At long last the Australian Communications and Media Authority ( ACMA ) is making the Telcos clean up their pricing act. Thousands of people have been utterly confused with the terms that apply to their mobile phone contracts and many have been led astray into deep financial trouble when confronted with " bill shock ".
Phone " deals " have ranged from merely " misleading " to outright " lies " mixed in with confusing terminology that serves to make any sort of price comparison impossible. One of the tricks used is to guarantee a high spending limit per month for the fee charged. This can look quite attractive, but it is meaningless unless it can be compared with the actual charge for each phone call or SMS message.
The new Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code will require plans to clearly state the " unit price " of mobile to fixed line and mobile to mobile calls and the price charged for SMS activity. The other requirement that will be most valued by mobile phone users is notification that they are approaching stated measures of their credit plan. For instance, they will automatically get a message from their phone company advising that they have used fifty percent - then eighty percent - and finally - one hundred percent of their credit allowance for that thirty day period.
That will certainly put a dent in the " bill shock " problem. As things currently stand, a novice phone user doesn't have a clue what charges are being racked up - until the bill arrives. Bill progress notification will allow use modification to fit within the free limit range and avoid financial trouble.
Another requirement in this new code is a warning of the charges that can occur if the phone is left on " roaming " mode while the person is travelling overseas. Low domestic user rates available in Australia can rise to critical proportions in some overseas countries and these have resulted in " horror bills " hitting some unwary returning Australians.
The code also applies to Broadband charges and will be welcomed by users of the new I-Pad technology and the fast spreading use of mobile phones to access news services and the entire mobile communications sphere - and it is long overdue !
ACMA has the punitive powers to make the Telcos step into line. For too long this industry has hidden behind subterfuge to confuse the public by deliberately creating phone plans full of if's, but's and maybe's that can not reasonably be made to connect with one another.
At last - we are about to get a dose of clarity !
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