Telstra mobile customers get voice and SMS/MMS usage alerts

Stuart Corner
Monday, 21 November 2011 08:18

Your IT - Mobility

Telstra has upgraded the provision of usage information to its mobile customers with the launch of a free service that notifies customers on its Freedom Connect mobile plans of their voice call, SMS and MMS usage against their mobile plan allowance.

Telstra already provides information on data usage, but customers could get no indication of what percentage of included calls and messages on so-called capped plans had been used.

The alerts, available from today 21 November, advise customers when they go over 80 percent and 100 percent of their voice call, SMS and MMS allowance. They will be rolled out progressively over the next month, as each customer's new billing month commences. All eligible customers will receive introductory SMS messages from today, informing them of this customer service improvement.

Telstra consumer marketing director, Maryanne Tsiatsias said the new service was part of a wider program to improve customer satisfaction. Earlier initiatives have been:
- a new bill design for consumer customers, based on customer and staff feedback, designed to make bills clearer and simpler to understand;
- new point of sale 'My Offer' summaries which explain on a single page what is included and excluded in a mobile plan, along with applicable fees and charges;
- the launch of the My Plan Manager portal on post-paid mobiles that allows customers to check their data usage and add mobile data packs and international data roaming packs direct from their handset. It was launched in September but unlike the latest service, did not enable customers to see how much of their included call and SMS/MMS monthly quotas they had used.