Fight back against the high phone fees costing consumers thousands
Mobile phone customers are wasting millions of dollars each month on excess fees, but there are some simple ways to cut the crippling costs.
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Mobile phone owners are being stung by unnecessary fees — often $10 for just one gigabyte of extra data — as telecommunications companies capitalise on customer inaction.
Consumers are wasting hundreds of dollars a year by remaining with high-fee phone contracts and chewing up expensive excess data at home and while travelling.
A News Corp Australia investigation has found despite excess data alerts being mandatory for phone companies to provide, some users are being slugged an extra 33 per cent fee on top of their monthly plan cost if they go slightly over their data limit.
Excess data fees emerged as one of the biggest phone gripes uncovered in our Fee Fighters campaign, with charges typically costing $10-$12 for every gigabyte over a customer’s monthly limit.
Some consumers reported paying up to $2500 for excess data.
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One customer complained: “10MB over the limit and have to pay for a full GB”.
Another said: “$250 worth of excess data to support my child’s access to online university lectures”.
Telco comparison website Whistleout.com.au’s publisher, Joseph Hanlon, said excess data charges were still the standout for fee frustration, even though “they’re a lot better than they used to be”.
It angered customers to pay an extra $10 a month on a $30-$40 phone contract simply because they went a few megabytes over their data limit, he said.
“People really don’t need to be paying these fees if they are choosing the right plan.”
Mr Hanlon said paying for more data upfront was cheaper, and the latest data offerings by telcos were much more cheaper than older plans.
“Data is much cheaper if you’re paying before the fact rather than after the fact,” he said.
“If you haven’t changed plans in 18 months or two years, you are definitely using the wrong plan.”
Overseas travel charges are still catching consumers out, despite cheap or free new ways to communicate with only a wi-fi connection.
Our investigation found exorbitant international call fees of between $1.50 and $5 per minute, while data charges are usually $1 per megabyte.
Checking your social media becomes extremely expensive, with one hour using between 80MB and 700MB depending on the platform.
Telcos offer travel packs typically costing $5-$10 a day and including free calls and texts and a small amount of data.
However, Mr Hanlon said these travel packs were only worthwhile for people who needed to keep their own phone number while travelling.
“The best value is to pick up a SIM in the city you land in and pay local fees,” he said.
“Also, use apps like WhatsApp or Skype.”
The key for consumers is to research costs before they incur them, and to shop around for better value.
Research group Telsyte’s managing director, Foad Fadaghi, said consumers were getting better at recognising good deals, particularly those on bring-your-own-phone plans.
Mr Fadaghi said some fee traps had disappeared through mandatory alerts to customers about data use, and the focus had shifted to saving money on phone plans.
“The pricing is changing quite a lot these days,” Mr Fadaghi said.
“But be aware of the fees that providers are charging.”
Ella Bramwell, 19, said she thought that phone fees might have dropped given they were now essential for everyday life “but it doesn’t seem like this has really happened”.
“Like a lot of people I have been caught when going overseas and forgetting to turn off data roaming which meant a huge and completely unexpected bill,” she said.
Notifications warning that she was getting close to her data limit were helpful, Ms Bramwell said.
WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR
DATA MUNCHERS
Web browsing 60MB per hour
YouTube 300MB per hour
FaceTime 85MB per hour
Facebook 80-160MB per hour
Snapchat 160MB per hour
Instagram 720MB per hour
Netflix from 250MB per hour
Stan from 570MB per hour
Foxtel Now from 320MB per hour
Music streaming 150MB per hour
Podcasts 60MB per hour
Gaming from 3MB per hour
(Source: Whistleout.com.au)
FIVE PHONE FEES TO AVOID
• Excess data above your monthly limit
• Plan fees for any plans older than two years old
• Device rental charges — many phones hold their value so owning yours is recommended
• International data roaming at $1 per MB and international calls costing up to $5 per minute
• Recurring fees for apps you no longer use
HOW TO SAVE MONEY
• Check previous bills to work out your usage patterns
• Ensure your data plan provides enough for your needs, instead of paying high excess fees later.
• Don’t stick with an old plan — new deals offer much more value
• Use wi-fi whenever you can, rather than your phone plan
• When travelling overseas, consider buying a local SIM card — or at least using an international travel pack from your telco
Originally published as Fight back against the high phone fees costing consumers thousands
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