Dear Editor, In response to a letter published in the Observer Online dated Monday, March 30, 2014 entitled ‘Digicel, what’s eating up my credit?’, we have contacted Mr Selvern Francis and the issue has been resolved amicably.
To help customers get the most out of their smartphones and data experience, Digicel SIM cards come pre-configured for data service (GPRS). As such, once Mr Francis inserted the SIM card, applications on the phone began accessing the Internet for updates, which attracted a cost of J$40 per megabyte.
Additionally, for dual SIM devices like Mr Francis’ Samsung Galaxy Grand, the device usually selects one SIM card to be the primary account, which means that all data charges would be applied to that account.
In Mr Francis’ case, Digicel was the primary account; hence, the data charges were taken from the balance on the Digicel account.
As a general rule, smartphone applications will continue to update themselves even when they are not actively being used by the customer. This is not specific to any service provider. If a customer has active applications running on the phone without an active data plan, credit will be used to enable those apps to be updated.
We highly recommend that our customers activate one of our affordable data plans to get the most out of their smartphone applications. Otherwise, we advise them to close, sign out or uninstall unused applications, turn off the phone’s mobile data, or monitor the data usage app that comes with the phone.
To ensure that customers have a full understanding of their smartphones and mobile data, Digicel has embarked on a number of initiatives, including:
• A weekly radio programme — The Data Doctor — which airs on Nationwide News Network on Tuesdays at 2:00 pm.
• Weekly Tech features in print media.
• Weekly in-store Data Link-up sessions where customers are given the opportunity to interact with our 4G mobile data experts and have any of their data-related issues addressed.
• 4Genius data experts at sponsored events, which also allows customers to have any data-related issues addressed face-to-face.
•A ‘Walk Out Working’ service in every store, which allows customers to have their smartphones completely set up with e-mail, apps and a data plan.
We encourage customers who need additional information about data usage on their smartphones to call us directly at 100 or contact us via Facebook or Twitter. We are always more than happy to help.
Dwayne Tulloch Customer Care Director, Digicel
To help customers get the most out of their smartphones and data experience, Digicel SIM cards come pre-configured for data service (GPRS). As such, once Mr Francis inserted the SIM card, applications on the phone began accessing the Internet for updates, which attracted a cost of J$40 per megabyte.
Additionally, for dual SIM devices like Mr Francis’ Samsung Galaxy Grand, the device usually selects one SIM card to be the primary account, which means that all data charges would be applied to that account.
In Mr Francis’ case, Digicel was the primary account; hence, the data charges were taken from the balance on the Digicel account.
As a general rule, smartphone applications will continue to update themselves even when they are not actively being used by the customer. This is not specific to any service provider. If a customer has active applications running on the phone without an active data plan, credit will be used to enable those apps to be updated.
We highly recommend that our customers activate one of our affordable data plans to get the most out of their smartphone applications. Otherwise, we advise them to close, sign out or uninstall unused applications, turn off the phone’s mobile data, or monitor the data usage app that comes with the phone.
To ensure that customers have a full understanding of their smartphones and mobile data, Digicel has embarked on a number of initiatives, including:
• A weekly radio programme — The Data Doctor — which airs on Nationwide News Network on Tuesdays at 2:00 pm.
• Weekly Tech features in print media.
• Weekly in-store Data Link-up sessions where customers are given the opportunity to interact with our 4G mobile data experts and have any of their data-related issues addressed.
• 4Genius data experts at sponsored events, which also allows customers to have any data-related issues addressed face-to-face.
•A ‘Walk Out Working’ service in every store, which allows customers to have their smartphones completely set up with e-mail, apps and a data plan.
We encourage customers who need additional information about data usage on their smartphones to call us directly at 100 or contact us via Facebook or Twitter. We are always more than happy to help.
Dwayne Tulloch Customer Care Director, Digicel