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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Major UK mobile networks agree new moves to protect against 'bill shock'

The UK government says it’s worked with telecoms companies to reduce the risk of consumers receiving unexpectedly high bills if their phone is stolen.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller has announced a new agreement with EE, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone to cap bills on a mobile phone that has been reported lost or stolen. This will be implemented early next year. O2 isn’t mentioned in the announcement.

BT, Sky and Talk Talk have also agreed - along with the four mobile networks - that customers will be able to end a contract without penalty if they’re presented with potential price rises within the minimum term. It’s a move that echoes Ofcom’s recent guidance.

Jo Swinson MP, Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs, said “The last thing you need after the hassle of a stolen mobile is to find that someone has used it and landed you with a sky high bill too. Phone companies have listened to government and to their customers and I welcome their agreement to protect them from unexpected costs and mid-contract price rises.”

The government has also re-stated its aim to eliminate European roaming charges by 2016.

[Formal agreement (pdf)]

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Opinion Articles

Is Android losing its impact for Google?

Mark Bridge writes:

Recent figures released by ABI Research have prompted the market intelligence company to ask whether Google is losing control of the Android ecosystem.

At first glance, Android dominated smartphone shipments for the final quarter of 2013. ABI Research says 77% of the 287 million smartphones shipped in Q4 2013 were running Android.

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It’s time to prepare for the upcoming surge in signaling traffic

Robin Kent writes:

After initially suffering from slow pick up by consumers, 4G has begun to accelerate, and is now well on the way to the forecasted one billion subscribers by 2017. In fact EE, owner of T-Mobile and Orange, recently announced the addition of 493,000 new 4G customers to its existing base of 1.2 million.

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Mobile phone coverage: is this as good as it gets?

Mark Bridge writes:

A new report has highlighted the issue of poor mobile phone coverage in rural Sussex villages. BBC Sussex invited me onto their ‘Sussex Breakfast’ radio show to explain what could be done - and, as usual, I made enough notes for a lecture rather than a three-minute interview.

Here’s what I would have liked to have said if I’d been given a disproportionate amount of time to talk.

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Last week at The Fonecast: 27th January 2014

Expecting the unexpected

Mark Bridge writes:

Great news for mobile phone users. Ofcom’s new rules preventing unexpected mid-contract price rises came into force last week, which means UK consumers can no longer be surprised by their subscription charge increasing while they’re still locked into a minimum-term deal.

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Ofcom changes the rules for mobile phone contracts... and so does O2

Mark Bridge writes:

This week, new Ofcom rules came into force. They’re designed to avoid unexpected price rises during the minimum term of a mobile phone contract. Yes, just because you signed a fixed-term contract doesn’t mean the charges can’t increase. Networks said they needed this option in case of inflation or regulatory changes. Customers felt trapped.

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