Vodafone data charging

From 1st June Vodafone are changing the way they charge for data.
Reading between the lines web access will plateau at £1 per day for up
to 15MB, but other IP access will cost £2 per MB (down from £2.35 now).

My contract (which still has another 11 or 12 months to run) currently
includes £30 of data/SMS, which is 250 text messages (at 12p each)
interchangeable with data at £2.35 per MB. If I continue the same usage
(~10 MB per month, and a handful of text messages) my bill will increase
from £25 per month to at least £45 per month, but with each data session
now to cost 5p, it would probably go higher as my phone checks for new
e-mail, which would normally only send a few bytes.

Given this is a detrimental change to the consumer, does anyone have any
experience of how Vodafone handles this? I will contact them in a few
days - experience has taught me the operators do not always know about
new changes as soon as they appear, and trying to explain the difference
between ssh and http protocols, so as to ask if they are charged
differently might be hard!

Cheers,

Mark.

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› See More: Vodafone data charging

Oh, this is the link to the info:

www.vodafone.co.uk/dataprices

"Mark Coley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> From 1st June Vodafone are changing the way they charge for data. Reading
> between the lines web access will plateau at £1 per day for up to 15MB,
> but other IP access will cost £2 per MB (down from £2.35 now).
>
> My contract (which still has another 11 or 12 months to run) currently
> includes £30 of data/SMS, which is 250 text messages (at 12p each)
> interchangeable with data at £2.35 per MB. If I continue the same usage
> (~10 MB per month, and a handful of text messages) my bill will increase
> from £25 per month to at least £45 per month, but with each data session
> now to cost 5p, it would probably go higher as my phone checks for new
> e-mail, which would normally only send a few bytes.
>
> Given this is a detrimental change to the consumer, does anyone have any
> experience of how Vodafone handles this? I will contact them in a few
> days - experience has taught me the operators do not always know about new
> changes as soon as they appear, and trying to explain the difference
> between ssh and http protocols, so as to ask if they are charged
> differently might be hard!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mark.

I rang them the day I got the SMS and the guys at the call centre knew just
about as much as the website still says. In fact I got the impression that
the guy I was talking to was reading directly from the website to me.

They've stated that there will be monthly data bundles but no other details,
although with a 30 day cancellation policy, you'd hope they'ed be published
before 1st May so that we all have time to sign up with Web'n'Walk.....

Jeremy wrote:
> They've stated that there will be monthly data bundles but no other details,
> although with a 30 day cancellation policy, you'd hope they'ed be published
> before 1st May so that we all have time to sign up with Web'n'Walk.....

Does Web'n'Walk allow peer-to-peer services (by this I mean ssh from my
putty client to a linux box)? VF will excluded peer-to-peer
communications, which, by my reading will exclude ssh, pop, imap, smtp
etc, as these all go peer to peer and not via an http proxy.

I think they may have shot themselves in the foot here, as if the
competition are offering a lot more, why will people stay?

Mark.

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
>
> Does Web'n'Walk allow peer-to-peer services (by this I mean ssh from my
> putty client to a linux box)?
>

It certainly does, I use it all the time and on a non-standard port too.

Steve.

Mark Coley wrote:
> Jeremy wrote:
>> They've stated that there will be monthly data bundles but no other
>> details, although with a 30 day cancellation policy, you'd hope
>> they'ed be published before 1st May so that we all have time to sign
>> up with Web'n'Walk.....
>
> Does Web'n'Walk allow peer-to-peer services (by this I mean ssh from my
> putty client to a linux box)? VF will excluded peer-to-peer
> communications, which, by my reading will exclude ssh, pop, imap, smtp
> etc, as these all go peer to peer and not via an http proxy.

Peer to peer services tend to mean p2p sharing - certainly in my
experience in a network admin role. I've no idea if mobile networks
take a different stand on it.

Most capped cost/all-you-can-eat/unlimited data bundles exclude p2p
(sharing) as these usually are high bandwidth applications.

