No more phone bill (mobile internet) shocks, at last!

Danbo!

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/new-eu-rules-to-regulate-mobile-phone-internet-bills-448190.html

Personally, I hate when people go on holidays and dont bother to check roaming rates and then decide to start streaming movies etc, etc. They then come to this forum/consumer issues and complain that the bill is extortionate.

Hopefully this new law will put a stop to it.

New moves limiting mobile phone bills for surfing the internet came into force today – potentially saving customers from “horrible shocks”, according to the European Commission.

From today customers can oblige mobile phone operators to cut them off when their surfing bill reaches a pre-set amount.

And if customers do not set their own spending limit, EU rules require the operator not to allow the bill to exceed €50 a month without warning the mobile phone user in advance.

The €50 limit runs until July, by which time the Commission hopes users will routinely be informing their service provider of their required spending ceiling.

“This is very good news for customers,” said Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd.

“From today everyone has the right to set their own spending limit for surfing the net, so they don’t get a horrible shock at the end of the month, and find themselves charged huge amounts of money for using a so-called ’Dongle’ with your laptop or smart-phone to surf the internet.”

He went on: “This limit is individually set – it can be €20, €200, or €2,000 or whatever.

“The idea is that, when 80% of the cash limit has been reached, the operator will have to warn the customer that you are approaching the limit and will be cut off, unless that limit is changed, of course.”

The Commission says that if service providers do not honour the spending limit set by the customers, national authorities will deal with complaints, and impose sanctions on operators if they consider it necessary to enforce today’s new rules, which are part of the Commission’s latest legislation on mobile phone charges.

Already charges for using mobile phones when abroad have been slashed by 60%.

Mr Todd said the effect of the net-surfing limits would be to cut prices too:

“It will encourage people to use mobile phones to surf, because they know they will not get any more horrible shocks.

“And this measure is likely to bring down the cost of ’data roaming’ because if people stick to their own cash limits and find they don’t get much access to the Internet for their money, the tendency will be to bring down prices so you get more surfing for your money.”

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/new-eu-rules-to-regulate-mobile-phone-internet-bills-448190.html#ixzz0gvUOwd2K

Fresh Pots

Finally some decent regulation. Wonder how long it will take for the operators to get this in place.

Keano

Bit too late for me

I got charged an extortionate amount for using just over 25mb!! And I wasn't even roaming.

ArseBurger

squared wrote: »

Finally some decent regulation. Wonder how long it will take for the operators to get this in place.

It's called pre-paid. It's been there for quite some time.

briano

I don't know, unless I am missing something it doesn't actually say how much they are going to charge per megabyte, only what the maximum bill can be.

So, if an operator decides to charge €5 a meg, you'll still rock up a €50 bill quickly and then get cut off. I'd prefer to see caps on a per mb/kb basis, not on the maximum charge.

mickoneill30

ArseBurger wrote: »

It's called pre-paid. It's been there for quite some time.

Witty.
So if you have a plan you have to remember to change it before you go abroad. Then change it back when you're home. Dead handy if go abroad a lot.

ArseBurger

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Witty.
So if you have a plan you have to remember to change it before you go abroad. Then change it back when you're home. Dead handy if go abroad a lot.

A lot of operators globally use a system of credit limits on post and pre paid accounts.

This means that customers have to do exactly what you state above.

It works very well.

Frequent travellers use an appropriate plan.

Frequent travellers that moan and complain would moan and complain if it were free or they were actually paid to use the service. Customers like this serve only to retain on-net traffic.

ArseBurger

briano wrote: »

So, if an operator decides to charge €5 a meg, you'll still rock up a €50 bill quickly and then get cut off. I'd prefer to see caps on a per mb/kb basis, not on the maximum charge.

You can't cap per Mb/Kb if the charge is variable. As it is when roaming.

briano

ArseBurger wrote: »

You can't cap per Mb/Kb if the charge is variable. As it is when roaming.

Wow, really? I didn't know that, I just assumed that a cap would be the maximum charge per mb, and the price could vary (for instance, while roaming) provided it didn't exceed that cap.

Thanks for clearing that up for me though. I see now that there is nothing wrong with the way it is now.

