Stop Meteor charging for data silently

ReadySteadyGo

Hi There,

Please help highlight the customer unhappiness about the way data is charged for.

If they see a lot of customer feedback, they are more likely to do something.

If you are a meteor customer, and if you feel strongly about this, please could you log onto the meteor forum and give kudos/click thumbs up for the opening post on these two threads.

One calls for them to sms us when you are at 80 percent of your data allowance, the other calls for an alert, every time they charge you for a day pass.

http://forums.meteor.ie/t5/Internet-On-Your-Phone/Wanted-Alert-when-charged-for-daily-mobile-internet/td-p/41697

http://forums.meteor.ie/t5/Internet-On-Your-Phone/Wanted-Alert-when-80-of-mobile-internet-add-on-used/td-p/41693

I think would help us control/manage our costs and data usage alot more effectively and leave us free to enjoy our smart phones rather than worrying about cost, and constantly checking balances etc.,

Paulw

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

I think would help us control/manage our costs and data usage alot more effectively and leave us free to enjoy our smart phones rather than worrying about cost, and constantly checking balances etc.,

There are plenty of apps out there that monitor data usage, and can have alerts setup.

Try taking responsibility for your own phone usage.

ReadySteadyGo

Hi Paul,

If you are happy with the current situation i.e. happy to lower your smartphone battery life a little, and happy to spend your own time checking the allowances regularly, please don't feel that you need to thank the post on the meteor forum.

I know that technically savvy users can monitor it via apps on their phone, or via an app that scrapes your mymeteor account, or via the mymeteor website. But beware that a local app's measurement may not coincide exactly with meteors, e.g. meteor's measurement may use more or less packet overhead, and you need to line up your 30 days exactly etc.,

The best source is always the horses mouth.

I want the supplier to provide some duty of care, and a more effective solution.

I think this is an industry wide failure.

TBi

Why stop there? You should post another one... as below:

Hi,

I am a also new customer, so please correct me if I am wrong.

I don't find the current situation fair, where, if you accidentally make a phone call, you will be "silently" charged connection fee.

To use a phone fully, you need to leave phone enabled. It is unethical in my opinion to "silently" charge when you accidentally use the phone to make a call.

I think it would be appropriate to send an alerts when you have been charged for a phone call.

Please can you do this?

Thanks,

User who has lots of little accidents.

ReadySteadyGo

Hi Tbi,

I think you are taking it a step too far ;-) If you turn on auto-lock on your phone, your bum should stop calling people, and you will not be charged silently, and you can still get full use out of your phone!

Seriously though, You don't regularly come across people getting very large bill shock from this type of incident.

But, If a rogue app starts downloading in the background on your phone (e.g. due to a software bug, or poorly configured settings, or an update, or malware, or a web page auto refresh, or a hacked phone), you may not know until you get the bill or have zero credit left.

I know too many people who have been caught out, because the mobile networks do not exercise a sufficient duty of care to their customers, to warn them.

I hope you don't have this experience.

Paulw

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

But, If a rogue app starts downloading in the background on your phone, you may not know until you get the bill or have zero credit left.

Just curious though ... how does this "rogue app" get on to your phone? Is it, perhaps, something you have downloaded and installed yourself?

Again, personal responsibility comes in to it, and even the most basic data monitoring app you can download, should be able to have an alert, and should be an indication that you have installed something you shouldn't have, long before you hit your data cap.

listermint

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

Hi Tbi,

I think you are taking it a step too far ;-) If you turn on auto-lock on your phone, your bum should stop calling people, and you will not be charged silently, and you can still get full use out of your phone!

Seriously though, You don't regularly come across people getting very large bill shock from this type of incident.

But, If a rogue app starts downloading in the background on your phone (e.g. due to a software bug, or poorly configured settings, or an update, or malware, or a web page auto refresh, or a hacked phone), you may not know until you get the bill or have zero credit left.

I know too many people who have been caught out, because the mobile networks do not exercise a sufficient duty of care to their customers, to warn them.

I hope you don't have this experience.

Thats funny, i know no one that has been caught out.

The answer is simple if your not smart enought to manage your own data usage then get an old nokia. Ive never had any issues in relation to data and neither does ANYONE i know.

Sure my phone (ICS) has its own data over use blocker that i can configure to warn or turn off the limit if required. But being a responsible person i can tell by looking at the stats on it how much ive used.

