How do you pay your phone and internet bills? Direct debit from a bank account or credit card? Over the phone or online? How about by BPAY or in person at your provider's store or Australia Post?

The amount of billing methods available is overwhelming. Each provider has a different range of options, but there are some common ones like those mentioned above.

When choosing how to pay your bill, you should be aware that some methods attract fees. While these are only usually a few dollars or a small percentage of the total amount, over the life of a contract they can add up to a significant amount that you could be saving.

Read more: How do you pay your bill?

Key telecommunication consumer and social welfare groups today called on the Productivity Commission to consider more fully affordability issues in the Inquiry on the Telecommunications Universal Service Obligation (USO). The national peak body for communications consumers, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), backed the submission from the South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS) to the Inquiry. SACOSS argues that the Commission’s Draft Report and recommendations underestimate the challenges faced by many Australian households in paying for telecommunications. The Draft Report proposes incorporating broadband as a baseline universal service, but largely dismisses telecommunications affordability issues as limited in scope and relevance. SACOSS is highlighting these issues to the Productivity Commission at a public hearing for the Inquiry today.

“The Universal Service Obligation is a crucial element in ensuring that all Australians have access to modern communications which are necessary for commerce, education, social inclusion and dealing with government,” said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin. “Affordable services must be a big part of that equation so that all consumers can access the benefits offered by being connected to the internet.

Read more: Productivity Commission needs to take affordability seriously in current telecommunications Inquiry

ACCAN recently made a submission to the Attorney-General’s second round consultation on Australia’s Privacy Act (1988). The discussion paper made a number of proposals developed in consideration of the feedback to the first round of consultation in late 2020. ACCAN had made a comprehensive submission to this first round, and we were pleased to see that many of the proposals put forward in the second round positively reflected our positions.

Read more: Privacy Act Review Issues Paper

ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin, presented at the CommsDay Summit 2016 in Sydney on 4 April. This year's CommsDay Summit brought together telecoms industry leaders and politicians from across the country to discuss topics including the NBN, fixed and wireless technologies and the market.

The speakers included Minister for Communications and the Arts, Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield, Shadow Communications Minister, Jason Clare, as well as representatives from nbn, Vodafone, Telstra, Optus and other telecommunications providers.

Teresa's presentation focused on three of ACCAN's six key priorities for consumers in 2016:

• Improved affordability for low income consumers
• Future protections and universal communications services
• Improved consumer decision making

Some of these priorities were also highlighted at ACCAN's Meet the People Forum held at Parliament House in Canberra in February, 2016. The presentation also provided an overview of ACCAN's suite of consumer education materials.

Read more: ACCAN presentation at CommsDay Summit 2016

In its Pre-Budget Submission for the 2017-18 Budget, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has urged the Federal Government to allocate funding to telecommunications initiatives that will benefit consumers. ACCAN’s recommendations include ongoing funding for the Mobile Black Spot Program, ongoing funding to ensure that the Universal Service Obligation (USO) continues until new safeguards and programs are in place and funding for a broadband performance monitoring program.

“The Mobile Black Spot Program is delivering new or improved coverage for many areas across the country,” said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin. “The first two rounds of the Program will fund more than 750 new or upgraded mobile base stations, but there are many more mobile black spots that need funding, which is why we’re calling for ongoing funding for the Program in our Pre-Budget Submission.”

Read more: ACCAN urges Government to allocate budget funds to mobile expansion, USO and broadband monitoring

ACCAN has made a submission to the Department of the Treasury’s Exposure Draft Designation for the Telco Sector CDR.

As previously submitted, ACCAN supports the inclusion of the Telco sector in the Government’s CDR regime.

We were pleased to note that many of our previously recommended data sets were included in the Designation. However, we believe that the CDR will provide greater consumer benefit when additional data sets related to broadband speed and reliability are able to be included in the regime.

Read more: Consumer Data Right (CDR) Telco Sector Designation

Many plans, including pre-paid plans and some month to month plans, on the market now work on a '28 day month' meaning your credit expires after 28 days, rather than the traditional 30 or 31 days of a calendar month. This is not an entirely new practice, but it is a price hike that will affect consumers who prefer pre-paid plans or month to month contracts that do not lock you in. These consumers will get 13 bills during the year rather than 12.

Twenty-eight day plans are used by Optus, Telstra, Vodafone, Virgin Mobile and amaysim. Optus, Telstra and Vodafone also offer 30 day pre-paid plans.

