"Rather than giving customers what they want or what they need, they're telling customers, 'here's what you're going to get,' " said Michael Shames, executive director for the Utility Consumers Action Network, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Ringtone FAQ - Consumer guide to ring tones, from Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN)

The group, the Utility Consumers' Action Network, said the complaints were part of an pattern by mobile phone companies to use confusing billing practices as they offer more data and entertainment features.

The Utility Consumers' Action Network, a San Diego consumer group, posts on its Web site a "gouge gap," the difference between San Diego and Los Angeles prices.

"In short, this is leftovers," said Michael Shames, executive director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, based in San Diego.

After leaving the city council, Zucchet worked at the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) as a Project Manager starting in 2006.

"You can't comparison shop because the rates quoted are not accurate," said Michael Shames, executive director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a consumer advocacy group.

Quote page 15 from the NCLC Guide to the Rights of Utility Consumers:

"There are large competitors that are lightly regulated," Michael Shames, executive director of the San Diego-based Utility Consumers' Action Network, said.

"All the utilities have to sign off on this, or else it dies," said Michael Shames, executive director of the Utility Consumers Action Network, a consumer group in San Diego.