I had heard about this, but it only hit me last Friday when I happened to go into the shop to ask some questions.
Seems like my operator, Sonera, is going to charge customers something like 0.45 cents a call, on top of the per minute rate, unless they sign a 1-year contract. When I mentioned that it was news to me, that I know of the change, but not of the surcharge (which it is), and that I must have missed it.
Well, he told me that they just sent out the warning to customers – sure enough, a week before the change – and I found it waiting in my mail box.
I get the one year contract, since I have 4 subscriptions with them, have never really had a problem, and have no problem signing up for another year. The other gotcha that I saw once reading the contract is that it renews teh lock-in automatically.
My take on all this? It’s a step backwards for the mobile industry. Aren’t we all trying to get away from contracts and subsidies? I also think this quick switch by my operator will cause a tremendous consumer backlash. Or at least I hope so.
But, then if I rolled over so nicely and harmlessly, I expect most others to do as well. I stayed becuase I genuinely like my operator (I think they’re the best I know of). It sucks that their need to keep me happy has vanished in a simple lock-in contract.
Currently in Finland, operators are not allowed to include free/discounted mobile phones with their subscriptions. So Finns are forced to purchase a seperate operator plan and a seperate phone. This will all soon change, thanks to a little liberalization in the mobile phone market…