Read more: What ‘28 day months’ mean for you

The Regional, Rural and Remote Communications Coalition is concerned reliable home phone services in the bush may be soon put at risk under proposed changes to the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

Members of the Coalition have today appeared at the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the USO in Sydney.

As part of the Inquiry, the Productivity Commission is examining the possibility of changing how voice services are delivered, so that the NBN network is primarily used to deliver voice services. This could affect rural and remote consumers who are using the nbn Sky Muster satellite and have little to no access to mobile services. Effectively this could mean future voice services for rural and remote Australians could be delivered via satellite.

“While we acknowledge the logic in transitioning to more modern infrastructure, this does not escape the fact that in rural and remote areas a majority of users would be serviced via satellite which does not provide the same reliability or performance to what is currently available,” said Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) CEO, Teresa Corbin.

Read more: #datadrought Coalition comes out in force in support of maintaining landline services

ACCAN recently made a submission to the Attorney General’s consultation on the Online Privacy Bill Exposure Draft.

ACCAN supports the implementation of online privacy protections and was pleased to see the following initiatives have been included in the Bill,

Read more: Online Privacy Bill Exposure Draft

The Department of Communications and the Arts (DoCA) has released the Guidelines for Round 2 of the Mobile Black Spot Programme (MBSP). This means that the competitive bidding process for the Federal subsidy of $60 million by the three mobile network providers has now started.

ACCAN has compared the Round 1 and Round 2 Guidelines to identify what has changed. The Guidelines list all the criteria that the Federal Government will take into account when assessing whether to subsidise a particular site. Each criterion has a different weighting. Some of the weightings have changed this time round, and importantly there is a new 'remoteness of location criterion.' We are hopeful that this may encourage mobile coverage expanding into more remote areas where it is so badly needed. The main changes to note in the Assessment Criteria are:

Read more: Changes to Mobile Black Spot Programme criteria for Round 2

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) will tomorrow appear before the Productivity Commission at a public hearing in Sydney to voice concerns about its Draft Inquiry Report on the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

The USO underpins consumers’ access to phone services, including payphones. While many may have never heard about the USO, it is an important obligation that aims to ensure voice services are available and accessible to all Australians.

“Unfortunately, the USO is stuck in the past and is not relevant for all the services that consumers need these days, including broadband – something which we are thankful the Productivity Commission has recognised,” said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin. “However, the direction that the Commission is advising may put some consumers at risk of a reduced service level, and being isolated from society and the community.”

Phone and internet are essential services which should be available to all consumers. The mechanism to deliver these services needs to be reformed to ensure that it is independently accountable and transparent. Many consumer rights and protections hang off of the USO, so it is vital that the frame work which establishes the baseline services is solid.

Read more: ACCAN voices concerns on communication services

Recently, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) requested comment on a Ministerial Instrument which will help telecommunications providers to properly authenticate their customers and protect consumers against fraudulent activity and misuse of their telco accounts.

Read more: ACMA Customer ID Determination

Telstra's major mobile network failure this week reminds us just how important it is to have a backup plan for our telecommunications.

As we rely more heavily on telecommunications to do business, it is important to develop a Business Continuity Plan for future loss of services. You need a plan for all your services: mobile, landline, broadband and any systems that rely on telecommunications networks such as EFTPOS terminals and security monitoring. You could be faced with a complete telecommunications outage from a natural disaster or another partial outage like the Telstra one that we experienced on 9 February, 2016.

Read more: Preparing small businesses for a telecommunications outage

The Regional, Rural and Remote Communications Coalition has welcomed the release of the Productivity Commission’s (PC) draft report into the Universal Service Obligation (USO) with its finding that the current arrangements are in need of reform, sooner rather than later.

Achieving a USO that is technology neutral and that provides access to both voice and data is one of the fundamental pillars that prompted the formation of this Coalition.

NSW Farmers Association President, Derek Schoen, said: “It is pleasing that the PC has recognised that the current USO agreement is out of date and that voice and broadband access should be part of the USO into the future.

Read more: Regional Coalition welcomes push for data and voice in the USO

ACCAN has recently responded to a consultation which sought views on nbn Co’s proposal to develop a quality assurance mark (the Mark) for network extension devices. The aim of the Mark is to assist the agricultural sector in reaching its productivity potential via digital technologies, specifically through extending home-based NBN connections beyond the home.

Read more: Connecting Australia’s agricultural landscape

A group of like-minded advocacy groups have come together to end the data drought by forming the Regional, Rural and Remote Communications Coalition to champion better communications services for consumers and small businesses living in rural, remote or regional areas.

