Displaying items by tag: Bill shock

GUEST OPINION: Gone are the days when cloud migration was some kind of 'science project'; today, everyone wants to see value, progress, and agility benefits materialise sooner rather than later.

GUEST OPINION: Providers have a role to play in creating simpler cloud and as-a-service licensing arrangements that encourage usage, without the risk of bill shock.

Lawrence Michael co-founded RackCorp, Australia’s own cloud services provider, 20 years ago - that’s older than the major hyperscalers! At a time where data sovereignty and bill shock are becoming increasingly prevalent issues in this space, going local and getting fixed bills, might just be the option you didn’t know you had. In this interview, Lawrence gives you a background on RackCorp and the industry... 

Learn more about RackCorp, here.

Rules to better protect Australians against the bill shock that can come from high international mobile roaming charges, have been emhanced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

Circles.Life, the telco that promises a “more likeable than hateable experience” - and which launched in the Australian market in August - has created a S$1 million fundraising page via GoGetFunding designed to “bail people out from mobile contracts worldwide and to give the telco freedom the customers deserve”.

There’s some Christmas cheer for mobile phone users, with a new report showing the incidences of consumers receiving unexpectedly high bills has fallen from 33% to 19% since 2013 for post-paid mobile phones.

Apple’s most recent iOS 9 update gives iPhone and iPad users a new feature – WiFi Assist – but it also brings with it a risk of unexpectedly high mobile phone bills, according to a warning issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

Mobile bill shock has been falling, with the number of consumers who experience unexpectedly high mobile phone bills dropping in the last 12 months.

Vodafone says it has stepped up its campaign to reduce bill shock for mobile phone users with its biggest-ever plan shakeup including unlimited standard national calls and text in all its new plans.

Telco service provider iTalkBB has copped a formal warning from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) over its failure to provide information to consumers which allows comparisons of the offerings from different telcos on a like-for-like basis.

Dubbed ‘Extra Data’, Telstra is swapping excess data charges for a $10 charge per 1GB block from 12 May 2015 for most mobile customers - details here.

Aussies are fed up with their telcos, with more than a third of Aussies considering switching mobile providers in 2014 according to new research.

This may surprise you, but many Australian employees are switching their mobile phones to their workplace Wi-Fi networks to reduce their bills.

SMS alerts, spend management tools and opt-out arrangements for Australians using their mobile phone overseas will become available soon under a new standard.

ACCAN (Australian Communications Consumer Action Network) has called on carriers to introduce ‘reasonable’ hard caps and end exorbitant excess mobile data charges.

Research conducted by Macquarie University in association with amaysim shows that the common causes of bill shock aren't what you probably expect. And many users suffer bill shock despite not using all the 'included value' their plans promise.

Optus has launched, a number of new tools to help customers better manage their monthly mobile spend.

Industry bodies have been quick to comment on the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's report highlighting a five percent reduction in complaints overall and a 70 percent reduction in complaints about mobile services, but have largely ignored an 86 percent increase in issues relating to financial over-commitment regarding mobile services.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has reported an almost five percent decrease in new complaints during 2009-10, but very substantial increases in categories relating to credit management and 'bill shock'.

Once again, some expert has been quoted in one of the daily papers, discussing how buyers are likely to be hit with 'bill shock' for using more data or calls than their capped plan includes. Well, I for one am getting a little sick of this. Sure, the telcos are out there to make as much money from us as possible but we, as users, also bear some of the responsibility.