Forum Discussion
Data charges for "data-less" plan
I have 2 pre paid phones, both setup with Talk & Text for the kids with no data.
Everything has been fine for a few years. Recently noticed the phones were getting topped up $10 every day. Checked the Telus Mobility usage logs and saw data charges. $13 for 7 Megabytes, 16 cents for 75 Kilobytes, etc. Checked the phones usage logs and the data consumed was mostly from application push requests. Email refresh, Apple Music data refresh, etc. Kids weren't even aware they had data (neither was I) so never tried to use it...thankfully at those prices.
Called Telus and was told that the phones get access to data even though the plan didn't include data. Apparently all phones have access to data regardless of the plan selected? Asked why such little data consumption was so expensive and the rep could not answer that question. Asked why data was suddenly enabled at the end of July and she could not answer that question either. Requested assurance that these phones would be removed from all data access and was told that would cost me $2 per device.
I never requested data, suddenly was getting charged for data and need to pay more to have that data disabled even though the plan I am currently on does not provide data. I am hoping Telus did an update to their systems which broke something because if not, this is fraudulent.
To her credit, the rep was very friendly and credited me back the data charges, but she had no answers to the important questions. No point continuing to push someone who is in the middle and truly is at a loss for an explanation. So now I had $2 added to each plan. $4 / month extra is nothing, but it's the principle.
Has anyone else had this experience with pre paid?
5 Replies
TELUS_SupportOfficial Support Team
Hello Chrisq, it's true that smartphones will use mobile internet or Wi-Fi internet because it's the way they were made. They'll need internet for updates and the apps themselves need data to stay up to date. If we add a mobile data block here, it's a $2 fee per month but you should be able to block the mobile data from your devices. A simple Google search with the names/models of your phones will show you how to disable the mobile data.
Yes, I understand cellular data can be disabled at the device level. With kids, they will just turn it back on which is why these plans never had data in the first place…ever. Saying this is the fault of the smartphone is BS. The smartphone consumes what is available, it cannot manipulate Telus systems to provide data that otherwise shouldn’t be there. If Hydro turned off my power, simply turning on a light won’t magically restore my power because the light was made to consume power. That response is as misrepresenting as the issue this post is addressing.
My question is, why after all these years am I suddenly being charged for data on a data-less plan? This started at the end of July. Why is the “courtesy” data so expensive and why offer a data-less plan if you need to pay more for that data-less plan to actually be data-less.
That is misrepresentation of Talk & Text.
- NFtoBC
Community Power User
If your kids can’t be trusted to not consume data, pay the extra $2 for the data block.
My car has ‘teen mode’ which prevents excessive speed, and other behaviours. If the teen learns to bypass it, that’s not the car/manufacturer’s fault.
