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a T-Mobile GPRS saga
The things we put up with to use a mobile phone... they're getting as bad as banks.
This saga started with the death of Easymobile.
I've had a knock-on effect from one problem to the other. The list is so long I've converted it to note form:
1) Easymobile withdraws from the UK market. I have to find a new provider for my number.
I take the free £10 Fresh Credit and, after much debate, transfer back to Tescos
2) I get a new job that involves lots of travel and being at sea on average 6 months a year. As a result: a) contracts are not so much an option because this effectively doubles the cost to me. b) In addition mobile internet would be very useful
3) I prepare for the job by using my gmail account to store important information such as CVs. I switch to online banking and get statements sent to this email address
4) My workplace firewalls (disallows access) to gmail, where I store all my documentation, and this is where sensitive info such as job offers would arrive. Attempts to circumvent fail because the blocking works by keyword so spam in the email account blocks access, also, I prefer to keep my nose clean. I now have no access to my personal documentation without using an internet cafe. Mobile internet would now be a life saver.(Satelite internet AT ~£40/month doesn't work on a moving boat by the way, not without an expensive gyroscope)
5) I buy a T-Mobile pay as you go SIM card with £15 credit to try out the £1 capped GPRS internet fee. It appears to work at first but I get the feeling like `where did all that credit go?` On investigation I find I need to enable an option to enable the £1 capping. This crap has cost me a tenner! I should have audited thier billing at this point.
6) I'm beginning to get annoyed at swapping SIM cards now and credit on my Tesco SIM is low so I request a PAC code and start the porting process. T-Mobile sends me a txt telling me the port date about 12 days later (with Tescos it took about 3)
7) I use the internet feature a lot as I now feel it's something that I should just bite the bullet and pay for. But people can't call me while I'm using it as I have a separate SIM for this.
8) After my initial £15 credit runs out I top up another £15. But after 2 days use I'm down to £10, what's going on? I call up customer services who are moderately useless. They mutter `this is strange`, `There's a lot of items here` to themselves, and go to see a supervisor. After ages they manually tott up the bills after the top up (12p here, 80p max there). They eventually just tell me that it `adds up`. They tell me that some haven't been billed at all.
I'm spooked now. Firstly, I know with a £1 daily fee cap I would have to use 5 days of GPRS to spend this and I know this not to be true. Secondly, I just have to accept that they aren't just fobbing me off because they don't do itemised billing like Easymobile did. Thirdly, they just told me that I wasn't billed for various GPRS uses and that this was strange rather than the £1 daily cap; doesn't inspire confidence
9) I cancel the porting process so I can keep an eye on this business
Future actions:
A) Monitor the T-Mobile account for overcharging
Buy a cheap separate phone just for internet
C) Keep on the look out for PAYG GPRS internet providers
D) Perhaps T-Mobile sneakily divide the days GPRS durin the day rather than midnight? I mentioned this in my previous call to customer services but didn't demand it explicitly. Find out.
Lessons Learnt:
A) Audit your billing, they could be shafting you!
Know you numbers. The number on your phone is not your number if it's been ported
C) Itemised billing is the only way to go
D) If I ever get a land internet connection I'll leave the WiFi open for people
This saga started with the death of Easymobile.
I've had a knock-on effect from one problem to the other. The list is so long I've converted it to note form:
1) Easymobile withdraws from the UK market. I have to find a new provider for my number.
I take the free £10 Fresh Credit and, after much debate, transfer back to Tescos
2) I get a new job that involves lots of travel and being at sea on average 6 months a year. As a result: a) contracts are not so much an option because this effectively doubles the cost to me. b) In addition mobile internet would be very useful
3) I prepare for the job by using my gmail account to store important information such as CVs. I switch to online banking and get statements sent to this email address
4) My workplace firewalls (disallows access) to gmail, where I store all my documentation, and this is where sensitive info such as job offers would arrive. Attempts to circumvent fail because the blocking works by keyword so spam in the email account blocks access, also, I prefer to keep my nose clean. I now have no access to my personal documentation without using an internet cafe. Mobile internet would now be a life saver.(Satelite internet AT ~£40/month doesn't work on a moving boat by the way, not without an expensive gyroscope)
5) I buy a T-Mobile pay as you go SIM card with £15 credit to try out the £1 capped GPRS internet fee. It appears to work at first but I get the feeling like `where did all that credit go?` On investigation I find I need to enable an option to enable the £1 capping. This crap has cost me a tenner! I should have audited thier billing at this point.
6) I'm beginning to get annoyed at swapping SIM cards now and credit on my Tesco SIM is low so I request a PAC code and start the porting process. T-Mobile sends me a txt telling me the port date about 12 days later (with Tescos it took about 3)
7) I use the internet feature a lot as I now feel it's something that I should just bite the bullet and pay for. But people can't call me while I'm using it as I have a separate SIM for this.
