Posted on Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news.
I’ve been a loyal customer of Vodafone for the last 7 years, but their approach to Data Charges and VoIP forced me to move to T-Mobile last week when I picked my Nokia N95. Not only are their data charges obscene, even despite the latest change, but along with Orange, Vodafone have now started disabling VoIP on handsets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB0OmHtp3uk
Their explanation? Apparently because Vodafone feels that:
“There is a misleading perception that VoIP services are ‘free’. This is, however, not the case when it comes to using VoIP over mobile where customers will need to use data connectivity to establish a service and may incur further charges.”
and hence they’ve disabled VoIP until “…in-depth testing, a solid end-to-end customer experience, billing integration…” is resolved.
That’s complete tosh. Basically, Vodafone don’t want users taking minutes offnet. I think that all Vodafone are doing is forcing early-adopters like myself onto other networks. Yes, you could argue that maybe this is a good thing as I’m an unprofitable user, but I’m also an Influencer who helps mass market users decide what network they should choose.
I’m still within my Vodafone contract for a few more months and I got the full details of the new 15MB per day data tariffs in the post over the weekend. After reading the small print I actually think that the new tariff will lead to higher data bills for nthe majority of users. One of the points I’d missed before was that Vodafone Live! traffic will no longer be free. I think this is sad as I thought making Vodafone Live! usage free a few years ago was a great move by Vodafone to introduce users to the mobile internet.
Vodafone have also removed data from the Extras Packs. So, whereas before a user could buy £60 of data for £30 or £0.85/MB, if a user now uses under 1MB per day they will have no choice but to pay £2/MB i.e. if a user usese 0.9MB in a day they will pay £1.8! The only users who will save money are those who use more than 1MB per day, which triggers the £1 charge.
I think it’s sad that Vodafone are obviously trying to increase data revenues by bumping up prices, rather than through encouraging more usage.
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