WASHINGTON -- A group of state public utility commissioners told CTIA that it shouldn't re-invent the wheel when it comes to consumer codes of conduct for wireless carriers.

CTIA has set Sept. 9 as the day it will announce its "Voluntary Consumer Code" of conduct for wireless carriers to follow in dealing with consumer services, billing and customer relations. The code is in response to increasing pressure from states for carriers to disclose the minute details of billing and service contracts because of mounting complaints. The state of California is currently considering one of the strictest set of wireless consumer rules in the country.

The letter, sent by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners to CTIA, said NARUC has been working on a voluntary consumer code of its own for more than a year. NARUC recommended CTIA include its terms in its voluntary code.

That effort in California may be bleeding over nationally. One of the signatures on NARUC's letter to CTIA was Carl Wood of the California Public Utilities Commission and leading the state's "Consumer Bill of Rights."

The NARUC letter suggested CTIA's terms include: Carriers should be able to charge consumers for services that the government mandates the carrier to provide-like E911 and number portability, but cost recovery mechanisms for those mandated services shouldn't be disguised on bills and should collect no more that the cost to provide them.