Mobile Working Experiences
The realities of remote working
Friday 19 October 2007, 10:43 AM
Mobile Data Card - Watch those bills!
Being a big fan of my 3G USB data card - I was surprised recently when a friend recounted how his company had issued several of these cards to users, only to subsequenly recall all the cards and limit usage. Turns out the cards were too popular, 1 user had racked up a £4000 bill for 1 months usage of a card whilst working abroad. The user complained that he had not been warned of the costs of using the card, his employer complained that the network operator had done nothing to warn them of the very high usage levels being recorded, and the operator correctly maintained that bill was an accurate reflection of usage as per published rates.
The upshot of this was severely burnt fingers, the operator will get its £4k but the company has now switched to a competitor provider for data cards (although keeping its phones and BBs with the original provider).
So who is to blame? and how can these bill nightmares be avoided in the future?
Should users be more responsible when issued with the latest gizmos for connectivity? (this is not the first case I have heard of), should employers invest more time in training users on the costs of the equipment they are using (I have to admit I have no idea how much my company pays for the card I am currently using)? and should networks have more systems in place to flag up and alert bill payers when they see usage levels spiralling out of control? (similar to the credit card companies when they see a peak in spend)
I am not a fan of draconian usage 'bars' that prevent usage in certain countries - as a user it is a pain to have to remember to check whether a bar is in place and when you really need the service at 9pm in a foreign time zone it can be more than a little frustrating to find that no one can get the bar lifted!
Any similar stories of bills that you have received that have had a sting in the tail? or have you been on the end of a change in company usage policy as a result of high spend? or have you ever tried to negotiate a bill with an operator?
PreviousComments on this post
Before the days of mobile data cards there was still a risk...
A temporary working location in the Balkans, a local ISP with a relatively stable link and low price was established... the first bill was over £3,000 for a month!!
Having been asked to investigate by the boss I discovered one of the enterprising young employees had managed to get access out of hours and, while browsing some dubious content, had enabled a premium rate dialup service which hijacked the connection every time IE was opened!!
The best method of control I have come across was when I was employed by Motorola... the employee pays for everything himself, keeps itemised bills and logs and submits claims monthly for work related expense... the first time you get 'too creative' (a little creativity was the norm of course!) you learn your lesson!!
Funny how as technology advances the problems and pitfalls tend to remain the same.
A report in today's (22/10) Times suggests that the game might be up for the mobile operators. It looks like the european commission might be ready to crackdown on the high fees charged to users of data services whilst abroad. The article cites O2 as an example, where users paying £7.50 per month for an all you can eat data rate will still pay £6 per MB for data use whilst roaming.
Trouble looming for the operators - they are going to struggle to find a revenue channel as lucrative as data as they try and pay off their 3G overdrafts...
