Cell phone calls cost $3 per minute?

The Utility Consumer Action Network reports that the average cell phone customer pays $3.02-per-minute for cellphone use.

UCAN looked at the phone bills of 700 San Diego consumers to arrive at that figure, which is so high because of the large number of consumers who have cell phone plans that aren't well-suited to their needs, and therefore pay for minutes they don't need. After eliminating the biggest minute-wasting customers from the data, UCAN found that most consumers still pay between 50 cents and $1 per minute for cell phone use.

According to the study, the average customer uses only about a third of their "anytime minutes"

The specific numbers of the study seem dubious to me. If the average consumer spent $1 per minute for cell phone use and talked on the phone for an average of 20 minutes per day, that would work out to about $600 per month on phone bills -- Does anyone reading this have a cell phone bill that high? In 2007, JD Power reported that the average cell phone bill was $73 which, if that $1 per minute figure is right, would give people less than 3 minutes of phone time per day. That doesn't make sense.

In any case, the takeaway for consumer is this: Look at your cell phone bill regularly and see if you're wasting a lot of minutes each month. If you are, get a different plan.