People expect to be spoon fed but the facts are that its mostly because they are trying to weasle their way out because they simply didnt read the contract they signed up for or hadnt bothered effectively monitoring their usage. Take some personal responsibility you dont expect the ESB to come around and switch off your lights for you do you :rolleyes:

TBi

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

Hi Tbi,

I think you are taking it a step too far ;-) If you turn on auto-lock on your phone, your bum should stop calling people, and you will not be charged silently, and you can still get full use out of your phone!

Seriously though, You don't regularly come across people getting very large bill shock from this type of incident.

But, If a rogue app starts downloading in the background on your phone (e.g. due to a software bug, or poorly configured settings, or an update, or malware, or a web page auto refresh, or a hacked phone), you may not know until you get the bill or have zero credit left.

I know too many people who have been caught out, because the mobile networks do not exercise a sufficient duty of care to their customers, to warn them.

I hope you don't have this experience.

My friend mistakenly called Zimbabwe and lost 1000 euros worths of credits!!! This is something Meteor must stop!!!!!!!11111111!!! If they had just warned him in advance by txt then there would not have been an issue! I mean... it's not his fault he had the number first on his address book and set to speed dial from any button pressed! It's METEORS fault!

Although your idea about placing a block on the phone is a good one to save me from Meteor until they implement this safety net. Perhaps maybe i'll do this, also i might switch off data when not using it and that way not have any issues with data downloads either.

You solved both our problems!

evolutionqy7

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

Hi Tbi,

I think you are taking it a step too far ;-) If you turn on auto-lock on your phone, your bum should stop calling people, and you will not be charged silently, and you can still get full use out of your phone!

Seriously though, You don't regularly come across people getting very large bill shock from this type of incident.

But, If a rogue app starts downloading in the background on your phone (e.g. due to a software bug, or poorly configured settings, or an update, or malware, or a web page auto refresh, or a hacked phone), you may not know until you get the bill or have zero credit left.

I know too many people who have been caught out, because the mobile networks do not exercise a sufficient duty of care to their customers, to warn them.

I hope you don't have this experience.

Its an extremely rare occasion when the phone would download huge amounts of data for no reason. I never came across this anyway.

The only reason I could think of for the phone downloading huge amounts of data was if it was an Android phone and it was downloading an update (which has to be accepted by the user first)

If you don't have time to monitor your data usage get a data monitor app to do it for ya. Id always receive a message from meteor when im getting near my 1GB allowance on top of checking my usage once in a week or so. In which case then I turn it off completely and stick to Wi-Fi only till the billing period turn over.

ReadySteadyGo

If you read the forums, or search online, you will see that plenty of people are constantly suffering from bill shock for data usage.

I don't disagree with you, the customer is responsible for their data usage, and can take some measures to monitor it, but likewise the networks could do more.

I have not been pre pay on meteor before, if they do send alerts when you are nearing the end of your allowance that would be a great start.

Dravokivich

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

If you read the forums, or search online, you will see that plenty of people are constantly suffering from bill shock for data usage.

I don't disagree with you, the customer is responsible for their data usage, and can take some measures to monitor it, but likewise the networks could do more.

I have not been pre pay on meteor before, if they do send alerts when you are nearing the end of your allowance that would be a great start.

That's because they don't take into account how much gets used on streaming media, such as Youtube and such.

The customer needs to make themselves aware of what they are doing. Otherwise they really shouldn't have a phone with internet access.

Paulw

Dravokivich wrote: »

The customer needs to make themselves aware of what they are doing. Otherwise they really shouldn't have a phone with internet access.

That's the main issue - Smart phone, dumb user. :rolleyes:

People these days always want to blame someone else, especially when they don't want to take any personal responsibility for how they use their own phone.

evolutionqy7

Agree with everything above there. I mean you can't do everything for the customer, most people are lazy beyond belief, some of them dont even want to learn. Its not rocket science. Companies need to make money somehow, data is a perfect way to do.

ED E

OP stop being an idiot.

If you're getting bill shock then you're doing it all wrong. Find out how much data you use per month, get a plan that covers that amount and stop moaning.

Or the even more idiot proof, move to three, all you can eat data(deal may have expired).

Sponge Bob

the data APN ( or internet setting) is data.meteor.ie , change that to feckoff.meteor.ie and the fone cannot access data at all....so no charges, use wifi instead.

ReadySteadyGo

For the record, I have never had data bill shock.

I'm surprised by the lack of empathy for customers who may be less technically capable than the posters in this thread.

Can you not see how the current situation will always lead to people who get charged much more than they would willingly pay for?

Would you not want warnings like these to help protect your mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, who are less technically capable, and can't even tell if they are using wifi or mobile data to access the internet?

omega666

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

For the record, I have never had data bill shock.

