Mobile Phone Data Scams

Australia's three biggest mobile contractors have slashed the amount of data offered in their plans, with some cutting their offerings by up to 40 per cent on what they provided last year.

“This is really a sleight-of-hand price increase,” said Elise Davidson, a spokeswoman for the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the peak body that represents consumers on communications issues. “In most cases, plans are staying at the same price point but you get less included, especially in terms of data.”

The worst offender is Optus. All of its plans now offer less data and credit, and this is more pronounced on higher value offerings. Customers on the $80 cap get 2GB of data and $850 of credit, which is half the data and $50 less than was being offered in last year's $79 cap.

The value disparity on Optus's $99 Timeless consumer plan is wider, with only 3GB of data included compared to 5GB last year.

In the past year, Ms Davidson said, complaints about unexpectedly high phone bills had doubled, and complaints to the ombudsman about disputed internet charges – mainly in relation to smartphones – had risen by 150 per cent.

In Australia, data downloaded via mobile handsets grew by 32 per cent in the second quarter of this year, compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, a Bureau of Statistics survey found.

The “bonus” data that Vodafone adds to its $50 and higher plans is not actually a bonus when compared to plans from last year. The $50 plan comes with 750MB of data and a 500MB “bonus” for the first 12 months of the two-year contract. Last year, the $49 plan included 1.5GB for the full 24 months.

“Food manufacturers do this all the time,” Ms Davidson said. “They know they can't put their price up, say, on a box of cereal, because they know exactly what price point their customers will pay. So they decrease the amount in the box, thereby increasing their profit, and hope their customers won't notice.”

Ms Davidson said the network investment was only part of the reason. “All of the networks, to some extent, have been caught up by the demand for data. There is so much demand for it that it's become more valuable. Lowering the included data that's available on plans is a good way to reduce congestion while they're scrambling out with these upgrades to the networks.”