Pre-paid mobile phone rip-off
The Herald-Sun today reports that pre-paid mobile phone customers are spending up to $1 billion a year on phone calls they never make.
“Millions of mobile owners who pay upfront for their service allow call credits to expire,” the paper says.
Pre-paid phones make up more than half the national mobile phone market.
We bought pre-paid phones for the kids and encountered this problem. Kathleen uses all her credit (quickly) but Michael doesn’t come close. Most of the plans expire in 30 or 60 days, which simply isn’t enough time.
The rip-off extends beyond pre-paid plans though. So-called member plans are just as bad.
I had one for years at a minimum of $30 per month which included $30 or thereabouts of calls. I paid that amount whether I made the calls or not.
Most months I didn’t make $30 worth of calls.
If the $1 billion pre-paid windfall for telcos is an accurate figure, add that much again I reckon for cream on member plans.
There must be millions more generated from people who commit to handset deals only to upgrade before the plan expires.
All this makes the mobile phone sector highly profitable. That’s a bit sad really, in my opinion.
Landlines have historically been an essential communications tool and the internet has made the world a global village.
I suppose I could do without a landline if I had wireless internet and a mobile phone, but in essence the mobile phone is a luxury item. Most of us could carry on our lives without one.
Huge profits are being generated from people sending mindless text messages to each other and committing to phone plans they don’t need and don’t fully utilise.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
July 13th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
The object is to not let the pre-paid Mobile Phone network providers exploit the users.
Pre-paid mobiles can be still much cheaper than post-paid plans. Here’s how, it is simple. Don’t recharge the pre-paid phone until the “grace period” is due to expire. That is usually 30 days or more after the credits expire, it gets longer the larger the amount of the last recharge. It means that you can effectively run the phone at around half the re-charge on the average (depending on the provider).
Ok, this approach does mean that you can’t make calls during the “grace period” but all you need to do is have a re-charge voucher handy just in case you need to make that urgent call. Establish the credits then if you have to. This maximises the period of time that the phone actually costs nothing to keep connected. During the “grace period”, mobile phones will still receive calls and SMS which may be all you need anyway. But don’t forget to recharge before the end of the “grace period” otherwise your phone number has vanished into the big GSM black hole and getting another starter pack is probably the best way out!
And thanks to the blog on Yakedi! free SMS (http://gorey.com.au/archives/2177), I haven’t had to pay for an SMS since anyway.
July 14th, 2008 at 6:29 am
For prepaid… try Savvytel if you get good reception with vodafone where you are… credits never expire and the rates are decent (12c/30secs, 15c SMS anywhere on the planet). You can get starter packs online and i believe also at post offices.
http://www.savvytel.com.au
I’m switching to them when I run out my telstra credit, no longer needing the caps for sms as i did.
July 14th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
A couple of good tips there. It’s like anything, I suppose, if you shop around you can get a good deal and beat the system.
In principle though, the system with mobile phones is stacked against ordinary consumers.
Yakedi is still great, even with a limit of 10 messages per day. I don’t often use more than three or four.
Apart from being free, I like the ease of typing on a proper keyboard.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Where are the regulators? Aren’t there any rules to govern these services?
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