Forum Discussion
Charges for conference call numbers
I am a new T-Moble customer as of August. Today I received a rude shock when I learned that some conference call phone numbers (in the US) are "out of plan" and that T-Mobil will charge me extra to make what have been routine calls with other carriers. For a plan that is advertised as covering all of the US, Canada & Mexico this seems like a "bait & switch" policy. Does anyone else object to this?
Ok here's what is going on and what they are trying to stop. Traffic pumping
AT&T actually started blocking people from connecting to these numbers and continue to add to the list. There is a legal battle going on over it.
AT&T/Cingular blocks cellular customers from free conference call services | Ars Technica
Verizon has been rumored to start charging or cutting off depending on the outcome of the verdicts.
Yes, I'm aware of the thread age as I stated it in my post. Yes, I'm aware they charge, I said that too. I just switched from AT&T and they do not block conference lines, and this particular company uses a 515 area code. Can someone with updated information please reply with a response why this is happening on this carrier and how to fix it.
This just happened to me out of nowhere, I have had T-Mobile for years and have been calling into my company's Join.me numbers for years as well with our plan and today it started telling me I was going to be charged. I was able to call in on Monday with no problem, so I am confused on why/how this happened randomly this week with no changes to our account or acknowledgment of it.
It's been know those "free" conference call numbers actually charge the provider for it. T-Mobile said that's enough and stopped paying those fees. Other carriers are not "out of plan." I don't know where you got that information from.
Ok here's what is going on and what they are trying to stop. Traffic pumping
AT&T actually started blocking people from connecting to these numbers and continue to add to the list. There is a legal battle going on over it.
AT&T/Cingular blocks cellular customers from free conference call services | Ars Technica
Verizon has been rumored to start charging or cutting off depending on the outcome of the verdicts.
I have just read through all my documents and searched the entire T-mobile site for information on this extra charge for conference calls and found nothing, other than this chat. I was really hoping to find a company that didn't have hidden charges. I thought I was going to be lowering my bill by switching from ATT but with all the conference call charges I will be right back where I started. For modern people that work from home and/or have conference calls as part of an independent study group this just doesn't make sense. I hope T-mobile comes into the 21st century soon or I will be switching again. Will be warning others who may be considering t-mobile as I don't know anyone who doesn't do conference calls other that my grandmother.
It's an obscure issue, and I assume that T-Mobile has no other way to deal with it financially, but the company gets an F for communicating this issue with users.
My plan description simply says I can dial any US number. Granted, the 32-page Terms and Conditions legal document states that "You may have to pay extra for calls to some numbers (e.g., conference & chat lines, broadcast, calling card, international, 900 or 976 calls, etc.)", which allows the treatment/charge legally, but there's no excuse for not explicitly informing users of the matter. Without this information, my job was placed in jeopardy (and I was professionally embarrassed) when I was unable to dial in to a conference call this morning with a dozen people representing a US Gov't client. (The automated voice announcement that the call could not be completed due to insufficient funds in my automatically prepaid account didn't help, either.) It wound up being a twilight-zone episode when I had to make multiple calls to customer support to try and figure it out - not one of the four agents I spoke with had a clue as to what was going on.
For the record, I've called the same conference line many times before (checked my usage log) and never encountered the problem of not being able to get on the call, nor was I charged the nominal penny-per-minute.
Abysmal communications, poor service management, and incompetent support - not a good report card for T-Mobile.
T-Mobile - looks like this has been a long-term issue. What's the fix? It's been about 2 years since it was first reported here. If my boss is already paying for the conference line, how can YOU or any other entity charge additionally?
510xxxxxxx wrote:
This is a 2+ year old thread. Every carrier charges for these premium calls. Or blocks them. I assume the VOIP operators do as well.
This is 100% wrong. Why would you post wrong information when you don't know?
The only mobile carrier that charges is T-Mobile.
AT&T does NOT charge or block.
Verizon does NOT charge or block.
Wellarmed wrote:
510xxxxxxx wrote:
This is a 2+ year old thread. Every carrier charges for these premium calls. Or blocks them. I assume the VOIP operators do as well.
This is 100% wrong. Why would you post wrong information when you don't know?
The only mobile carrier that charges is T-Mobile.
AT&T does NOT charge or block.
Verizon does NOT charge or block.
Thank you so much. I was trying to figure out my options for getting off of T-Mobile. I came from Community Cellular which leases ATT towers which have little coverage in my neighborhood in comparison to T-Mobile and Verizon. I didn't want to have go with weird Verizon phones but I certainly will if I need to in order to avoid huge charges from calling conference calls.
TMobile recently did start charging their customers for these types of calls. They are not the only carrier that does this. The problem is that these services are not free. They charge the carrier a termination fee when you call one of those numbers. This is the carrier passing that charge onto the consumer.
