.

"We are hearing from consumers about unpleasant surprises on their bills," said Joel Gurin, head of the Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.

"We've gotten hundreds of complaints about bill shock," Gurin said.

"There can be many causes of bill shock, including unclear or misunderstood advertising, unanticipated roaming or data charges, and other problems," Gurin said. "All can lead to charges that people don't expect to get.

"But this is an avoidable problem," he added in a statement. "Avoiding bill shock is good for consumers and ultimately good business for wireless carriers as well."

The FCC Bureau said it was looking at solutions in place in Europe to potentially help alert consumers to unexpectedly high charges on their wireless bills.

"In the European Union, carriers are required by law to send text messages to consumers when they are running up roaming charges or getting close to a set limit for data roaming," Gurin said.

"We're issuing a public notice to see if there's any reason that American carriers can't use similar automatic alerts to inform consumers when they are at risk of running up a high bill."

Gurin said the FCC had received complaints about bill shock from across the United States and involving all of the major US wireless carriers.