I used my computer to access the Internet via my mobile for for a couple of
weeks during August.
For the first 15 days the charges appear to have been reasonable although I
can't see the detail.
On the 23rd of August the internet access stopped working in the evening.
In the morning I got a text message to say that my credit limit (of £125)
had been exceeded.
I am fairly certain that when I opened the account the credit limit was £100
and I certainly never asked for it to be increased.
Looking at my account today on the Internet it says that I owe a total of
£406.84.
Some of the detail for 23rd August (the only day for which there is
information) is shown below.
Can anyone explain the charge of £316.04 at 22:54:05 given that at the
charge was £0.00 at £22:53:58:
I could not get much sense out of Virgin (at 7pm on a Bank Holiday Sunday)
except that I was accessing a site that was not part of the Virgin Network.
I might learn more on Tuesday.
23-Aug-10 23:56:31 Unknown £0.00
23-Aug-10 23:49:27 Unknown £0.00
23-Aug-10 23:34:29 Unknown £0.00
23-Aug-10 23:19:31 Unknown £0.00
23-Aug-10 23:04:32 Unknown £0.00
23-Aug-10 23:03:37 Using the internet £3.38
23-Aug-10 23:01:17 Unknown £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:54:09 Using the internet £67.60
23-Aug-10 22:54:05 Using the internet £316.04
23-Aug-10 22:53:58 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:53 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:48 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:43 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:37 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:31 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:26 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:21 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:16 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:11 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:05 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:53:00 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:55 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:50 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:44 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:40 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:35 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:29 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:24 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:19 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:14 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:52:09 Using the internet £0.00
Michael Chare
23-Aug-10 22:52:03 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:59 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:52 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:47 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:42 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:37 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:31 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:26 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:21 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:16 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:11 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:06 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:51:01 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:56 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:50 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:45 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:40 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:35 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:30 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:25 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:20 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:14 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:09 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:50:04 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:49:59 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:49:54 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:49:49 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:49:44 Using the internet £0.00
23-Aug-10 22:49:39 Using the internet £0.00
"Michael Chare" <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote in message
news:YvCdnYqBWLMdOOfRnZ2dnUVZ8tadnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
> I used my computer to access the Internet via my mobile for for a couple
> of weeks during August.
>
> For the first 15 days the charges appear to have been reasonable although
> I can't see the detail.
>
> On the 23rd of August the internet access stopped working in the evening.
> In the morning I got a text message to say that my credit limit (of £125)
> had been exceeded.
>
> I am fairly certain that when I opened the account the credit limit was
> £100 and I certainly never asked for it to be increased.
>
> Looking at my account today on the Internet it says that I owe a total of
> £406.84.
and your wrists are too sore to type in your credit card number?
--
Gareth.
that fly...... is your magic wand.... http://dsbdsb.mybrute.com
you fight better when you have a bear!
On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:23:29 +0100, "Michael Chare"
<MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote:
>I used my computer to access the Internet via my mobile for for a couple of
>weeks during August.
>
>For the first 15 days the charges appear to have been reasonable although I
>can't see the detail.
>
>On the 23rd of August the internet access stopped working in the evening.
>In the morning I got a text message to say that my credit limit (of £125)
>had been exceeded.
Has there been any progress on this?
Someone has highlighted a *similar* problem in the MSE forums,
<http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2699545>:
----- Begin Quote -----
Just browsing around at phones as my contract is up tomorrow and
logged into my account to see what offers are available for me - found
my next bill would be £37 when its usually only £12 at the most....
01-Sep-10 15:01:44 Using the internet £0.48
01-Sep-10 14:56:25 Using the internet £0.48
01-Sep-10 14:51:10 Using the internet £0.48
01-Sep-10 14:45:58 Using the internet £0.48
01-Sep-10 14:41:00 Using the internet £0.48
[...]
now virgin say they charge 30p a day for the net anyway
----- End Quote -----
Looks like he has something running on his phone that connects to the
Internet periodically, possibly email collection?
--
Martin Jay
On Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:28:40 +0100, Martin Jay wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:23:29 +0100, "Michael Chare"
> <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote:
>
>>I used my computer to access the Internet via my mobile for for a couple
>>of weeks during August.
>>
>>For the first 15 days the charges appear to have been reasonable
>>although I can't see the detail.
>>
>>On the 23rd of August the internet access stopped working in the
>>evening. In the morning I got a text message to say that my credit limit
>>(of £125) had been exceeded.
>
> Has there been any progress on this?