8) After my initial £15 credit runs out I top up another £15. But after 2 days use I'm down to £10, what's going on? I call up customer services who are moderately useless. They mutter `this is strange`, `There's a lot of items here` to themselves, and go to see a supervisor. After ages they manually tott up the bills after the top up (12p here, 80p max there). They eventually just tell me that it `adds up`. They tell me that some haven't been billed at all.
I'm spooked now. Firstly, I know with a £1 daily fee cap I would have to use 5 days of GPRS to spend this and I know this not to be true. Secondly, I just have to accept that they aren't just fobbing me off because they don't do itemised billing like Easymobile did. Thirdly, they just told me that I wasn't billed for various GPRS uses and that this was strange rather than the £1 daily cap; doesn't inspire confidence
9) I cancel the porting process so I can keep an eye on this business
Future actions:
A) Monitor the T-Mobile account for overcharging
Buy a cheap separate phone just for internetC) Keep on the look out for PAYG GPRS internet providers
D) Perhaps T-Mobile sneakily divide the days GPRS durin the day rather than midnight? I mentioned this in my previous call to customer services but didn't demand it explicitly. Find out.
Lessons Learnt:
A) Audit your billing, they could be shafting you!
Know you numbers. The number on your phone is not your number if it's been portedC) Itemised billing is the only way to go
D) If I ever get a land internet connection I'll leave the WiFi open for people
Order of events: Banks lose our money -> get bailed out -> were inflating GBP to cover it -> now taxing us -> next will grab your funds direct -> things get really desperate to balance the books. What should have happened?: banks go bust and we lost our money much quicker
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Comments
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The problem will be sorted if you change your GPRS settings.
I presume that you have a mobile phone provided by Tesco Mobile which is unlocked. You have put in your T-Mobile SIM card and accessed Tesco's GPRS service. You must use T-Mobile's GPRS service to get your T-Mobile rate of £1 capped.
Am I right that you have a mobile supplied by Tesco Mobile and that you have not changed your GPRS settings?0 -
Thanks for the thought Dave but GPRS is working, they just overcharged me.Order of events: Banks lose our money -> get bailed out -> were inflating GBP to cover it -> now taxing us -> next will grab your funds direct -> things get really desperate to balance the books. What should have happened?: banks go bust and we lost our money much quicker0
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You haven't answered my question. GPRS may well be working, but are you using T-Mobile's access point or Tescos? Swapping SIM cards does not change how you access GPRS, you need to do this separately.Thanks for the thought Dave but GPRS is working, they just overcharged me.
If you have put your T-Mobile SIM into your Tesco phone, you are probably connecting to Tesco's GPRS service. You must connect to T-Mobile's service if you be charged £1 flat fee.0 -
My settings are left on the ones that were sent by SMS. It's a 2nd hand phone. The connection settings are not set to use a proxy.
Perhaps their T+C's say `capped but only if used with the proxy`. I will have to read the T+C's....
Update:
Posted on the 12th with £9.40 balance.
Today is the 14th and my balance is £6.57
Balance used in 2 days = £2.83.
I have been careful to only use GPRS so it's gone beyond the £1 cap. How can they do this? Is there something in the terms and conditions?Order of events: Banks lose our money -> get bailed out -> were inflating GBP to cover it -> now taxing us -> next will grab your funds direct -> things get really desperate to balance the books. What should have happened?: banks go bust and we lost our money much quicker0 -
Was this sent by text from T-Mobile? Check you have the TMobile profile selected. Settings are here.0
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You haven't answered my question. GPRS may well be working, but are you using T-Mobile's access point or Tescos? Swapping SIM cards does not change how you access GPRS, you need to do this separately.
If you have put your T-Mobile SIM into your Tesco phone, you are probably connecting to Tesco's GPRS service. You must connect to T-Mobile's service if you be charged £1 flat fee.
Good thinking, but the OP certainly wouldn't be connecting to Tesco GPRS if they're on T-Mobile. Much the same way as I can't connect to Vodafone GPRS from Orange.
Some provider's WAP homepages are open to viewing from off their network, but that's something else - i.e. if Vodafone's WAP homepage had an "internet" address, there's no reason I couldn't connect to Orange GPRS and then "surf" to the Voda homepage. I suppose it's possible something like this may have happened.
Regards
Jon.0 -
Thanks japitts, I wasn't aware of that.
That said, if you don't change the data connection profile, it will fail to connect via GPRS (because the settings aren't for the provider you are on) and will dial the CSD (dial-up) for the other provider.
jago25_98, are you sure that you haven't been calling Tesco's CSD number whilst on T-Mobile? Or have you connected to T-Mobile's CSD whilst on T-Mobile?0 -
Outgoing call list is empty. CSD is off but can't see a 2nd way to verify that.Order of events: Banks lose our money -> get bailed out -> were inflating GBP to cover it -> now taxing us -> next will grab your funds direct -> things get really desperate to balance the books. What should have happened?: banks go bust and we lost our money much quicker0
This discussion has been closed.
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