DISQUS

kluap · 1 year ago

I'd like to change the way mobile phone insurance currently works. It's really expensive if I was to insure each handset that I have individually - what I really would like to see is a stand-alone fone insurance policy that I can get multiple family handsets to and save money in the process. As it is at the moment, I don't insure any of them apart from my iPhone because I feel that I'm being ripped off.

PK

Samantha · 1 year ago

I've never bought Mobile Insurance myself, but that is due to price. I totally agree though. I'm sure if there was an option for family insurance (which for Parents would be brilliant with teens), it would be bought up pretty quickly.

Thanks for your comment!

Samantha.

ocifant · 1 year ago

Related to your article, I'd like to see any phone sold via a store or via the web get upgraded to the latest firmware at point of purchase. And not just the operator's (branded) firmware, but the latest available for the device.

Example: when I bought my N95, it came with V10 firmware. A year later, I bough the same device for my partner. Guess what? V10 firmware at a time when I'd already upgraded mine to the V12 firmware offered by the operator. (I've since debranded it and upgraded again so I'm running the V21 firmware currently).

Samantha · 1 year ago

That's terrible!

Because as James has pointed out with his walkabouts, not many people do the firmware upgrades (either due to ignorance or laziness), and they use devices which have bugs in them!

Yes, I would say there should be a point during sales where the phone is made up to date, and any free applications of interest could be installed or something. That would be helpful.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Samantha.

ollysk2 · 1 year ago

I rather agree with you here -- and the situation in the U.S. is even worse than it is in the UK -- finding an unlocked phone here is virtually impossible; there are a few shops scattered around the country, but for those of us who'd like to find an unlocked/unbranded phone, it's the 'net all the way.

With the exception of my blackberry (which is a secondary phone I got through T-Mobile), I haven't owned a locked/branded phone in years -- but I pay through the nose to get them (my N95, the N. American version unlocked, was $700.00). It's worth it to me to not have to deal with any carrier lock downs, but still smarts a bit.

I would just love to see subsidies go away entirely -- let people feel the real cost of buying a handset and turn the operators into nothing more than service providers. As the market space for unlocked/unbranded/unsubsidized phones grows, so will the cost for those same phones go down due to simple economics.

-olly

Samantha · 1 year ago

Ahh, really?

It's terrible that we can't buy phones without all of this additional rubbish on it, unless we go to extreme measures.

Hopefully one day something will happen where subsidised phones that are sold locked, and branded will end. And with any luck the economics of Supply and Demand will make it easier for us all!

Thanks for reading, and commenting!

Samantha.

Mark · 1 year ago

roaming data...... ! I dont want to pay £6 a meg (O2) or £7.50 a meg (T-Mobile) thank you...

I want to pay a one off £10 a year and then my Unlimited data (oed update of word now = 200 meg - 1 gig) should kick in where ever I am...

Or at least get a heary discount on charges if you use the home network with the same network abroad ie T-mobile in the UK and T-mobile in the US..

Samantha · 1 year ago

Eurgh, roaming charges and data!

Prices should definitely be made better, and seeing how we're charged say compared to standard broadband, it's ridiculous!

As for the international rates on the same network... Definitely! Seeing as you're not actually using another network, it doesn't make much sense to be charged as if you're forced to use an entirely different network altogether.

Thanks for the comment!

Samantha.

Michael · 1 year ago

Samantha: You're right on point with your comment and Ollysk2 is also correct when he says that the situation in the States is even worse. We got rid of carrier owned equipment for our land lines in the 80's and one would have thought that we learned something.

I had hoped that Apple would have lead the way 14 months ago, by selling the iPhone without a carrier tie in. If Jobs had launch the iPhone this way, I believe that sales would be even higher than they are today. The only physical location where you can buy a non-carrier locked phone today is the Sony Style store... And that's just not enough of a game changer to have an impact on US consumers.

preshit · 1 year ago

I suddenly feel all lucky that I was born here in India. Finding a 'locked' phone here is as rare as Will Smith speaking in an Scottish accent. Almost all the phones available here are unlocked.

As for what I'd like to change, I'd say:
"I'd change the time we have to wait for newer mobile technologies take to reach us. A country of 300 million mobile subscribers and we don't even have 3G yet."

Mac Morrison · 1 year ago

nokia contact app - its a pile of crap.

but i wholly agree about operator firmware - it does no one any favours. esp now most phones auto configure on sim insertion. some firmware updates are vital to fix things and they never appear on the branded versions.

mac

Burak · 1 year ago

I would simplify the endless range of phone tariffs that require you to predict what you'll be doing over the next month/12 months/18 months and then guess which tariff will suit your needs best. How? Very simply actually, the networks would offer a service where for an extra £2 a month their billing computer would analyse your phone usage at the end of the month and figure out which tariff plus extras would have been best for you and then apply the relevant charges so for an extra £2/month you knew you were never overpaying to use your mobile.

clowtilda · 1 year ago

I agree that phones being locked down is terrible! And I agree that it's terrible here in the US as someone said above me. I had a Samsung T519 (aka trace) a while back. It was a Tmobile branded phone for sure. The menu highlighting was Tmobile pink and unable to be changed. But what really drove me nuts was the java... you could not run or install *any* programs/games/etc that were not signed by Tmobile! I finally figured out how to hack it and was able to install a program to my phone... but there was no way for unsigned applications to use data AT ALL. Sad thing is I don't think most users of this phone would ever notice things like that.

juliancooling · 1 year ago

This one is easy. It should be legal to break a contract for poor customer service. That is, the regulator should force an standard clause into all fixed term contracts saying that if the contract terms are not actively supported by the service provider the customer can walk with no penalty.

They can use the same wording as the banking regulator has insisted on.