>
> Someone has highlighted a *similar* problem in the MSE forums,
> <http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2699545>:
>
> ----- Begin Quote -----
>
> Just browsing around at phones as my contract is up tomorrow and logged
> into my account to see what offers are available for me - found my next
> bill would be £37 when its usually only £12 at the most....
>
> 01-Sep-10 15:01:44 Using the internet £0.48 01-Sep-10 14:56:25 Using the
> internet £0.48 01-Sep-10 14:51:10 Using the internet £0.48 01-Sep-10
> 14:45:58 Using the internet £0.48 01-Sep-10 14:41:00 Using the internet
> £0.48
>
> [...]
>
> now virgin say they charge 30p a day for the net anyway
>
> ----- End Quote -----
>
> Looks like he has something running on his phone that connects to the
> Internet periodically, possibly email collection?
"Martin Jay" <martin@spam-free.org.uk> wrote in message
news:1106.1283434121.20100902@spam-free.org.uk...
> On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:23:29 +0100, "Michael Chare"
> <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote:
>
>>I used my computer to access the Internet via my mobile for for a couple
>>of
>>weeks during August.
>>
>>For the first 15 days the charges appear to have been reasonable although
>>I
>>can't see the detail.
>>
>>On the 23rd of August the internet access stopped working in the evening.
>>In the morning I got a text message to say that my credit limit (of £125)
>>had been exceeded.
>
> Has there been any progress on this?
Not yet. I have written to them though. The letter would have been
collected from the post box on Tuesday morning and they should have received
it on Wednesday (yesterday). I have asked them to look at the case
sympathetically.
>
> Someone has highlighted a *similar* problem in the MSE forums,
> <http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2699545>:
>
Thanks for pointing that out. Part of the problem may be that Virgin charge
30p for the first 25mb ( i.e. 1.2p per mb) and then £2 per MB if you exceed
the 25mb. I have to say that I new there was a 25mb limit but was not aware
of the consequences of exceeding the limit. I appear to have made the
mistake of assuming that Virgin are a reasonable company. Other mobile
telephone companies that I have looked at so far do not have such severe
penalties.
If I was an ordinary PAYG customer it would just take out any credit on the
phone. Being a Direct Debit customer the consequences are somewhat dire!
On 2 Sep, 20:08, "Michael Chare" <MunderscoreN...@chareDOTorg.uk>
wrote:
> "Martin Jay" <mar...@spam-free.org.uk> wrote in message
>
> news:1106.1283434121.20100902@spam-free.org.uk...
>
>
>
> > On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:23:29 +0100, "Michael Chare"
> > <MunderscoreN...@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote:
>
> >>I used my computer to access the Internet via my mobile for for a couple
> >>of
> >>weeks during August.
>
> >>For the first 15 days the charges appear to have been reasonable although
> >>I
> >>can't see the detail.
>
> >>On the 23rd of August the internet access stopped working in the evening.
> >>In the morning I got a text message to say that my credit limit (of £125)
> >>had been exceeded.
>
> > Has there been any progress on this?
>
> Not yet. *I have written to them though. *The letter would have been
> collected from the post box on Tuesday morning and they should have received
> it on Wednesday (yesterday). *I have asked them to look at the case
> sympathetically.
>
>
>
> > Someone has highlighted a *similar* problem in the MSE forums,
> > <http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2699545>:
>
> Thanks for pointing that out. *Part of the problem may be that Virgin charge
> 30p for the first 25mb ( i.e. 1.2p per mb) and then *£2 per MB if youexceed
> the 25mb. *I have to say that I new there was a 25mb limit but was not aware
> of the consequences of exceeding the limit. *I appear to have made the
> mistake of assuming that Virgin are a reasonable company. *Other mobile
> telephone companies that I have looked at so far do not have such severe
> penalties.
I considered Virgin a few months ago but it was the £2 per meg thing
which dissuaded me. It's funny - the Americans recently quoted
European warnings on excessive costs as something they should copy,
but I don't see them in evidence in the UK. Camelot and other
companies limit how much you can gamble, give you reminders etc, and
it's odd that phone companies here aren't forced too.
>On 2 Sep, 20:08, "Michael Chare" <MunderscoreN...@chareDOTorg.uk>
>
>> Thanks for pointing that out. *Part of the problem may be that Virgin charge
>> 30p for the first 25mb ( i.e. 1.2p per mb) and then *£2 per MB if you exceed
>> the 25mb. *I have to say that I new there was a 25mb limit but was not aware
>> of the consequences of exceeding the limit. *I appear to have made the
>> mistake of assuming that Virgin are a reasonable company. *Other mobile
>> telephone companies that I have looked at so far do not have such severe
>> penalties.
