Should MSE Support the Terminatetherate campaign
Comments
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bear in mind one of the reasons people dont get spam automated calls on their mobiles is because it costs the companies money to make the calls. If it want away then i could set up a server to dial every mobile in the uk using something like skpe to sell the viagra for the cost of a pc and broadband connection.
edit i should add if MSE were going to support a mobile pricing campaign the bait and switch tactics of the "unlimted" data rates should be highlighted. There are plenty of mobile viruses/apps that could be downloading stuff these days the fact the mobile companys have no way to limit your costs (even just a credit limit which would mean cutting off the service) potentially exposing you the £000's of pounds of a bill should be illegal.0 -
could this in theory not increase line rental costs etc?
Learn from the mistakes of others - you won't live long enough to make them all yourself.0 -
I suppose it's possible David and is a concern expressed by others. However, I beleive there has been a sea-change in consumer attitude in this country. If Ofcom did take action publicly and the operators hiked their prices, i think there would be a cusotmer revolt. That's my personal opinion anyway.davidjones90 wrote: »could this in theory not increase line rental costs etc?0 -
I voted no. The reason for that is that I don't really agree with asking money savers to give their personal details etc to a commercial third party such as three. I wouldn't disagree with supporting a petition on number 10's website, personally.
Tom, you are asked for your name, postode and email. There's an opt-in box if you want to receive email updates. They do not ask for contact number so I can't see how 3 would benefit from this as a marketing excercise. I was happy to sign up in the hope it will take off and we can all see some savings on our mobile bills.0 -
I suppose it's possible David and is a concern expressed by others. However, I beleive there has been a sea-change in consumer attitude in this country. If Ofcom did take action publicly and the operators hiked their prices, i think there would be a cusotmer revolt. That's my personal opinion anyway.
My opinion is similar, except that I don't think the price hikes would happen too near each other, I don't think they want to be the subject of a cartel investigation. The oligopoly is bad enough for us.
Thing is, the networks' profit margins aren't that great right now. Making their operations even less profitable might actually harm us in the long run if it causes one or more of the operators to pull out of the UK market. T-Mobile is already showing signs that it may disappear.0 -
If they don't receive revenue from the termination charge, they will look to get it from somewhere else, have no doubt about that! But at least it will be something more transparent. For example, if you pay Orange £20 per month for your mobile, how do you break down where that money goes? £7 subsiding your mobile, £5 to Orange for your service, £2 to o2 for the calls you made to 02 mobiles, £2 to Vodafone for the calls you made to their mobiles, £2 to T-Mobile, £2 to Three. At the same time your mate on Vodafone is having £2 of his line rental going to Orange. Seems wasteful and not transparent. Communication has got a lot cheaper, surely these are outdated, wasteful charges?0
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If they don't receive revenue from the termination charge, they will look to get it from somewhere else, have no doubt about that! But at least it will be something more transparent. For example, if you pay Orange £20 per month for your mobile, how do you break down where that money goes? £7 subsiding your mobile, £5 to Orange for your service, £2 to o2 for the calls you made to 02 mobiles, £2 to Vodafone for the calls you made to their mobiles, £2 to T-Mobile, £2 to Three. At the same time your mate on Vodafone is having £2 of his line rental going to Orange. Seems wasteful and not transparent. Communication has got a lot cheaper, surely these are outdated, wasteful charges?
Al, a slightly different though pertinant way of looking at it. It begs the question how much money do the operators spend tracking 'who owes who'. Is it all done via computers? I can't see them sharing systems and information, so if the charges were dropped, surely the Networks would make huge savings operating what must be a very complex charging system?0 -
Elsewhere in the world it's very standard to pay to receive voice calls or text messages. The infrastructure to call mobiles is inherently expensive - and we enjoy pretty much universal coverage in the UK from all of the major networks.
I cannot see why it is in the public's interests to get rid of this "termination" charge. Having a differential in cost between calling mobiles and calling landlines isn't a problem for me - if I want to save money, I call someone on their landline from mine and probably enjoy free off-peak calls anyway.
This sounds mostly like a trick from Three to try and persuade consumers that the charges are much more unfair than they really are. Mobile companies will want their revenue from somewhere - I would rather pay to make a call to a mobile rather than pay to receive calls.0 -
Surely getting rid of termination rates is a good thing - to simplify the scenario, I will only consider MTR's between UK networks. There would be no net flow of money out of the industry as a whole, however, it would perhaps bring smaller networks on to a level playing field - why should a bigger network gain an exponential advantage simply for being bigger? ie. the revenue they get from having a larger customer base should be enough, without gaining extra because more people will be calling their network from outside because a bigger proportion of the population is now on their network!
As for saying that prices would go up... really? Three have already mooted a £35 as-much-as-you-like possibility, so if the other networks didnt match or beat this, then there would be a large exodus to the likes of Three, which they couldnt allow to happen. It would be interesting to see which networks benefit from MTR's (and inevitably, which lose out, as it is a "zero-sum" game (assuming UK isolation)), and by how much.0 -
My short answer is "no" - don't support the campaign.
The fact that you are in two minds whether or not to support the campaign should help you make up your mind. You are a journalist of great
integrity and I feel that officially supporting this campaign would harm your reputation.
This site is set up for consumer revenge, not to give credence to (in my opinion) a cynical marketing campaign.
As I see it, Three are simply trying to draw attention away from themselves by painting themselves as the good guys.
This from a company who have recently withdrawn their "3 like Home" service from UK customers.
This withdrawal affects customers using their phone abroad, or customers at the edge of the UK, in Northern Ireland, who daily inadvertently stray onto a "foreign" network or who travel into foreign parts simply by going to work or by walking to the local shop! The fact that the foreign network is owned by Three Ireland doesn't matter. The charges soon add up.
Interesting that they kept the free roaming service for their Three Ireland customers. It shows a lack of respect for their UK customers.
Their customer service is some of the worst I have EVER experienced and that is saying something these days.
In particular, their treatment of customers trying to obtain a PAC code has been nothing short of disgraceful if all the accounts on the recent thread are to be believed. Customers were simply trying to break their contracts as allowed under the t&c's (due to the withdrawal of the "Like Home" service) but Three had them jumping through more hoops than a circus dog.
Whatever about the other issues, From my own experience & from reading others accounts, Three do not appear to be a very ethical company to be publically associating with.
(Pheww - think I'll be wearing wrist splints after writing all that! :rolleyes:)0
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