{"id":90000,"date":"1999-12-31T00:03:00","date_gmt":"1999-12-30T13:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smartoffice.com.au\/does-4g-bill-shock\/"},"modified":"1999-12-31T00:03:00","modified_gmt":"1999-12-30T13:03:00","slug":"does-4g-bill-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/","title":{"rendered":"Does 4G = Bill Shock?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Its tipped as the be-all and end-all of mobile networks – but is really worth it?The rapid takeup of 4G may give rise to ‘bill shock’, warns telco No. 2 Optus. <\/p>\n

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There has “rapid takeup of 4G,” Clare Gill, Optus Head of Government and Corporate Affairs told Smarthouse.  <\/div>\n
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“Consumers are proactively upgrading to a high speed network.”  <\/div>\n

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But when subscribers move up from 3G to 4G, users often double their data usage, says Gill. <\/span><\/div>\n

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There’s no buffering on 4G mobile services, greater speed and capacity, downloads are faster and apps work far quicker. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Fast as lightening, 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, thatTelstra, Vodafone, Optus all now operate, give a” better experience ..so consumers use more data,” says Gill.   <\/div>\n
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On average, when people move from 3G to 4G they go through an extra 300Mb per month, she says. <\/div>\n
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This means far higher bill, and thus ‘bill shock’, where subscribers receive far higher bills than anticipated is a likely outcome. <\/div>\n
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“Bill shock is a real thing… users need to be able to use their smartphone data without fear,” something Optus hopes to eradicate with My Plan billing system.  <\/div>\n
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 New research from Optus suggests one in three Aussie parents have been hit with massive mobile bills from their kids. <\/div>\n
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A shocking one in three received a whopper bill of $300 or more, according to the survey. Take note, the ‘kids’ were aged between 10, and as old as 21. <\/span><\/div>\n
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There has been other reports of shocker mobile bills going “into the thousands”. <\/div>\n
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Optus new My Plan billing system offers “transparency” so consumers “won’t get stung” with shockingly high bills, says Gill.  <\/div>\n
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Australia’s telco No. 2 are hoping the “revolutionary” Myplans will encourage other telcos to follow suit. <\/div>\n
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Myplan automatically bumps users up to the next level – so say if data allowance is exceeded, users are charged $10 for an additional 1GB, as opposed to $250 under the previous regime. <\/div>\n
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And ditto if customers go over their monthly call allowance. <\/div>\n
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The mobile plans start at $35 a month to $100. However, the $35 and $50 plans both have frugal Internet data allowances, so it appears very likely mobile users will have to bump up to next level, anyway.  <\/div>\n
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“We hope it changes the way the industry charges” for data , says Gill. <\/div>\n
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Existing Optus consumers can proactively move on to it for free, even mid contract. <\/div>\n
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However, the biggest shock about the Optus survey, announced last week, was most parents (76%) don’t place limits on the bills they’re paying for their kids, aged up to 21. <\/p><\/div>\n

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But no one in the telco industry disputes the fact, data prices are going up. One senior exec from a  major Aussie telco told Smarthouse the cost of data costs will inevitably rise, as telcos invest billions in upgrading networks to 4G. <\/div>\n
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“Customers need to realise they have to pay more for data,” the exec said.  <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Its tipped as the be-all and end-all of mobile networks – but is really worth it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-archive","category-services","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes 4G = Bill Shock? - Smart Office<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does 4G = Bill Shock? - Smart Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Its tipped as the be-all and end-all of mobile networks - but is really worth it?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1999-12-30T13:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Oonagh Reidy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Oonagh Reidy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Oonagh Reidy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/#\/schema\/person\/15e890b46095d075b43fe7ecb12341ae\"},\"headline\":\"Does 4G = Bill Shock?\",\"datePublished\":\"1999-12-30T13:03:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/\"},\"wordCount\":507,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Archive\",\"Services\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/does-4g-bill-shock\/\",\"name\":\"Does 4G = Bill Shock? 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