>
>I considered Virgin a few months ago but it was the £2 per meg thing
>which dissuaded me. It's funny - the Americans recently quoted
>European warnings on excessive costs as something they should copy,
>but I don't see them in evidence in the UK. Camelot and other
>companies limit how much you can gamble, give you reminders etc, and
>it's odd that phone companies here aren't forced too.
Most other things you buy get cheaper as you buy more of them or buy
in larger quantities. Virgin seem to have reversed this economic
principle and gone from charging a reasonable price for the first 25MB
to an exorbitant price if you use more. I think we can assume that's
done deliberately to try to catch their customers out and rip-them
off.
"Peter" <occassionally-confused@nospam.co.uk> wrote in message
news:t5f6865kv5v3tldd3r0kvmvfit35vrt81j@4ax.com...
> Chris Blunt <mail@nospam.com> wrote
>>Most other things you buy get cheaper as you buy more of them or buy
>>in larger quantities. Virgin seem to have reversed this economic
>>principle and gone from charging a reasonable price for the first 25MB
>>to an exorbitant price if you use more. I think we can assume that's
>>done deliberately to try to catch their customers out and rip-them
>>off.
>
> I agree re the motive.
> All the companies are carefully setting up ripoffs.
>
> Example: T-Mobile's £10/50MB EU bundle lasts 30 days if you buy a SIM
> card for a phone, or alone, but lasts just 24hrs if you buy the SIM
> card inside a T-M branded USB GPRS/3G adaptor.
> How many customers will know that?
>
>
Three have a similar limitation, sims in their USB 3g dongles don't have
the cheaper internet tariffs menu that 3pay sims have.
Seems rule of thumb is to chuck whatever sim comes with a PAYG
USB 3g dongle, and use an ordinary PAYG phone version instead
Steve Terry
--
"I would like to plead for my right to investigate natural phenomena
without having guns pointed at me.
I also ask for the right to be wrong without being hanged for it."
- Wilhelm Reich, November 1947
"Michael Chare" <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote in message
news:E66dnfBdR5pgaOLRnZ2dnUVZ8hCdnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
>>
>> Has there been any progress on this?
>
> Not yet. I have written to them though. The letter would have been
> collected from the post box on Tuesday morning and they should have
> received it on Wednesday (yesterday). I have asked them to look at the
> case sympathetically.
>
Today Sunday at about midday I received a phone call from Virgin in response
to my letter.
Apparently they had some problems on 22nd and 23rd of August, so they have
credited my account with the £380 or so that they charged for the 23rd.
I was hoping for an outcome like that, but was so relieved when in actually
occurred that I forgot to ask to some compensation for the agro and not
being able to use my Virgin sim card for the past couple of weeks!
I do know that on the 20th I definitely exceeded the 25 mb as I download
some Flash software, to run the Thinkbroadband line speed test. The software
now occupies 90mb on my hard drive, according to W7 Control Panel. When I
get the account on Wednesday I will be able to see what I was actually
charged for this was, but it has to be less than £20.
Invoicing and tariff problems aside, I have to say that I did find that
connecting my Windows 7 laptop to the internet via my mobile phone actually
worked quite well. To start with I used Nokia Ovi and a USB cable to
connect the laptop to the mobile. Then I found that I could replace the
cable with a Blue tooth connection.
Finally I discovered that the Bluetooth connection to my Nokia mobile phone
could be made using either:
a) Nokia Ovi Suite which tells me a little bit about the Access Point
being used.
ipconfig shows:
PPP adapter Standard Modem over Bluetooth link (Nokia Ovi Suite):
b) Winows 7 Bluetooth facilities which allow me to control a mobile phone.
This says that it is 'dialing' when I try to establish a connection, and
does not show the access point being used, but also worked with a
Blackberry.
ipconfig shows:
Is there a significant difference between either of these two methods?
The W7 Bluetooth facilities are accessed by right clicking the Bluetooth
icon for the mobile phone and the selecting 'Control'. For some reason this
'Control' option only appears on my laptop. My W7 desktop PC has a Bluetooth
adapter with which I can connect to my mobile phone, but there is no
'Control' option. Does anyone know why?
"Michael Chare" <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote in message
news:E66dnfBdR5pgaOLRnZ2dnUVZ8hCdnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
>>>
>> Has there been any progress on this?
>
> Not yet. I have written to them though. The letter would have been
> collected from the post box on Tuesday morning and they should have
> received it on Wednesday (yesterday). I have asked them to look at the
> case sympathetically.