I'm surprised by the lack of empathy for customers who may be less technically capable than the posters in this thread.

Can you not see how the current situation will always lead to people who get charged much more than they would willingly pay for?

Would you not want warnings like these to help protect your mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, who are less technically capable, and can't even tell if they are using wifi or mobile data to access the internet?

If someone is technically capable enough to use the internet or apps on a phone then they are capable of installating a simple app to measure data.

On the latest operating system for android it even comes with a built in data counter that shows how much each app is using, you can set a warning to display when it gets near your limit and finally it will shut data off when you reach your limit. You just need to set this up once and forget about it.

I dont think your getting much sympathy because there's so many options
to control what you use yourself. You dont need the network to manage your phone for you.

Paulw

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

Can you not see how the current situation will always lead to people who get charged much more than they would willingly pay for?

Would you not want warnings like these to help protect your mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, who are less technically capable, and can't even tell if they are using wifi or mobile data to access the internet?

I get charged for plenty of things much more than I would be willing to pay for - diesel, food, drink, electricity, gas, etc. But, I also am an adult, and know how to manage my use of these things to manage the amount I spend on them.

Like the vast majority have said, there are aways and means to monitor your own usage. As I told my parents, don't install anything on your phone without checking with me. If you do install something, watch your data usage.

Adults need to take responsibility for their actions, and realise that with actions come consequences. If you install/use apps that require data, then you need to understand you will be charged for it.

ReadySteadyGo

Paulw wrote: »

As I told my parents, don't install anything on your phone without checking with me

That is my point, the system should be more user friendly.

You shouldnt have to babysit your parents.

We shouldn't have to worry that a non tech person will run up a bill without realising it.

I'm all for paying for use, but I think the networks could do a better job of *informing* users about their usage.

chrislad

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

That is my point, the system should be more user friendly.

You shouldnt have to babysit your parents.

We shouldn't have to worry that a non tech person will run up a bill without realising it.

I'm all for paying for use, but I think the networks could do a better job of *informing* users about their usage.

I think the networks do a fine job. They don't make the phones, so can't control what phones can or cannot do. Would you blame Toyota if a driver had a crash because of their inexperience? Same concept as what you're peddling.

If you are not aware of the costs associated with a device or a service, then it's up to you to make yourself aware in any of the network stores. No one expects everyone to be experts, but a degree of common sense and knowledge is expected and its absence is laziness and nothing more.

Captain Flaps

All sarcasm and sly digs aside, I found I was being charged for data because Meteor sent the 'you are approaching 50MB daily limit' text hours after I'd reached that mark. I was told by customer service that they can't monitor it live as the phone reports data usage to the network at intervals. Sometimes the text would be a day late. I've since switched to 3 and haven't looked back.

Paulw

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

That is my point, the system should be more user friendly.

You shouldnt have to babysit your parents.

No, I shouldn't have to babysit, but nor should the industry (Meteor). It is not the system at fault at all. It's called technology and progress.

Again, people need to take personal responsibility for what they do, what they use, and how they use things.

ED E

The OP wants android to become iOS and babysit the user......:rolleyes:

ReadySteadyGo

chrislad wrote: »

They don't make the phones, so can't control what phones can or cannot do.

Eh - they own the network, they design their billing systems, so they can control what your phone can and can't do.

They could send alerts to notify you of your data bill, or they could have data disabled by default for users, or they could let users specify the maximum amount of data they want to eat.

The billing systems work well enough to prevent your access when you are at zero credit ;-)

Personally, I think users should have to opt in to daily data usage, and especially should have to opt-in to the expensive per mb charging.

chrislad wrote: »

Would you blame Toyota if a driver had a crash because of their inexperience? Same concept as what you're peddling.

If the user drops the phone, or throws into someone else they are responsible for the ensuing damage.

I would complain to our govt (who manage the road network) if we didn't have signage for dangerous bends, or if alerts were not put up around an active crash.

Would you like the motor industry moves backwards, and removes sensors and alerts? Like oil temperature, service interval lights, abs check lights? Would you like to have to install an app on your car, in order to be able to access the alerts?

Would you like all road signs removed, and having to consult a third party system to figure out how to get from a to b?

I am advocating a user-friendly approach. If you prefer a non user friendly approach that is ok.

ReadySteadyGo

ED E wrote: »

The OP wants android to become iOS and babysit the user......:rolleyes:

This poster has not read the thread.

ReadySteadyGo

Captain Flaps wrote: »

All sarcasm and sly digs aside, I found I was being charged for data because Meteor sent the 'you are approaching 50MB daily limit' text hours after I'd reached that mark. I was told by customer service that they can't monitor it live as the phone reports data usage to the network at intervals. Sometimes the text would be a day late. I've since switched to 3 and haven't looked back.