The Coalition includes the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), the Country Women’s Association of NSW, the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association and AgForce Queensland.

“The Coalition was formed to highlight the collective concerns of families, businesses and communities in rural and regional Australia about the lack of equitable access to reliable and quality telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia,” ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin said.

Read more: New Coalition formed to end the data drought

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications is reviewing 5 legislative instruments which determine how payphones are provided across Australia. The instruments cover payphone location, installation, removal, performance, consultation and complaint handling. In response to the review, ACCAN argued that the instruments should be remade and refined to provide greater consumer protections and to meet the needs of local communities.

Read more: Review of sunsetting payphone instruments

The Government has announced delays to the start date of cost information and usage notifications for mobile resellers. The international mobile roaming warnings were due to begin in May 2016, but have been pushed back until 2018.

Read more: International roaming usage notifications delayed

A major report into telecommunications affordability today launched jointly by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) and the South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS) highlights concerns about low-income consumers in staying connected to telecommunications services.

The report, Connectivity Costs: Telecommunications Affordability for Low-Income Australians, which was based on a survey of over 500 Centrelink recipients and low-income Health Care Card holders, as well as a series of focus groups, found that:

• 66 per cent of respondents rated telecommunications among the five most important factors in their household budget; but
• 62 per cent reported difficulty paying, having to cut back or that they had stopped using one or more telecommunications services for financial reasons in the last 12 months.
  
  

Read more: Telecommunications affordability report shows those on low incomes missing out

ACCAN recently responded to a consultation which sought views on the instruments under Part 20A of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act). Part 20A of the Act requires real estate developers to install fibre-ready ‘pit and pipe’ infrastructure in proximity to buildings prior to the developer selling or leasing the building. The requirement to provide fibre-ready pit and pipe, which facilitates fibre installation in new developments (with exemptions to the requirement captured in a 2011 Instrument and a 2021 Instrument) is now under review.

Read more: Review of instruments under Part 20A of the Telecommunications Act 1997

ACCAN has today released the 2016 ACCAN Grants Guidelines ahead of the Scheme's opening on Monday 8th February, 2016. The Scheme will be accepting applications for five weeks: from 8th February until 15th March, 2016 (please note the earlier closing round this year, due to an earlier Easter).

The ACCAN Grants Scheme funds projects that work towards a telecommunications market that is fair and inclusive for all – a market which is available, accessible and affordable. Projects focus on developing research, representation, or educational tools that address issues for telecommunications consumers in Australia.

If you have a great idea for a project which relates to a systemic and ongoing issue faced by phone or internet consumers, get in touch with us to chat about project ideas. The best applications are those that have consulted with ACCAN and have a thorough understanding of the work we do and the current policy issues we engage with.

Read more: 2016 Grants Scheme Guidelines released today

In a speech at the CommsDay Melbourne Congress 2016, ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin, outlined eight major priority areas for ACCAN in 2016-17. The consumer centred priorities relate to ACCAN’s core focus area of achieving affordable, available and accessible communications products and services for all Australians.

As an organisation, ACCAN represents all residential consumers and small businesses, including not-for-profit organisations. Each policy priority aims to address a segment of the market that is not working for a group or groups within Australia.

Read more: ACCAN launches 2016-17 policy priorities

ACCAN has recently made a submission to the Treasury on its Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS), which explores possible changes to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The changes are aimed at helping consumers access remedies (e.g. a repair, replacement, or refund) when a product or service doesn’t work the way it should. The Consultation RIS also explores ways to help retailers get compensation from manufacturers when a product is faulty. ACCAN supported some of the changes proposed in the RIS, including the introduction of incentives to make sure retailers always provide a remedy when consumers are entitled to one.

Read more: ACCAN feedback on Treasury Consultation Regulation Impact Statement on changes to the Australian...

Residents of the Northern Illawarra area in New South Wales have been experiencing poor broadband services for some time. With a population of about 20,000, there are around 7,100 households in the area.

Despite being less than 55 kilometres from the centre of Sydney, a large number of the residents have access to broadband that is little better than dial up services. Some have no ADSL connection at all.

Frustrated by the lack of services, residents in the area have started a Facebook page – 2508+ Disconnected – to band together so they have a stronger voice to let telcos, ISPs and relevant stakeholders know about the lack of quality services available in the area. The 2508+ Disconnected group is an ACCAN organisational member.

Read more: Battling for better broadband