Adults in the three markets receive information about new telecommunications products and services from a wide variety of sources. Eighty-nine percent obtain information from advertising and 80% receive materials about telecommunications products and services in the mail. A substantial majority (69%) say they get information from telemarketing calls. Twenty-four percent get information about new products and services through the Internet.

A great many adults in the three markets (71%) find the offers they receive for new telecommunications products and services to be confusing. Twenty-eight percent find these offers "very confusing" and 43% say they are "somewhat confusing." As a result it is not surprising that 82% believe that consumers have a need for a source of unbiased, clear information about telecommunications products and services. When asked who could best provide consumers with this information, the majority believe that consumer advocacy groups would handle this best, and while some (28%) say that telephone companies would be the best source of this information, very few believe the government should be entrusted with this task.

Despite a belief that competition makes prices lower, many adults in the three markets find the idea of being able to purchase all telecommunications products and services from a single vendor to be an attractive proposition. This is not surprising as the majority find that having more than one telephone company makes billing confusing.

• Sixty-five percent of adults in the three markets agree that "competition among telephone companies makes prices lower", however,
  
• Sixty-four percent agree that "having more than one telephone company makes billing confusing".
  
• If they had the opportunity to purchase all telecommunications services from one vendor, 78% of these adults say they would be "very" or "somewhat" likely to do so.
  

Billing

The average amount spent on monthly telephone service in the three markets is $69. Fully one-half of adults in the three markets (50%) have found charges they disputed on their telephone bills. The disputed charges most often involve long distance service (56%), and 11% relate to regional toll calls. Happily for the majority of these customers (79%) the disputed charges were resolved satisfactorily.

The interviews conducted in Michigan (359 in the Detroit PMSA and the 152 in the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland MSA) were weighted to represent the correct proportion of these two geographic regions.

The Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. Telephone Sample is based on a methodology that is designed to produce representative samples of persons in telephone households in the selected geographic region. The Harris Telephone Sample makes use of random-digit selection procedures that assure sample representation of persons in both households that are "listed" in telephone directories, as well as persons in households that are "unlisted" in telephone directories.

The results achieved from all sample surveys are subject to sampling error. Sampling error defined as the difference between the results obtained from the sample and those that would have been obtained had the entire relevant population been surveyed.

In theory, with a sample of 500 one can say with ninety-five percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus four percentage points of what they would have been if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (i.e., for an illness). It is difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

This statement conforms to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.