Consumers can end up paying a fortune for mobile downloads

It is being found that bills for using smartphones, which many consumers are now signing up for, can often spiral out of control due to the cost of downloading data over a 3G mobile broadband connection.

According to the finding of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, many people who are buying “smart” phones that can provide a huge range of services from satellite navigation to paying videos are being forced to take out personal loans in order to cover the huge debts that these phones can cause.

One ombudsman, Deirdre O’Donnell advised “We’re seeing an increasing number of complaints about ‘bill shock’, where people get internet or phone bills far higher than they expect. Bills can amount to thousands of dollars and some people have told us they’ve taken out personal loans to pay the debt.”

There are often many different features on smart phones that make them highly popular including watching videos, access to live cam shots of traffic during peak hours, browsing the web, playing music and sending and receiving mails, and the must popular handset currently available is the Apple iPhone.

Even in the middle of a global recession the number of subscriptions to mobile broadband is currently at 2.2 million, which means the figures have double over the past financial year with a 100 000 per month rate of growth according to the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association.

Most of these “smart” handsets are purchased on a capped plan and many of the products on these devices requiring require downloading or uploading that can easily exceed the cap limit and can end with users receiving huge bills.

Since the release of the iPhone back in July last year Phonelink Communications has been supporting users looking for help with costs said Audrey Rodda-Frack, the founder and director of this independent provider.

Rodda-Frack advised “A lot of it comes down to the salesperson … the right salesperson will tell you you need a data plan. No one walks out of here without a data plan. Customers shouldn’t get large bills – they need to be educated by their mobile account manager … [but] there are too many out there not doing their job properly.”

Source – SMH