save on wireless

Jun 09 2014

Crack the Carrier Code: Read the Fine Print

In a Phrase: READ THE FINE PRINT:

FREE-wifi-great-BEER-sign

Just like this sign, carrier marketers are ~~sneaky~~ brilliant advertisers. Several recent ads come to mind; one is

“New data plan and UNL talk and text for per month, no annual contract, no long term agreement”. Sounds great, right?

Statement from Carrier : “UNLMITED TALK AND TEXT”

What the Carrier really means:

1. DONT confuse UNLIMITED TEXTING and UNLIMITED TALKING with UNLIMITED DATA. The Minutes and Texting are UNLIMTED, yes, but the DATA: not so much

Many of these plans offer a limited amount of data : 300MB of data, for example. The average user uses about 800 MB of data each month (for you social media hounds, this is only about 11 hours total ALL month of web browsing or only 18 minutes each day for a month).

Statement from Carrier : “No annual contract, no long term agreement”

What they REALLY means:

1. You bring your own device OR

2. You pay FULL RETAIL price for a device (usually about $500 compared to $150 if you have an Annual Contract)

3. You re-up your contract IF you are currently out of contract

4. You PAY for the device completely (at $25 per month) even if you want to upgrade your device. For example, you will pay for your existing device until IT IS PAID OFF for 24 billing cycles whether you are even using that device (upgrade, lose, replace etc.) or not.

This means you don’t have the Carrier subsidize or discount the price of your device and therefore that cost is solely your responsibility.

Many of these plans are a great idea for users, but be sure to Watch for the fine print to Crack the Carrier Code!

Still Protecting your Wireless Rights……..

Jun 07 2013

Did you spend $35,000 on one user this month? Neither did our Customer….

But they almost did!

One of our customer’s users was traveling to China and did not tell his trusty wireless admin folks (I know, imagine that!) who were not able, therefore, to tell us.

The rate plan was changed BUT INCORRECTLY by the carrier (who would have guessed!) who then proceeded to bill this customer a brave $35,000 for roaming data charges.

$35,000

The Bill Police interceded and was able to secure a credit for the amount. The customer received a credit for the entire $35,000. For this customer, this was a significant portion of both their annual bill.

Epilogue: At a later date, we were taking off the International Features after this because the user was purportedly back in the US. Just by doing one last check, Bill Police again noticed that the user was in China as she was going to remove the International Features and did not again tell anyone he was traveling! This saved the customer many more thousands of dollars in avoided cost. (for a refresher on Avoided Cost, click here)

Still protecting your rights…today it was in a BIG way

Jan 11 2013

A Case Study on Wireless Savings Credits

We just conducted a review for one of our customers and saw that we saved a total of $16,000 over this past year.

$16,000.

Lets give that some context: This customer has a bill of about $8000 per month. We posted $16,000 in credits to their account. Credits mean that this customer was OVERBILLED INCORRECTLY totaling more than 2 months of their wireless service.

How much did they overspend on their bill?

Let’s say that again: They regularly spend $8,000 per month. We obtained credits of $16,000 in incorrect billings. They could have been billed for two extra months of service due to billing errors.

Moral of the story? Check your bills! Make sure you are getting all the credits and the charges are correct on your bill — you might be able to save 2 months of billing!

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