OFCOM have begun a consultation about the Mobile Phone market. Some of you may be interested in taking part.

The information about the consulationis here (most of the .pdf documents are very long-winded and somewhat boring): OFCOM Mobile Phone Consultation (August - November 2008)

You can respond online here: Respond to the OFCOM consultation online by 6th November 2008

When responding, make sure that you read and understand the “confidentiality” section. They want to publish responses, but you can tell them not to, or you can tell them to hide certain information (such as your name).

Consumers will be most interested in Sections 4 & 5. Section 4 is about “Consumers”, and they want to know of YOUR experiences with the mobile market. Section 5 is for “Citizens”, and they want your views on how the mobile phone industry is affecting society as a whole.

OFCOM are doing this study because they want to know which areas they need to regulate more firmly, and which areas they can loosen the regulations in. OFCOM say that this is an improtant area, as the number of mobile phone calls we make as a nation could outnumer the number of landline calls we make within the next 12-18 months!

OFCOM also want to try and establish how network coverage should be extended in the countryside and areas with poor network coverage, how tariffs (especially on pay as you go) can be improved and make it easier for new networks to set-up and compete with the big boys. There’s also some talk of charging people to receive calls, and talk of stopping networks charging each other to connect calls (hopefully bringing down the price of cross-network calls). I’m sure they’d like to hear from you about cashback deals and mis-selling in this consulation too, so make sure you mention it.

OFCOM have also set-up a blog in order to keep people up-to-date during the consulation: OFCOM Mobile Phone Blog

Best of luck with your responses. Let’s hope that they can make a difference!
ducky

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 has a rumoured release date of mid-September. This, in my opinion, is going to be a good iPhone competitior! I’m pretty excited about that and for that reason, I am going to share with you the advert - just to whet your appetite - even if the advert has been out since February this year…

connect2me on HotUKDeals has spotted that 3 Mobile, or “Three” or whatever you want to call them, are introducing a new fee to their contract customers: a £1 monthly charge for a paper bill. As this condition isn’t in their T&Cs it’s a good way of getting out of your contract early, and should allow you to keep the phone too!!

All you need to do is write to Three at the below address:

3 Customer services
Hutchison 3G UK Ltd
PO Box 333
Glasgow
G2 9AG

Their website states that you can call them to cancel, but in this case I suggest that you do it in writing!

All you need to do is write to them BEFORE September 20th 2008 explaining that due to the new term being added to the contract (the £1 paper bill), which wasn’t a term of the contract when you signed up.

Tell them that as a result of this, you wish to cancel your contract as of October 20th 2008.

Important things:

1. Send recorded delivery, for proof that they’ve got it.
2. Photocopy you letter (if handwritten) or print a second copy (if printed) and keep this safe.

Ooh, a visitor! Welcome to the new site and welcome - in particular - to the “News” section, which is pretty much a dressed-up blog.

In this area I hope to post news of changes in the mobile world, including exciting information about new phones, information about retailers, information about the current mobile phone climate (such as OFCOM news), whether any new “cancel your contract early” loopholes have appeared and generally anything else that is going on.

If you see anything on the interweb that you think that I should report on then drop me a line.