OK so I'm typing this blog out on my laptop, and would normally then throw the text onto my mobile phone to be emailed to my blogger account...
However, I have just spent the last half an hour on the blower to Vodafone trying to find out exactly how much all this data usage is costing me (or not) and I am none the wiser.
The problem really boils down to the new-fangled web-browsing and emailing available on my mobile. Now the Vodafone WAP site itself is free. Good. From within this site I can also download free movie trailers and other such nonsense. Also good. Beyond this I will get charged at a rate of £2.35 per MB of data traffic. This again is good in that I know when I am going to be charged, but obviously bad because of the outrageous pricing.
But it gets trickier.
I have been told that my 100 inclusive text mesages per month also equates to a data bundle (anything between 6 and 12MB worth of data from the conflicting information I have been supplied with). This is all very nice but If my data usage is eating up my texting allowance, then very quickly I will end up with no free texting for the month and end up paying for that instead.
If I look at the Packet Data log on the phone, this tells me simply how much data has been moved about on that phone.
It does not tell me how much of that is 'free' via the Vodafone site. It does not tell me how much is inclusive in my contract package. It simply scares me when it informs me of my 25MB of usage. Good grief! That would cost me over £50 for a few measly browsings and emails. WTF!
"Why not phone up Vodafone and ask them?" you think. If only it were that easy. As I say, after half an hour I am none the wiser. Their records are always 72 hours behind, and no-one really knows how much free bundle I get. I have been told that last month I used £10 of extras (what? in just a couple of days?). I have been told that I used 6650 Bytes this month and that it equates to 20 pence ????? Uh?!? I have also been told that according to their records I have not sent any text messages this month. Ummm...yes I have.
The online billing is just throwing up errors when i try to access my account and the 'text me a balance' service just plain doesn't exist. Oh they say it does and they tell me how to request said text, but the instructions don't pan out. I was eventually told this was because my phone was too new and I would need to give it a month.
None of this is helped by the fact that all my conversations with Vodafone are marred by drop-outs in the audio which makes it mighty difficult to hear the advice, and I listen intently to the silence wondering if they are speaking to me unaware of my enforced deafness or merely thinking to themselves that they're glad they got their phone from Orange.
The only good to come out of all this was that after the fourth phonecall in which I was asked once again to give my name, phone number address, postode and date of birth - all for security reasons - they finally gave me the option to setup a security code. Hurrah.
So for now this blog is going to be delivered via Starbucks WiFi and I shall be curbing my web presence.
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2 comments:
I know how you feel. I tried downloading some pages to my phone, to be stung with the huge gprs bill.
Another way around it maybe to use your free phone minutes with a dialup connection.
Or you could always parkup outside these places with their unsecure wifi.
http://www.jiwire.com/browse-hotspot-united-kingdom-gb-chelmsford-2125879.htm
Wow, I also had euro-phone-envy because it seems like you Over There have better phones. Now that I know your phone companies suck as badly as do ours, I don't feel so bad.
By the way, have I said how much I love this blog?
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