Telstra says mobiles are top of the “back to school shopping list”

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 16 January 2009 06:39

IT Industry - Strategy

Here are Telstra’s “Top-Tips to help manage your child’s mobile spend”.
 
“Owning a mobile phone is a privilege, not a right – teach your children about the privilege of owning a mobile phone and why they shouldn’t abuse this privilege. Discuss what will happen if they don’t abide by the rules (eg. no credit put on account for a fortnight).
 
“Work out a budget – a budget helps show your child where their mobile credit is going, and also where they can change spending if they need to increase their savings. Consider sitting down with your child to help them create a budget and then encourage them to stick with it.
 
“Text messages – some text messages can cost a lot of money. These are known as premium text messages and are often used for competitions and voting services (Tip: they generally start with the numbers 19).

“Another thing to make your child aware of is long text messages that take up more than 160 characters. A space counts as a character. Messages are charged in blocks of 160 characters, so if the message is say 220 characters it will cost the same as sending two separate text messages.
 
“Pre-paid – Pre-paid mobile phones are often the best way to go for young people – it means the minutes are paid for up front and there is no bill to deal with at the end of each month.
 
“Sharing a mobile phone with friends – your child’s friends mightn’t be as budget-conscious as they are, so encourage them to be careful with sharing it except in times of emergency.
 
“Get the low down on costs – many mobile phone companies offer different rates, and perhaps even free calls or text messages, depending on who is called and what day or time the calls are made. You and your child should understand and review these and potentially save some hard earned cash!”