ArseBurger

briano wrote: »

Wow, really? I didn't know that, I just assumed that a cap would be the maximum charge per mb, and the price could vary (for instance, while roaming) provided it didn't exceed that cap.

Thanks for clearing that up for me though. I see now that there is nothing wrong with the way it is now.

Thanks for being facetious and showing that you have no understanding of real time billing and TAP record management through billing clearing houses for data roaming. Or the real time charging carried out via bilateral or unilateral data roaming in conjunction with voice and SMS. All different technologies from a billing perspective - especially when on a VPLMN.

Or, indeed, the commercial side of roaming with fluctuating rates for international traffic.

Not to mention currency exchange rates.

If telecommunications was easy, I'm sure you'd be doing it.

Rather than fly down this runway. Why don't you form an opinion based upon your reading and understanding of ITU protocols?

briano

Actually, looks like the European Commission have brought this in already, albeit for wholesale rates. Hopefully that will trickle down to the end user over the course of this year and next, unless of course they find out how scary and difficult telecoms is :rolleyes:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/620 wrote:

substantially reduce data roaming charges (the cost of surfing the web or downloading movies with a mobile phone while abroad) by introducing a wholesale cap of €1 per megabyte downloaded, compared to an average wholesale price of € 1.68 per megabyte, with peaks in Ireland (€6.82), Greece (€5.30) and in Estonia (€5.10). The wholesale cap will fall to €0.80 in 2010 and to €0.50 in 2011.

It does still leave you with the problem that you will get cut off after reaching the maximum €50 for data, although I'd imagine operators will allow an opt-in for users who would like to be able to use more that €50 of data per month while abroad

empty_vessal

Got on to Meteor this morning after I was told about this...they didn't have a clue. The lady I spoke with was very nice and contacted ComReg. She told me that like all laws, although implemented today it is not effective today. How the hell is that possible?

Danbo!

If networks are slow to implement this, at least the law is there as some fallback should someone run up a huge bill I guess.

scudzilla

Around 12 months ago i had a bit of a shock, i'd just got an N95 upgrade through meteor and when i got bill i'd been charged 80euro for internet usage, i just phoned them up and told them to turn it off, they said that they couldn't. I told them i was recording the call and had asked them to remove a service, and if they charged me for a service which i'd requested to be removed i wouldn't pay and would see them in court.
They removed the internet service straight away, so i guess this has been in for some time, just not advertised

Tom Dunne

ArseBurger wrote: »

Thanks for being facetious and showing that you have no understanding of real time billing and TAP record management through billing clearing houses for data roaming.

Tone down the aggression, please. I think you have misinterpreted briano's post.

Anyway, I think this is good news. If only from the number of threads we get on this forum from people who have come back from holidays to a massive bill.

Random

I like this progress forward. Some thoughts though:
-- Why doesn't it apply domestically too?
-- What powers do the Irish authorities have to punish networks who don't quickly adapt to this? I have no faith in comreg.

Idleater

Random wrote: »

-- Why doesn't it apply domestically too?

I think there is a varient of this already in place on some networks (well o2 anyway). I can set up spend alerts that will text me when the bill goes to a certain point(s). It won't cut me off though, which I presume is the idea behind the new EU legislation.

Random

nereid wrote: »

I think there is a varient of this already in place on some networks (well o2 anyway). I can set up spend alerts that will text me when the bill goes to a certain point(s). It won't cut me off though, which I presume is the idea behind the new EU legislation.

That's better than nothing but not great, it's amazing how much you can spend between updates with that service.... from experience!

JohnK

So does this just notify us if we're overspending or does it actually reduce the roaming rates themselves? Looking at the rates recently for O2 its absurd what they're charging.

Thirdfox

Random wrote: »

I like this progress forward. Some thoughts though:
-- Why doesn't it apply domestically too?
-- What powers do the Irish authorities have to punish networks who don't quickly adapt to this? I have no faith in comreg.

EU regulations applies to inter-community trade... domestic law is a sovereign power that individual states still have control over.

Good/bad thing depending on whether you prefer a federal EU or not.

But whatever misgivings I may have about the federal EU system - Neelie Kroes is doing a good job in enforcing competition law and regulating unfair practices.

