Office of Fair Trading Mobile Phones Mobile phones and related telecommunications issues are in the top 10 topics of complaint by consumers to the Office of Fair Trading. This section of the site provides advice about researching and signing up for a mobile. As a general rule if you only need a phone for security, think about purchasing one with low monthly fees and higher connection charges per minute - you will save money provided you don't make lots of calls. If you want to chat to friends regularly look for a plan that combines low monthly fees, some free calls per month and very cheap charges per minute. If you've won a "free" mobile in a competition think twice because although the competition may claim the mobile is free, the contract may commit you to higher than normal monthly payments or call charges.

Getting a good deal After making the basic decisions about the kind of service and handset you want, it’s now down to the business end — getting a good deal. What kind of user are you? Before looking into the hundreds of deals and packages out there, you need to decide what kind of user you are. How many calls are you likely to make, at what time of day are you likely to make them, to what type of phone (landline or other mobile) and where to (local, long- distance or international)? For example, do you want a mobile for: Emergencies: You’ll be making short (and hopefully few) calls, potentially at any time of day. Social purposes: Calls are likely to be off-peak, and you’ll have greater control over the number of outgoing calls you make. Business use: Your calls will be mainly during peak times and will involve outgoing and incoming calls. If you don’t intend to use the phone much but the reality turns out to be different, it could cost a lot of money, so it’s worth thinking carefully about your likely usage pattern before you sign up. You also don’t want to pay for a plan that has more calls than you need. Many services may sound attractive to you; find out what’s on offer from the service providers and how much you’re going to be paying for these. Buying guide: Mobile phone plans

Fixed-term contracts or plans range from one month to 24 months and have a minimum monthly service charge, which usually includes a certain value of calls. They may (but don’t necessarily) include the cost of a handset. Postpaid plans tend to have cheaper call rates. Costs can escalate out of control — something to consider if you’re on a tight budget. Some services offer bill capping (where you nominate a maximum monthly spend), although the minimum cap we found is still quite high. If you want to quit a plan early, there may be penalty exit fees. If your plan includes a number of call credits and you overestimate your mobile usage, you won’t use them up; if you underestimate you may end up paying higher per-minute call rates than you would on a heavier-use plan. A tip is to use a prepaid plan first to check your usage. Before signing up to a long-term plan, think about the length of commitment and minimum total costs; find out if a handset is included in the cost or if it’s extra; establish the costs and penalties involved in paying the plan out early, and whether you can change to a higher- or lower-usage plan at any stage. Postpaid plan

With prepaid you buy a starter kit which gives you access to the phone network and a dollar amount of call credits. When that runs out, you can ‘recharge’ your call credits and extend network access. A prepaid service gives you tight control over call expenditure. Use it until you run out of credit. If this is your first mobile phone, using a prepaid plan will give you a rough idea of how much you’ll use it, so you can estimate more accurately the best service for the longer term. Prepaid tends to be the cheapest option for people who don’t make many calls. Even if you don’t have any call credits remaining, you can still use the phone to make 000 calls and receive calls for a limited time (possibly up to 12 months — ask providers for details). You won't receive a bill. However, you can check your call credit status at any time (usually via a free-call number), and receive reminders (beep or message) when you're getting low on credit. The call credits may expire after a certain time, so use ’em or lose ’em. Some carriers allow you to carry over unused credits, but this is only useful if you’ve had an unusually quiet month and it won’t happen again. Look into how and where you can recharge your call credits (with many you can recharge over the phone or web; other ways include going to a dealer outlet, service station, convenience store or ATM); how long the credits are valid; and the minimum recharge amount. Prepaid

Mobile phones have been identified as a major reason for youth debt — although more often than not it’s parents or other guarantors who get lumped with an enormous bill. The cost of SMS seems cheap at 25 cents per message or less, is a big part of the problem in this age group. Teenagers may send hundreds of SMS each month — and it all adds up. Premium-rate SMS services (typically 55 cents per message), which people are encouraged to use for voting on reality TV shows and to enter competitions. The MMS (sending pictures, video, etc), is usually more expensive than SMS, will further challenge tight budgets. Another concern for young users is m-commerce, where you use your mobile phone as a de facto charge card for goods and services, and pay when you get your phone bill. The best way of avoiding debt problems is to get a prepaid service. Then you only spend when you’ve got money, and if you’ve run out you can still use the phone for genuine emergencies (000 calls) and to receive calls. If you send lots of SMS, look to save money with a plan offering cheap SMS or a large ‘free’ allowance. VODAFONE and VIRGIN tend to offer the best deals for this market. And finally, resist the urge to have SMS conversations: “where r u” — bus stp” — “wen wil u b here” — “in 10” – “c u then!” — “gr8!” — “ciao” — “bye”. Scintillating stuff, and no doubt mildly entertaining, but worth about $1 of calls each? Probably better to just call — or simply w8. The SMS Trap

Bill Calculators

Optus

Telstra

Phone Choice

Virgin

Are you on the cheapest call plan for your usage? Phonechoice has a database that contains hundreds of call plans. Check whether any of them offers cheaper call costs than your current plan. To do that, you’ll need a recent typical mobile bill - and do a bit of homework. Work out for each call on the bill which of the following categories it falls into: Local (up to 165 km from where you’re calling; peak/off-peak). Long-distance (peak/off-peak). Mobile-to-mobile (same network; peak/off-peak). Mobile-to-mobile (different network; peak/off-peak). Check how many voic s you deposited and retrieved. Check how many SMS you sent. Then click on the link to the call counter, which allows you to easily add up the number of calls and total call time in each call category. Enter all the information into the calculator as required. Also select whether you’re after a plan for personal or business use, whether you need a new phone, and the network you're interested in. The results page will give you a list of plans ranked in order of call costs, with the cheapest on top. The table contains some basic call cost information for the plans. If you want to check out the terms and conditions of a particular plan, click on the plan name and the details will pop up in a new window. Phonechoice Database

Mobile Phone Plans

Phone Plan Comparison

Websites