Are they for you? Great question. This post was inspired by a friend who just called to tell me of a great new mobile deal he had with his provider. (said friend is not a mobile customer with Telcotalk only because he wanted an iPhone on release day last year) He said the deal was a pearler and the customer service person was really friendly and caring.

I wonder if the deal didn’t get properly annalysed due to the shock of the friendly Te(not naming companies)tra rep.

Anyway here are the current details as provided by the patient.

Friend spends $450 per month on the following rates:

27c connection

19c per 30 seconds (ie. 38c per minute billed in 30 second blocks)

Average call is 3.15 minutes

Number of calls 300

The offer that is going to save him $371 per month is:

$79 Cap with $450 worth of calls included. My friend is told his future bills will be reduced to $79 per month. Its a no – brainer right? Wrong!

The $79 Cap has different call rates – they all do, irrespective of the provider. And here is the purpose of this post. BE AWARE – ALL CAPS HAVE DEARER CALL CHARGES.

In this instance the cap under the microscope has the following:

37c Connection

35c per 30 seconds (ie 70c per minute billed in 30 second blocks)

I’ll analyze this using the same data as with the above example:

Average call is 3.15 minutes

Number of calls 300

The math

300 calls x $0.37 (connection) = $110

3.15 minutes average duration x $0.70 x 300 calls = $661.50

Total = $771.50

Less $450 included calls = $321.50*.

Now this is below the $450 that my friend is currently paying so that’s good. However my friend is expecting a bill for $79 – and he entered into a 24 month contract to do it. What does he do now? (Actually that’s not a bad idea for a future post)

Let the buyer beware.

*This figure does not round up to the nearest 30 secs of the average call as would happen in the real world as the data was unavailable. The effect of this would be to raise the charge considerably. When the data comes to hand I will update the post.

Till next time

Disclaimer: Telcotalk does provide a range of mobile cap plans. When properly annalysed they can indeed be beneficial to the customer. This post was encouraged by the irresponsible sales practices roping people in to the wrong deal for them. The right deal for you is out there. Sing out if we can help clear the smoke and mirrors away or email mobiles@telcotalk.com.au and we’ll call you.

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