>
Today Sunday at about midday I received a phone call from Virgin in response
to my letter.
Apparently they had some problems on 22nd and 23rd of August, so they have
credited my account with the £380 or so that they charged for the 23rd.
I was hoping for an outcome like that, but was so relieved when in actually
occurred that I forgot to ask to some compensation for the agro and not
being able to use my Virgin sim card for the past couple of weeks!
I do know that on the 20th I definitely exceeded the 25 mb as I download
some Flash software, to run the Thinkbroadband line speed test. The software
now occupies 90mb on my hard drive, according to W7 Control Panel. When I
get the account on Wednesday I will be able to see what I was actually
charged for this was, but it has to be less than £20.
Invoicing and tariff problems aside, I have to say that I did find that
connecting my Windows 7 laptop to the internet via my mobile phone actually
worked quite well. To start with I used Nokia Ovi and a USB cable to
connect the laptop to the mobile. Then I found that I could replace the
cable with a Blue tooth connection.
Finally I discovered that the Bluetooth connection to my Nokia mobile phone
could be made using either:
a) Nokia Ovi Suite which tells me a little bit about the Access Point
being used.
ipconfig shows:
PPP adapter Standard Modem over Bluetooth link (Nokia Ovi Suite):
b) Winows 7 Bluetooth facilities which allow me to control a mobile phone.
This says that it is 'dialing' when I try to establish a connection, and
does not show the access point being used, but also worked with a
Blackberry.
ipconfig shows:
Is there a significant difference between either of these two methods?
The W7 Bluetooth facilities are accessed by right clicking the Bluetooth
icon for the mobile phone and the selecting 'Control'. For some reason this
'Control' option only appears on my laptop. My W7 desktop PC has a Bluetooth
adapter with which I can connect to my mobile phone, but there is no
'Control' option. Does anyone know why?
> Today Sunday at about midday I received a phone call from Virgin in
> response to my letter.
>
> Apparently they had some problems on 22nd and 23rd of August, so they have
> credited my account with the £380 or so that they charged for the 23rd.
"Michael Chare" <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote in message
news:faCdnXymha9zQh7RnZ2dnUVZ8tidnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
> "Michael Chare" <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote in message
> news:E66dnfBdR5pgaOLRnZ2dnUVZ8hCdnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
<snip>
> To start with I used Nokia Ovi and a USB cable to connect the laptop
> to the mobile.
> Then I found that I could replace the cable with a Bluetooth connection.
>
>
Connecting by Bluetooth will limit your download speed to a max of around
1Mb/s
Steve Terry
--
"I would like to plead for my right to investigate natural phenomena
without having guns pointed at me.
I also ask for the right to be wrong without being hanged for it."
- Wilhelm Reich, November 1947
"Steve Terry" <gfourwwk@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:i61hl5$6ck$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> "Michael Chare" <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote in message
> news:faCdnXymha9zQh7RnZ2dnUVZ8tidnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
>> "Michael Chare" <MunderscoreNEWS@chareDOTorg.uk> wrote in message
>> news:E66dnfBdR5pgaOLRnZ2dnUVZ8hCdnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
> <snip>
>> To start with I used Nokia Ovi and a USB cable to connect the laptop
>> to the mobile.
>> Then I found that I could replace the cable with a Bluetooth connection.
>>
>>
> Connecting by Bluetooth will limit your download speed to a max of around
> 1Mb/s
>
Thank you for pointing that out. As it happens I only had a 3g (rather than
3g+) connection so I did not notice much difference.
Peter wrote:
> Chris Blunt <mail@nospam.com> wrote
>
>> Most other things you buy get cheaper as you buy more of them or buy
>> in larger quantities. Virgin seem to have reversed this economic
>> principle and gone from charging a reasonable price for the first
>> 25MB to an exorbitant price if you use more. I think we can assume
>> that's done deliberately to try to catch their customers out and
>> rip-them off.
>
> I agree re the motive.
>
> All the companies are carefully setting up ripoffs.
>
> Example: T-Mobile's £10/50MB EU bundle lasts 30 days if you buy a SIM
> card for a phone, or alone, but lasts just 24hrs if you buy the SIM
> card inside a T-M branded USB GPRS/3G adaptor.
>
> How many customers will know that?
Thanks to this group, I did. ;-) Very handy it was too being able to tether
my phone when I wanted to download some files.
That gotcha aside, I think T-Mobile are probably one of the better group of
chalatans around at the moment when it comes to data pricing.
Virgin - Excessive charge for Internet usage. 
Linear Mode
