New mobile phone roaming charges all over Europe

EUROPE New charges for mobile phone roaming came into effect on Monday, July 1. The chart came directly from Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, which is the organization that sets the charges allowed to phone companies. The only thing that might vary is the VAT each country charges - but the major companies are reacting quickly, many of which are setting single-price offers. One of these is Vodafone and its Hablar y Navegar en Europa plan. Check with your provider.

Missed calls that could cost you €20,000 or more - and it's legal

SPAIN Circulating on the Internet ether is a warning about a couple of numbers that are apparently costing the victims enormous phone bills. (We haven't tried them because we're not stupid and can't afford to be anyway.) The numbers are: 911 140 680  and 911 111 341, apparently Madrid numbers - except that there are no 91-followed-by-1 numbers there. According to at least one forum on the subject -and there are many- the number often appears as a missed call without even ringing. What happens then?

How to NOT pay for missed calls on your mobile phone

Here it is in Spanish

SPAIN Yes, if you make a call and there's no answer (person or voice mail) you are still charged for the call.  That's what Call Divert means. If your Spanish phone tells you Call Divert Active, you are paying the connection charge, even if you don't actually connect. Just another revenue stream for all the operators. But you can put a stop to it by dialling ##002# and pressing CALL. You will be told to 'please wait'. Bob's yer bleedin' uncle! Just in case, check it by calling someone: it should read Call Divert Inactive before it says Dialling. We just did it and it works. COMING SOON: SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION.

Councillor spends €200,000 on mobile phone in a month

Council investigates how the bills got so high

BURGOS The Mayor of Burgos, Javier Lacalle (PP), decided to separate Councillor Eduardo Villanueva temporarily from his duties because the head of the Department of Technology and Industrial Engineering allegedly spent over €200,000 on a telephone card owned by the Council. The expensive calls happened between April and May last year. The suspension is only temporary, according to a communiqué from the town hall, 'until matters regarding some phone bills are cleared up.' The PSOE opposition on the Council has asked for a full investigation committee, to which Vice-Mayor Ángel Ibáñez replied that it is probably the result 'of billing errors by the phone company', though he admitted later that the facts before him now seemed to prove otherwise. Meanwhile, municipal employees staged a loud protest asking for the Councillor's resignation.

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

One of the world's greatest innovators died last night. The world media is full of obituaries and, although the news arrived when newspapers in Europe had already gone to the printers, most online versions put it up immediately. The Apple website, which was otherwise open for business (in true Jobs management style), opened onto a B&W photo of the man and then on to another white page with the following text: "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple." An email address was also posted for the public to share their memories, condolences and thoughts.

Mobile phone providers fail on service and client complaints

SPAIN (FACUA/Agencies) FACUA-Consumers in Action presented recently the conclusions of its 5th National Survey about the quality of mobile phone companies (see table or view full report) in which more than 10.000 users took part. Given the many abuses and frauds that occur in telecommunications, the most denounced sector in FACUA for over a decade, only 2% of users believe that the authorities protect their rights, against 63% who believe that they protected at all and 35% who think they do very little. 52% of users, six points higher than the 2010 FACUA survey, reported that their operator charged them for a service or pricing method that they had not requested verbally or in writing. The evaluation of the three major companies is very negative,>>>

That lovely new smartphone could be costing you more than you think

(Illustration only)

SPAIN (El Pais) The incentive of a new, latest-model smartphone for less than its market price is a popular reason for 'porting' , or moving, one's cellphone number to another operator. Yet doing so ends up being quite expensive for customers, says DoctorSIM, a consulting firm that specializes in telephone rates. Some 60 percent of portability transfers between the main operators Movistar, Orange and Vodafone are due to offers involving subsidized cellphones. Clients pay less than the full retail price for a state-of-the-art phone in exchange for signing a contract of one year or more. In the end, these customers will end up paying their new operator 261 euros more than they should during the first year, according to DoctorSIM.>>>

Phone operators agree on code of ethics to cut back on harrassment 'spam'

SPAIN (Agencies) If it hasn't happened to you, it is surely to have bothered someone you know. Most people have suffered from aggressive sales calls from telephone companies, a practice which amounts to harassment. A year ago, the Government tried to put a stop to this through a law to regulate the so-called telephone ‘spam’, but things have barely improved. Now, after continual complaints and aware that these calls are seriously damaging their image, Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange, Yoigo and Ono have decided to regulate themselves by signing a code of ethics. It includes part of last year's law plus a few new initiatives. Teleoperators will have to speak to the customer within three seconds in most cases - one of these 'spam' practices is to dial hundreds of numbers at a time but only to speak to the first person to answer. This is why when you answer the phone, there is nobody there. If somebody says they are not interested, that company cannot ring them again for three months. The companies can also only make three attempts a month to phone a number which isn't answered.

Mobiles, broadband, landlines, subject of most consumer complaints

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The statistical balance of consultations and complaints registered by the consumers organization FACUA's Cadiz office during 2010 for the Campo de Gibraltar comes up with 559 consultations and 188 complaints from consumers of the area.  Most cases came in about telecommunications (24.75%), power supply (9.01%), insurance (8.34%), as well as banking services. The organization points out that telecommunications (mobiles, landlines, broad band, etc.) is yet again the sector receiving most complaints, particularly about the difficulties presented by the vaious companies when one wants to cancel services. The FACUA website has an English language facility but it is not too regularly updated, and we have never registered a complaint in English there, either. In any case, it might be a useful address to have: www.facua.org. (FACUA is the acronym for Federación de Asociaciones de Consumidores y Usuarios de Andalucía, and is vehemently active on all manner of consumerism fronts.)