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Chucky Mama

Mobile Phone Bills Text Delivery Warning

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I took out a phone contract for DD as a Christmas present £15 per month - unlimited texts, Blackberry messenger, emails, internet (facebook and msn) and some voice which she rarely uses. The bank balance came through at the weekend with £43 on her phone bill :shock: Now we had checked what we thought was everything on this contract to make sure that everything was covered in the £15. After a good hour trying to get through to someone at Orange (couldn't view bill online for all sorts of reasons :roll: ) I have been told that my daughter who sends in excess of 5,000 texts (covered by her contract so no problem) is being charged 1p each time a text is delivered as she has the text delivery ticked on her Blackberry setup :shock: - so, beware if you have this turned on on your Blackberry, it may not be covered by your contract.

(they have now refunded me as I had specifically grilled them twice prior to taking out the contract that there were not hidden charges associated with her requirements so thumbs up to them for the refund)

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....the other thing to be aware of is most mobile phone companies have changed their tariffs so picture messages are not counted in your free text allowance. It used to be that a picture message was the equivalent of 4 ordinary messages but most have got rid of this. All new O2 tariffs are like this so I'll hang on to my old tariff for as long as I can as I send lots of picture messages!!

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I just checked my bill and found that I get charged for 'delivery receipt' which I assume is the same as on your daughter's Blackberry (though I just have a bog standard Nokia). I have turned off the option and will now see if it makes any difference. Thanks for the warning!

 

:shock: at 5000 texts though - I sent 143 last month and thought that was a lot!

 

Yes you do get charged for pictures, but I don't send them often.

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....the other thing to be aware of is most mobile phone companies have changed their tariffs so picture messages are not counted in your free text allowance. It used to be that a picture message was the equivalent of 4 ordinary messages but most have got rid of this. All new O2 tariffs are like this so I'll hang on to my old tariff for as long as I can as I send lots of picture messages!!

 

My picture messaging used to be covered, it used to be something like 1picture message = 5sms. But now it costs 25p :( I'd much rather it be 5 messages instead of 25p as my 'unlimited texts' is more like 12,000. I only manage to use half of that :anxious:

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....the other thing to be aware of is most mobile phone companies have changed their tariffs so picture messages are not counted in your free text allowance. It used to be that a picture message was the equivalent of 4 ordinary messages but most have got rid of this. All new O2 tariffs are like this so I'll hang on to my old tariff for as long as I can as I send lots of picture messages!!

 

My picture messaging used to be covered, it used to be something like 1picture message = 5sms. But now it costs 25p :( I'd much rather it be 5 messages instead of 25p as my 'unlimited texts' is more like 12,000. I only manage to use half of that :anxious:

 

Yep, I agree......they sneaked this in as people took out new tariffs, I nearly changed about 6 months ago but once I realised I'd lose my picture messages I decided to stay with the one I was on.

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Sort of on topic, but can any of you recommend a service that will limit the user to the free allowance on their contract? Vodafone have stopped their Spendchecker :roll:

 

Rosie is currently on PAYG but I am thinking of getting her a contract fro her birthday, as I mentioned to Lewis at the weekend, you can bet that she will spend over her limit and start racking up extra charges! I want it to cut off when it gets to the monthly limit

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I'm not aware of one Claret. I think that these phone companies quite like the thought of teenagers overspending. I know that I couldn't do it when setting up contracts with Vodafone or Orange. I do however tell my children that they are responsible for covering any overspend themselves. :wink:

 

In my experience teenagers need unlimited texts, use very little voice and if they are into Facebook, unlimited browser access which gives them FB and MSN. I have an Orange contract which DD uses on her Blackberry (my old one) and she has unlimited texts, some voice which is never all used, pretty much unlimited access to the internet (not suitable for viewing youtube and videos as it would push her over) so she can go on facebook and msn as much as she likes. She also has the Blackberry add on so BB messenger. Sending photo messages are 30p each but as she gets unlimited emails, she can email them or send by BBM. They are free to receive. It costs me £15 per month. ES however doesn't do the whole facebook lark on his phone so mainly texts and uses voice just to use it up really. His contract for unlimited texts, some voice and no internet is £10 per month. Both are sim only contracts.

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If she is on Voda,then they don't do one.......I have had problems with Cleo using up all her allowance,and going over.

But,you can check it online,so I now have a reminder on my Google calendar to check it towards the end of her month.

Its not 100% accurate,but its a guide....goodness knows how she uses up 800 minutes anyhow!!!

 

The SIM only contracts are good - my girls both have those.

I have told Cleo that if she goes over one more time the phone will be removed from her when she gets home each afternoon.

I have also made her pay for her extra useage :evil:

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Just thought I'd mention giffgaff as an alternative network. I moved to them recently because their tariff is so good (4p per text and 8p per minute for calls). They are on the O2 network so if you have an O2 phone you can just pop one of their sims right in, otherwise you need to have an unlocked phone. I have been with them for 3 months and have not yet quite spent £10!!! :shock: I used to have a contract with Virgin for £8.50 a month so this is much cheaper. They don't do a contract but they do a kind of equivalent where you buy what they call a "goody bag" for £5, £15, £10 or £20. The goody bag lasts a month and gives you a mix of minutes and text allowances. For someone who texts a lot the £5 goody bag is great as it gives unlimited texts but you pay per minute for calls (8p), the other goody bags give unlimited texts and unlimited internet access and varying amounts of call allowances. Like some other networks they also give free calls and texts to people on the same network. I have put my son on giffgaff too so it costs him nothing to contact me about school pick up times, etc etc. He is such a miser he would not call if it wasn't free :roll:

Might be of interest to some of you with kids who run up big phone bills!

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The Vodafone sim only my girls have are contact free,so I can switch them back to payg instantly at any time.

Not sure if they still do them though.

We didn't get phones with them,but as our contracts were up at the same time,the girls had our old HTC Magics and we got new HTC Desires.

 

Have a look on the Voda site.

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I've had a look at the site... they seem to do SIM only contracts which include texts but the minimum contract length seems to be 12 months. Or PAYG SIM only deals which you top up monthly but don't include texts which are her current preferred form of contact. I only intend spending £10 a month on it (that's how much my contract costs) and it will be a birthday present for her.

 

I'm going to give Vodafone a ring and see what they advise. Thanks for your advice.

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Just for comparison, for £10 a month you could get unlimited texts, unlimited internet access and 250 mins of calls on giffgaff (see link in my previous post), or for £5 a month you could get unlimited texts but pay for calls at 8p/min. May be worth considering when looking at different deals...

 

Really considering that... but I have an iPhone so I would need to jailbreak it and do something to the settings to make it work. (just read on giffgaff forum) so I'm sure if it's worth the risk :?

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