The Government has offered Australia's three mobile operators, and vividwireless, renewal of their existing spectrum allocated on 15 year licences in the late 90s and early 2000s at set prices, while the Government expects to rake in $3 billion.
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Tony Austin
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 09:07
For example, near the bottom of this subscriptions page is the statement: "The legal bit – as part of our fair usage policy you’ll get up to 10,000 calling minutes per month. And only to numbers beginning 01 and 02 if you’re calling the UK." And near the bottom of the fair usage page they do it again, where is states: "United Kingdom (includes 01 and 02 calls only)."
Why on earth do they single out the U.K. in these two cases? What about the rest of us? Skype should either eliminate such limited country-specific references or provide them for each and every country where such exceptions apply.
In other words, Skype, you need to eliminate confusion by being ultra-careful and consistent right across your web site. Carefully update the SkypeOut pricing table to include accurate country information about destinations, areas codes, dialling prefixes and calling rates for all of these.
Be thorough and all-inclusive when you go about doing this. Resolve to make the pricing and usage terms information and administration as good as the technical service. And in particular, define exactly what you mean by the term "landline" and don't avoid the issue.
Phew! The above was as exhausting for me to write as it probably is for you
to wade through.
I'd like to finish by sharing with you a sample page from my Skype Pro account, just to prove a point from earlier and pass on a couple of "canny Scot" tips. (Click the adjacent thumbnail to view an enlarged image, opening in a new window.)
Line 1 shows regular SkypeOut call to a New South Wales interstate destination (country code 61, area code 2), with duration over four seconds which for Skype Pro attracts a connection fee of o.039 Euros (but for Unlimited Country there would be no connection fee). Line 4 is for another interstate call (to Brisbane, 9area code 7).
Line 5 indicates another Skype Pro call, this time within my home state of Victoria (area code 3), but since it was less than four seconds in duration a connection fee was not charged.
The tip here is to hang up quickly if you determine the called party is unavailable, and if the call duration finishes up less than four seconds you won't be charged anything for it (under Skype Pro). Similarly, if you're on the Unlimited Country plan and call overseas, hang up in less than four seconds if you can.
Line 2 is for a "1800" toll free call placed within Australia, and there's no connection fee or per-minute fee (for both Skype Pro and Unlimited Country). The tip here obviously is to seek out such toll-free calls wherever possible, just as it is with regular landline calls.
Line 3 is for a toll-free call placed from Australia to an overseas destination. (In this case the USA, where they have not just "1800" prefixes but also "1866" and others.) Seek overseas toll-free numbers wherever possible, they're often available on an organization's web site in the Contact Us section.
If you make enough such calls -- say, for technical support from a USA-based software house -- and you will save a fair bit under either plan, Skype Pro or Unlimited Country (you wouldn't be charged for any overseas call under the Unlimited World plan).
Then go spend your savings on something nice!
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Have some fun with a challenge or
two that I've devised for you! |
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