I'm on T-Mobile W'n'W and certainly web and mail from my device is
explicitly covered in the unlimited bundle (with things like video
streaming, p2p sharing, instant messaging explicitly excluded). It is
possible they take the same stand as you - I don't know.

D

David Hearn wrote:
> Peer to peer services tend to mean p2p sharing - certainly in my
> experience in a network admin role. I've no idea if mobile networks
> take a different stand on it.

Well they have traditionally had a different understanding of 'internet
access' to the rest of us, confusing it with 'web access', so maybe I
need to make some more enquiries.

Interestingly, I've just calculated what last month's bill would have
been under the new charging scheme, assuming a 5p minimum charge per
data session and capping at £1 a day (though knowing VF ssh/putty
traffic would be treated as the most expensive as they would have no way
of knowing if it was web/voip/file sharing etc so would would have to
assume it was the most expensive). Normally I'd pay £25 a month and
rarely go over my data/sms limit, but I reckon for the same usage it
would now cost £49.51 with no added benefits for me. That is an hefty
change.

I shall make some enquiries to Trading Standards next week to see what
the law says.

Mark.

"Mark Coley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> David Hearn wrote:
>> Peer to peer services tend to mean p2p sharing - certainly in my
>> experience in a network admin role. I've no idea if mobile networks take
>> a different stand on it.
>
> Well they have traditionally had a different understanding of 'internet
> access' to the rest of us, confusing it with 'web access', so maybe I need
> to make some more enquiries.
>
> Interestingly, I've just calculated what last month's bill would have been
> under the new charging scheme, assuming a 5p minimum charge per data
> session and capping at £1 a day (though knowing VF ssh/putty traffic would
> be treated as the most expensive as they would have no way of knowing if
> it was web/voip/file sharing etc so would would have to assume it was the
> most expensive). Normally I'd pay £25 a month and rarely go over my
> data/sms limit, but I reckon for the same usage it would now cost £49.51
> with no added benefits for me. That is an hefty change.
>
> I shall make some enquiries to Trading Standards next week to see what the
> law says.
>
> Mark.

If price changes are detrimental in that the increase is more than inflation
you should be able to cancel your contract.

acdeag wrote:
>
> "Mark Coley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> David Hearn wrote:
>>> Peer to peer services tend to mean p2p sharing - certainly in my
>>> experience in a network admin role. I've no idea if mobile networks
>>> take a different stand on it.
>>
>> Well they have traditionally had a different understanding of
>> 'internet access' to the rest of us, confusing it with 'web access',
>> so maybe I need to make some more enquiries.
>>
>> Interestingly, I've just calculated what last month's bill would have
>> been under the new charging scheme, assuming a 5p minimum charge per
>> data session and capping at £1 a day (though knowing VF ssh/putty
>> traffic would be treated as the most expensive as they would have no
>> way of knowing if it was web/voip/file sharing etc so would would have
>> to assume it was the most expensive). Normally I'd pay £25 a month and
>> rarely go over my data/sms limit, but I reckon for the same usage it
>> would now cost £49.51 with no added benefits for me. That is an hefty
>> change.
>>
>> I shall make some enquiries to Trading Standards next week to see what
>> the law says.
>>
>> Mark.
>
> If price changes are detrimental in that the increase is more than
> inflation you should be able to cancel your contract.

But only if the price changes are in the contractual part - ie. the
monthly line rental/free minutes/free texts etc. If data is included in
that price, and now it won't be - then you'll have a good case. If it's
not included (ie. is an optional bundle which has increased in price)
then you'll be allowed to cancel the bundle - which you're normally
allowed to do anyway.

Networks are very hot on doing things in a way which doesn't trigger
these get-out clauses. Often they'll say it's for new customers and
upgrades only (ie. when you take out a new minimum term).
Alternatively, which is what Orange did in these cases, they give a
bundle or something for free for the remainder of the minimum term which
matches the original deal. Therefore the person doesn't pay any more,
but will at the end of their contract - and so do all new customers.

