Speeding up and lowering fees for many years, but more and more users are paying traffic fees outside the package
Intern reporter Xia Hua
In a blink of an eye, the speed-up and fee reduction has come to the seventh year.
People are no longer troubled by domestic long-distance roaming charges for mobile phones, but more and more users feel that mobile phone traffic is not enough.
"The monthly traffic charges outside the package are often tens of yuan, and sometimes even hundreds of yuan, which is simply a traffic 'assassin'." Many netizens ridiculed.
The reporter's investigation found that major operators have launched a large number of preferential call packages, but some hidden restrictions are easy to be ignored, and the consumption reminder when the traffic consumption exceeds the upper limit of the package lags behind, causing users to pay a price far beyond their psychological expectations if they are not careful.
The traffic outside the package is too "gold and expensive"
"10 yuan for 100MB of traffic is really expensive!" complained Wang, a graduate student in Beijing.
Through the screenshot of the text message provided by Mr. Wang, the reporter saw a text message that read, "Your out-of-package data bill has reached 10 yuan this month, and the data security service will automatically provide you with a preferential tariff of 10 yuan and 100MB".
According to the different packages, China Mobile adopts different charging standards for out-of-package traffic. For example, the out-of-package traffic of the 4G Enjoy Package of 59 yuan is charged at 100MB per 10 yuan and 1GB per 30 yuan.
How expensive is the out-of-package traffic?
The reporter logged on the China Mobile website to check the price of the data package, and found that the special data package is 30 yuan per month for 5GB, and the extra package is 30 yuan for 1GB, and the charge is 5 times that of the former.
In addition to the high unit price of traffic outside the package, SMS reminders are lagging and easily ignored, which has also become a problem for users.
"I immediately ordered a 2GB daily data package when I received a text message that the package data was used up, and it took effect immediately, but after a while, I still received a reminder for the deduction of the super package, and I deducted 10 yuan." Wang said.
Some users who don't pay much attention to text messages but love to watch videos fall into the "trap" of excess traffic.
Directed traffic usage rules are hard to find
Using Douyin to watch live broadcasts is not considered Douyin directional traffic, posting notes on Xiaohongshu is not within its directional traffic range, and watching events in King Glory does not count as directional traffic... When using a package, users must beware of another traffic. "Assassin" - directed traffic.
When you use directional traffic to navigate the app, general traffic may also be quietly lost.
"I opened a 20 yuan 30GB directional traffic, thinking that there is still a lot of traffic left at the end of the month, and I will brush it up. The result is that I will be prompted for arrears soon!" Ms. Shang shared her experience with everyone on social platforms.
The reporter's investigation found that many people are unaware of the restrictions on directional traffic, and the operator's instructions on the scope and rules of directional traffic use are also very concealed.
The reporter called the telecom customer service number to inquire about the range of targeted traffic in the package. For example, the customer service said that iQIYI's targeted traffic can only watch videos. For advertisements, bullet screens, and comments provided by third parties, it uses general traffic, and stated the specific situation. Will be notified via text message later.
Subsequently, the reporter received a text message, prompting to pay attention to the WeChat public account and reply to "directed traffic" to inquire.
According to the mentioned steps, the reporter followed a public account named "Star Card Assistant" and sent "Directed Traffic" to get a series of directional traffic range serial numbers of different apps.
Then the reporter entered the serial number "6" to inquire about the targeted traffic range of Tencent Sports, but what he got was not the specific rules, but another introduction to the query keywords.
After some operations, the reporter still did not know the exact information on the scope and rules of the specific directional traffic use after inputting the query command three times.
To change the package, you need to ask about the terms and conditions
The speed increase and fee reduction have achieved success, but why do some users report that the perception is not obvious?
Major General Ding, an observer of Sankei, explained: "The unit price of traffic has definitely decreased, but the monthly cost of users may not necessarily decrease. For example, operators may increase the threshold for packages or users may consume more traffic due to network speed."
Yesterday, at the main forum of the World 5G Conference, Liu Liehong, chairman of China Unicom, delivered a keynote speech, saying that Chinese operators have provided cost-effective services. At the same time as traffic demand exploded, traffic revenue increased by only 0.7%, and the average revenue per user. It is equivalent to 18% of the United States, so it is impossible for the tariff level to continue to drop sharply against the law.
How to deal with the "assassin" of the data package?
Communication expert Xiang Ligang also gave advice: "When users change packages, they should learn about the content of the package in detail and inquire about the terms and conditions; users can download the operator's app and pay attention to the traffic usage in real time; for unreasonable charges, they can promptly report to the operator. Or complain to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to protect their rights and interests.”