[LINK] News: 'New mobile phones will double as credit cards'

[Kim Holburn]

On 2007/Apr/29, at 8:47 AM, Adam Todd wrote:
> At 03:06 PM 29/04/2007, Kim Holburn wrote:
>> See, I reckon $33 a month, which is way more than I have ever paid a
>> phone company for a mobile phone is a rip-off.
>
> It's cheaper than my landline.  Landline $32.95 a month, plus call  
> costs on top of that, rarely below $40.00 - that's not many calls!

I rarely paid more than $5 a month. many months not even that,  
occasionally nothing at all.  I only pay for calls, a single rate  
anywhere in Australia.

When you've paid off your phone what happens then?  You keep paying  
the same amount for nothing?  Or you upgrade your phone?

I hate it when a phone company says things like:  You get reduced  
rates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, calls to people in this company's  
network are cheaper, calls from Sydney to Subiaco the phone company  
pays you, calls to 5 nominated friends are free from 11PM to 2AM, a  
reduction of 10% between 7.30AM and 9.30AM if you also use this  
company for broadband, a special reduction of 50 cents a minute to  
mobiles.  I just think this is a mad attempt to obfuscate costs.  How  
can you possibly think of all that crap?

> I'd love a cheaper monthly fee, but I'm not going to get 300  
> minutes of free calls, and 30 cent calls to all lands lines for up  
> to ten minutes.

They've got you sussed haven't they.  You're paying for stuff you  
don't use.

> I only upped from $22 a month to $33 a month to take advantage of  
> the lower per minute charges, so my volume of calls is higher now  
> than on the $22, but I still don't use all the minimum fee all the  
> time.  I try though!
>
>> You admitted in one of your emails that "you rarely ever use all  
>> all of that" that you're paying for.
>
> Yes.
>
> I must say too, and I've said it before, I'm pretty impressed with  
> the services and customer support of '3' even if the call centre is  
> in India.  (They have a note on my account saying I know this so  
> they don't bull* me!)
>
>> I'm glad you're not confused.
>
> (smile)
>
>> What about people who don't know much about technology - not to  
>> mention people who just don't know much?
>
> I think the technology is a side issue.  I think people get  
> confused over "how much" and "how often."

This is an economic issue.  There are lots of ways of paying for  
"services".  Most of the phone companies use billing techniques that  
come from monopoly practises.  They also try as much as possible to  
make fee comparison between companies impossible.

Technology does come into it though.  Charging very large amounts for  
very small data connections is a rip-off that we have inherited from  
government phone monopolies.  It is such a goldmine that it will be  
prized out of the clutching paws of phone companies only by other  
grasping new tech companies like skype or voipbuster.

I remember a time when there was a huge ground swell of opposition to  
Telstra (or was it Telecom?) wanting to charge timed local calls  
(what we'd call now by the bacronym: local landline calls).  They  
didn't succeed at the time but they won that battle by bypassing it -  
mobiles are so different we just accept timed calls on them.

> Then again, I watch people subscribing to services that charge then  
> $4 a day and they have no hesitation in doing it.

So there's someone getting ripped off worse than you, always  
comforting...

> So I think a lot of the confusion is more the fact that it's not  
> "cash out of the pocket today" and a credit issue, than it is not  
> knowing.
>
> Sure there are some people who are swindled totally. Look at  
> One.Tel (still in the Supreme Court I notice) where they made  
> contracts that weren't even binding and then pursued people over them.
>
> I think I was one of very few who contested the "terminated"  
> contract and won.
>
> Still, some phone companies are good, some are not.  Some have  
> great communications and others are bloody awful.
>
> At the end of the day, it's the user who has to be responsible.
>
> The Dog didn't make the phone calls!
>
> Buying a car is far more difficult than buying a phone and plan.   
> If people can't handle a phone account, they have little hope of  
> handling a car and loan.  (Then again, many people can't handle 48  
> month interest free either.)
>
>
>
>

--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961