I'd be surprised if Vodafone weren't aware of this and had already
thought of some solutions to stopping people from canceling.

D

David Hearn wrote:

> I'd be surprised if Vodafone weren't aware of this and had already
> thought of some solutions to stopping people from canceling.

I've sent a message off to VF pointing out by how much my bill will go
up if I continue my current usage, and to ask about cancellation options
even though I'm only 7 or so months into an 18 month contract. I had a
reply not long after - they are sorry I'm not happy with their price
changes and they've passed my message on to a 'Data Specialist' for
further consideration.

Mark.

"Jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Mark Coley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> From 1st June Vodafone are changing the way they charge for data. Reading
<snipped>

So, yesterday in the Vodafone stores, they're saying that they will be
offering a package for £7per month to rival T-Mobile but there are no
confirmed or published details yet.

Other than Web'n'Walk, I thought I'd test the other operators.

O2: £3 per megabyte unless you want a blackberry pearl in which case you
can have unlimited access for £10 per month.

Orange: Does Orange World which is £4 for 4Mb or £8 for 10Mb or £16 for
25Mb

Neither of these seems a particularly good bargain. Exactly how do these
guys think they'll pesuade people to use mobile data and recoup some of the
money they spent on licenses if it's prohibitively expensive to use.

Am I missing something here?

Jeremy.

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007, David Hearn wrote:

>>> I shall make some enquiries to Trading Standards next week to see what the
>>> law says.
>>>
>>> Mark.
>>
>> If price changes are detrimental in that the increase is more than
>> inflation you should be able to cancel your contract.
>
> But only if the price changes are in the contractual part - ie. the monthly
> line rental/free minutes/free texts etc. If data is included in that price,
> and now it won't be - then you'll have a good case. If it's not included
> (ie. is an optional bundle which has increased in price) then you'll be
> allowed to cancel the bundle - which you're normally allowed to do anyway.

VF have now indicated that the extras pack, as it was offered 'free', does
not form part of the contract so they can effectively remove it, or alter
it as long as they give a month's notice.

Given that I agreed to an 18 month contract on the basis that I would pay
25GBP per month in exchange for 200 STC minutes and 30GBP of data/SMS
usage, I fail to understand how the data provision does not fall within
the remit of the contract that we both agreed on. Had it not been there I
wouldn't have agreed to staying with VF.

Mark.

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:02:49 +0100, Jeremy <[email protected]> wrote:
>O2: £3 per megabyte unless you want a blackberry pearl in which case you
>can have unlimited access for £10 per month.
>
>Orange: Does Orange World which is £4 for 4Mb or £8 for 10Mb or £16 for
>25Mb
>
>Neither of these seems a particularly good bargain. Exactly how do these
>guys think they'll pesuade people to use mobile data and recoup some of the
>money they spent on licenses if it's prohibitively expensive to use.

I have the £4 bundle on my Orange ED50 phone, which I find works nicely
for occasional use (and includes ssh traffic which would be £3/MB if I
had no bundle. For the times I need to hammer it, there's the Orange PAYG
SIM. I find this combination gives me a pretty reasonable deal without
having to pay for loads of data if I don't need it, but the flexibility to
get good data rates when I do need it.

Of course if I needed to hammer it every day I'd get a WnW Plus (or
whatever they call it) connection for data usage. Currently though, that's
more expensive than my current setup for my needs.

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Mark Coley <[email protected]> writes:


> VF have now indicated that the extras pack, as it was offered 'free',
> does not form part of the contract so they can effectively remove it,
> or alter it as long as they give a month's notice.

IANAL but I did not think that such 'weaseling' was allowed. That if you
pay £N and get X and Y, then your rights etc are the same whether the
seller says that you are buying both or whether they claim that you are
buying X and getting Y free.