Thanks for sharing. Their network has access to the information instantaneously as you use the data, but their systems may not be configured to get the information to their billing and reporting system quickly enough.

I assume the billing systems remarkably stops you very quickly when you get to 0 credit!

I am a new meteor and pre-pay customer, I didn't know that meteor actually alert when you are approaching the daily limit, I actually think this is a very good start. I hope it is sent at 45MB, and 49.9MB ;-)

I find this approach a bit one sided, e.g. your top-up offer does not kick in until they text you to say it is active, but they will charge you outside your daily rate before you get the text saying daily rate activated. My solution would be that a user would have to opt in for per MB billing, but that would reduce revenue, so it is not in their interest.

I think a lot more people get caught on, then admit to it Captain.

ReadySteadyGo

Paulw wrote: »

No, I shouldn't have to babysit, but nor should the industry (Meteor). It is not the system at fault at all. It's called technology and progress.

Again, people need to take personal responsibility for what they do, what they use, and how they use things.

I love technology and process, I agree 200% with personal responsibility.

The system is not at all at fault, an implementation which is targeted at revenue, rather than protecting vulnerable customers is the issue.

Networks have much more power, knowledge and control than the average consumer when it comes to billing for data, these are the sort of reasons we have regulators, as such steps should be made to strengthen the consumer position.

I am all for the consumer paying for what they use. But I think the consumer should be aware of what they are paying for, and in the case of something as nebulous as data, they should specifically opt in the charging method, and be alerted or cut-off when approaching limits. Or at the minimum this should be an option which can be turned off.


@Paulw, if your phone got hacked just as after you go to sleep, and if someone used it aggressively as part of DDOS attack, and when you next checked your usage, you found out you had been charged for 5gb of data at per mb rates, would you accept personal responsibility and pay the bill?

Paulw

I know a lot more than I can discuss here.

Getting your phone hacked very seldom happens. Can you identify anyone who had their phone hacked? Remote hacking of phones is even less likely.

Mostly, your phone is hacked when you download and install something you shouldn't. That again, goes back to personal responsibility.

The technology for billing is not simple. If you have 0 credit, then blocking a function is simple. It's on or off. When it comes to charging of data, most is not directly 100% realtime.

Turning on or off data is simple, on the phone. To do it on a network level, you would have uproar from people buying a smartphone who then have to go opt in to something they bought the phone for.

Yes, consumers should be aware of what they are getting. That's why there are plenty of pages which show the tariffs and rates of charges for functions.

Meteor are not charging for data silently. They publicise the rates and costs of data. What your main complaint seems to be about is that you don't know your phone is using data. But, when you go to install any app, it tells you what it will do. If you don't pay attention to that, and don't read the fine print, then it's your own fault.

gunnerfitzy

TBi wrote: »

My friend mistakenly called Zimbabwe and lost 1000 euros worths of credits!!! This is something Meteor must stop!!!!!!!11111111!!! If they had just warned him in advance by txt then there would not have been an issue! I mean... it's not his fault he had the number first on his address book and set to speed dial from any button pressed! It's METEORS fault!

Although your idea about placing a block on the phone is a good one to save me from Meteor until they implement this safety net. Perhaps maybe i'll do this, also i might switch off data when not using it and that way not have any issues with data downloads either.

You solved both our problems!

Are you serious?

TBi wrote: »

If they had just warned him in advance by txt then there would not have been an issue!

How do you warn someone in advance of phone call they are going to make?

TBi wrote: »

it's not his fault he had the number first on his address book and set to speed dial from any button pressed! It's METEORS fault!

You buy the phone and you set it up the way you want it. Yes there are defaults but you go though all the settings and you change them if you wish. HE stored the the persons name and number. HE didn't have a keylock on the phone. HE accidentally made the call. Where does the network come into this?

TBi

gunnerfitzy wrote: »

Are you serious?

I dunno. Meteor should text me and let me know when i'm being serious or not!

How am i supposed to know when i'm not being serious!

ReadySteadyGo

ReadySteadyGo wrote: »

@Paulw, if your phone got hacked just as after you go to sleep, and if someone used it aggressively as part of DDOS attack, and when you next checked your usage, you found out you had been charged for 5gb of data at per mb rates, would you accept personal responsibility and pay the bill?

Is that a yes or a no? would you personally pay or would you try to argue it? I realise it is an edge case, but I am wondering how extreme your views are on personal responsibility, vs a suppliers duty of care.