10.0) I SAW ONE OF THOSE 'INFOMERCIALS' ABOUT WIRELESS CABLE. ARE THESE COMPANIES LEGIT?
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This article is from the Wireless Cable TV FAQ, by Brian J. Catlin catlin@cs.colostate.edu.
10.0) I SAW ONE OF THOSE 'INFOMERCIALS' ABOUT WIRELESS CABLE. ARE THESE COMPANIES LEGIT?
While some companies may be legit, there are some things that they
don't disclose. Because of this, two companies have had temporary
restraining orders placed against them. A judge has placed some
of the following restrictions on them.
* They may no longer state that applicants are "virtually
guaranteed" of winning a license in the FCC lottery or that
most wireless cable licenses are "highly valuable."
* "There may be substantial delays in the awarding of any MMDS
license due to the length of time the FCC takes to process
MMDS applications and award MMDS licenses."
* That financing for wireless cable systems is hard to get,
"given the relatively new nature of this field of technology
and that such financing may require additional funds of the
customer's own money as a condition" to obtaining a system.
* Provide a new "Risk Disclosure" statement that applicants must
sign before sale is completed. This statement informs
applicants, among other items, that any representations of
value of systems are opinions and not actual values, that the
winner of a MMDS lottery wins only 4 channels and that there
may be competition with satellite, VCR, and other media.
Temporary Restraining Orders have been placed on, or have been
filed against: 1) Applied Telemedia Engineering and Management
(A-TEAM) and 2) Applied Cable Technologies (ACT). If you deal
with any type of application preparation firm, be very careful and
read EVERYTHING.
Other companies that MAY be questionable include Communications
Engineering Management Services (CEMS), Decaxo Capital, Techno
Source, and Western Wireless. These companies have management
that were involved in a company selling cellular licenses. This
company was forced out of business by the FCC for misleading
customers.
Other questionable companies include: MMDS Technologies (also
known as Metro Communications Group), Tele-Wave Technology, GMT
Group (also known as National Micro Vision Systems), Continental
Wireless Cable Television, Spectrum Resources Group, UEG L.C.,
United Resource Group L.C., United Communications Ltd, Application
Resolution Trust (ART), Foster City Financial Inc., Michael Charles
Fisher, Marrco Communications, The Communications Group Inc.,
Wireless Cable Financial Consultants, B.R. Cable Corporation and
Communications Corporation, Micro-Lite Television Inc., MCC Ventures
Group and Monarch Capital Group, Emerging Technologies Group Inc.,
Microtech Communications Inc., Communications Development
Corporation, Parkersburg Wireless Ltd., Key West Wireless Partners,
Lancaster Broadcasting Partners, Transamerica Wireless Systems,
Shreveport Wireless Cable TV Partnership, Microwave Cable TV
Partnership, Knoxville LLc, Wireless Solutions Inc., Comcoa Ltd.,
Vision Communications, Mitchell Communications, Metropolitan
Communications Corp.
MMDS Technologies (aka. Metro Communications Group) had a
restraining order placed against them, but it was later removed.
American Microtel (also affiliated with Stork and Codima) has
reached a settlement pertaining to a restraining order that was
placed against them.
Also, take note that in the U.S., it is ILLEGAL to enter into (or
even plan on entering into) a settlement group when applying for a
license.
Investigations by both federal and state agencies are continuing
on many companies. As I receive info, it will be placed here.
10.1 HOW CAN I TELL IF A COMPANY IS RUNNING A SCAM ON ME?
Many scams work the following way:
* Television, radio, and newspaper ads say that a wireless cable
company is looking for investors to apply for licenses for a
given area, which the company will service.
* Investors are asked to pay a large sum of money for
application and engineering fees. The application fee is only
about $155 for four channels.
* The company then does an engineering study, which may not meet
the technical requirements, and submits many applications at
one time to the FCC for that market.
* If the investor wins a license, the company may not have the
funding to actually bring a system on-line.
Most legitimate companies get their investments from institutions
instead of from individuals. Also, beware of any "limited liability
partnerships" as they are frequently scams.
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