I believe the regulation comes into effect from July 1st no matter what companies have or haven't done i.e. you can rely on it as law from that date onwards. Punishment would be coming from the EU Competition Authority I suspect but in any case you will be in the legal right if a case ends up in court.

cojomo2

Are you sure that this does not apply domestically as well as when roaming?
Really stupid if it doesn't, seen as meteors out of bundle domestic rates(about €21,000 /GB is more expensive then their roaming rates!

lord lucan

JohnK wrote: »

So does this just notify us if we're overspending or does it actually reduce the roaming rates themselves? Looking at the rates recently for O2 its absurd what they're charging.

From my reading of it all it seems to be is a notification that you're going over a certain spend limit. Data charges remain unchanged,but the network will helpfully tell you when you go over a certain limit.:rolleyes:

I was in Barcelona about 3 weeks ago for roughly 11 hours in total and messed about with my Nexus One regularly during that time,checked my spend online and it cost me €27 for the 11 hours of data i used!!:eek:

New rule when away,turn off synch and active data connections and find coffee shops with free WiFi.:)

ArseBurger

briano wrote: »

Actually, looks like the European Commission have brought this in already, albeit for wholesale rates. Hopefully that will trickle down to the end user over the course of this year and next, unless of course they find out how scary and difficult telecoms is :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/620
substantially reduce data roaming charges (the cost of surfing the web or downloading movies with a mobile phone while abroad) by introducing a wholesale cap of €1 per megabyte downloaded, compared to an average wholesale price of € 1.68 per megabyte, with peaks in Ireland (€6.82), Greece (€5.30) and in Estonia (€5.10). The wholesale cap will fall to €0.80 in 2010 and to €0.50 in 2011.

It does still leave you with the problem that you will get cut off after reaching the maximum €50 for data, although I'd imagine operators will allow an opt-in for users who would like to be able to use more that €50 of data per month while abroad

This applies to EU states only. Of which there are 27.

There are 219 countries in the GSMA covering just under 800 mobile operators.

So, again, not really practicable globally.

Note: In principal I believe that the customer needs to be hand held when it comes to roaming. However, politicians are the last people that should be coming up with the solution. I haven't seen any realistic requests for consultation on the matter within the industry from the EU or the regulators.

ArseBurger

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Tone down the aggression, please. I think you have misinterpreted briano's post.

I don't believe I was being any more or less aggressive than the post presented towards my comment. Which was unsolicited.

marymc

cojomo2 wrote: »

meteors out of bundle domestic rates(about €21,000 /GB is more expensive then their roaming rates!

Holy crap! And ROFL, of course.

Does this whole thing mean I can walk into a phone shop today and tell them that I want a warning when I come close to my data limit? Or must I still rely on 3rd party apps (which I will, since I don't trust businesses that only want my money... ANY of them. ALL of them...)

mullingar

It is for when ROAMING only.

I just got stung by a very nasty bill from O2! €371 of data! :mad::mad:

Danbo!

mullingar wrote: »

It is for when ROAMING only.

I just got stung by a very nasty bill from O2! €371 of data! :mad::mad:

If o2 are charging 2c/kb outside of data packages, that works out as 18mb. If you had a data add on for a few quid you could use up to 500mb or 1 gb, depending on o2's data plans, which Im not familiar with.

Not to sound harsh, but i've no sympathy if you used data services without checking the cost.

justsomebloke

while roaming do you not have to pay when you receive a call?

i.e. while roaming you get near 80% of your limit, phone company ring you to tell you that you are at 80%. You have to pay for receiving this call so now you are even closer to 100% of your limit

Loggie

I was on the phone to 3 and they told me that I had a credit limit on my bill pay account of €450.00 per month:eek: Never knew about this. Got them to reduce it to €50 per month. I'll get a text if I approach this limit. Works domestically.
Not sure if many are aware of this.

Walkman

Loggie wrote: »

I was on the phone to 3 and they told me that I had a credit limit on my bill pay account of €450.00 per month:eek: Never knew about this. Got them to reduce it to €50 per month. I'll get a text if I approach this limit. Works domestically.
Not sure if many are aware of this.

You also have real time billing via My3 on your phone so you can see and control your spend