The mobile content and applications market is one of the fastest growing in SA, making it important to educate users about their rights as consumers, and various services' terms and conditions, says the Wireless Application Service Providers' Association of SA (WASPA).
“Keeping the welcome message that is sent upon joining a new service is always a good idea because it will contain contact details for the service provider, costs, and the procedure for cancelling the service, says WASPA chairman, Leon Perlman.
He adds that when joining a service, the user should first know the costs, how much they're entitled to, and how often they can access it.
According to Perlman, there are many different formats for content, and each phone handles it in different ways. “It is never guaranteed that the content purchased will work on a user's particular phone. So ensure the cellphone is compatible with the technical requirements of a service,” he points out. ”The user should also check if they need to fetch content manually or if they will be sent links to access it.”
Perlman also suggests that Vodacom prepaid customers set up the online billing facility, so they can keep track of who is billing them and for how much.
Users should be aware that while they're browsing the Internet from their phones, by simply clicking on a 'buy now' link they could be billed on their phone account, since the Web site owner could already have their cellphone number, warns Perlman.
Many content providers make use of number detection services to determine the mobile numbers of visitors to their Web site, says WASPA.
As a final tip, Perlman says parents on Vodacom can bar their children from accessing adult content or expensive services by dialling *111*123# from the phone they want to block. An MTN subscriber should dial *101# from the handset they would like to restrict content on and follow the menu prompts.
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