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For communications consumers, the challenge of overcoming information overload to choose a new product and service is sometimes just too much. As one participant in the Seeking Straight Answers research puts it, "[I just want] someone to do the work, someone who knows what they're doing to find me the best deal...There's so many things you've gotta do that the inconvenience of doing all that outweighs any benefits you're going to get".

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network today called for new legislation that would mandate minimum standards around accessibility for content and communications services, which is necessary to ensure no Australians are excluded from the digital age.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is reviewing ways to combat scams carried out over telco networks (via phone, email and SMS) as a part of their Scam Technology Project. They invited public feedback on ways technology can block and minimise this type of scam activity, how consumers experience and avoid scams, and current challenges to stopping scam activity. ACCAN’s submission focuses on the consumer experience of scams, and how to improve consumer education about scam activity.

New research and guides released today by blind internet expert Dr Scott Hollier from Media Access Australia (MAA) aim to make Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter more accessible for people with a disability - to ensure one in five Australians aren’t left behind as social media use becomes more popular.

A reminder to ACCAN members that nominations for Directors to fill three vacancies on the ACCAN Board are now open and will close at 5pm AEDT 24 September 2013. Newly elected Board members at the 2013 AGM will sit for a three-year term until the Annual General Meeting in 2016.

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The NBN Transfer Code sets out principles for industry co-operation in the management of transfers of NBN services between retail service providers. Recently, the NBN Transfer Code was reviewed by the Communications Alliance.

In our submission ACCAN recommended that the Code be reconfirmed, and that:

  • the code be revised to include time-frames for the transfer of services;

  • the code be revised to oblige providers to inform consumers if a fault occurs in the transfer process;

  • the code incorporate reference to the Australian Privacy Principles for smaller providers in order to ensure a consistent industry wide approach to privacy.

Peak consumer body ACCAN says consumers trying to avoid high global roaming fees by buying a cheap travel SIM card at home or local SIM at their overseas destination are being hampered by the high cost of unlocking handsets.

Handset locking allows service providers to lock a mobile phone handset so it can only be used on their network. This is also known as network locking or device locking and is common practice in Australia. In order for consumers to use another SIM card while travelling, they must first unlock their handset.  

With less than two weeks until the 2013 Federal Election, there's still a lot of confusion among the general public regarding the National Broadband Network (NBN), one of the biggest election issues. ACCAN has compared both parties' NBN policies, including what the Greens think, as we want all consumers to have a clearer idea of what the competing NBN policies will offer them.

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Calling Number Display (CND) allows the people you call to see your telephone number displayed on the screen of their telephone. It applies to both mobile phones and landlines. If you don't have a silent line, unlisted number or have not blocked CND, the people you call will generally be able to see your number on their telephone screen.

The CND feature has important privacy implications because there may be times when consumers don't want their number identified to the person they are calling. Recently, the Calling Number Display Guideline was reviewed by the Communications Alliance.

In our submission ACCAN recommended that the Guideline be reconfirmed, and that:

ACCAN says it welcomes the release of a draft revised Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) Code today, giving stakeholders a month to provide feedback as to whether the new rules will improve consumer protections for Australian residential and small business customers.

When the trial of audio description (AD) ended on 5 November last year, Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy acknowledged the strong desire for the service to continue and agreed to work together with all parties towards establishing a permanent AD service on Australian TV in the future.

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In 2019, the telco industry is reviewing the Mobile Premium Services (MPS) Code. Mobile Premium Services (MPS) allow consumers to pay for digital content (like apps or games) and services (like competition entries, voting and charity donations) on their mobile phone account or using pre-paid credit.

The MPS Code aims to safeguard consumers from an industry which has a history of poor practice.

ACCAN believes that many of the additional protections proposed in the public consultation will have little or no substantive effect on consumer outcomes due to their limited scope and applicability.

Transcript of the speech given by ACCAN Chief Executive Teresa Corbin at the CommsDay Melbourne Congress.

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Major Australian consumer advocacy organisations have launched a campaign to “kill CAPTCHA”, the annoying and discriminatory tests used by websites to prove users are human.

The ACCC is reviewing the performance standards that NBN provides to its customers (telco retailers). This includes NBN response times to fix problems on its network and get consumer premises connected. Currently, these standards and any penalties for breaches are contained in commercial contracts with NBN’s customers. The ACCC is reviewing whether further measures are required to improve NBN’s service.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) today launched a new guide for consumers that explains their rights in relation to mobile phone, landline, internet and pay TV services.

The guide, Making the Right Call, summarises in plain language what rights customers have under the newly registered Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code and other laws, regulations and industry codes.

“This guide is essential for phone and internet customers in Australia, because it explains your rights in simple terms, including what to look for when signing up for services. It also has tips on what you can expect once you’ve signed up for a service and what you should do if something goes wrong,” said ACCAN Chief Executive Officer Teresa Corbin.

ACCAN has been asked to nominate two consumer representatives to sit on the Communications Compliance Advisory Committee. Communications Compliance is a newly formed company established to monitor telecommunication industry compliance with the recently approved Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code.

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The Federal Government is reviewing Telstra’s Carrier Licence as the existing one is due to expire in April 2019. The Government has proposed to maintain the existing conditions of Telstra’s licence with some minor amendments for current policies.

ACCAN has proposed that the remaking of Telstra’s licence conditions offers the opportunity to improve Telstra’s network reliability framework that reports Telstra’s network performance. Telstra’s copper network will remain important in regional areas outside the fixed NBN footprint such that improved monitoring continues to be important after the NBN is rolled out.

Peak consumer body ACCAN say the results of a study released today shed a stark light on the challenges involved in connecting up remote indigenous communities, where very few residents have been online and many have never used a computer.

ACCAN is accepting Expressions of Interest to fill a vacancy on its Independent Grants Panel.  The role of the Panel is to assess eligible applications to the ACCAN Independent Grants Scheme and recommend the strongest to the ACCAN Board for funding.

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Image of a calculator Telecommunication services are essential for ensuring public health and safety, promoting access to educational and employment opportunities as well as social inclusiveness. ACCAN’s Pre-Budget Submission 2019-20 identifies market gaps and provides recommendations on telecommunications initiatives that will benefit consumers including:

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), Blind Citizens Australia, Media Access Australia and Vision Australia welcome the announcement by Senator Stephen Conroy of an audio description trial to commence on ABC1 television in the second half of 2012, which will provide a voice description of the visual broadcast for people who are blind or vision impaired. 

Audio description provides a narrative soundtrack that runs alongside audio and describes actions and non-verbal cues that are occurring on screen so that people who are blind and vision-impaired can fully enjoy programs on television.

National Telework Week is running from 12 to 16 November 2012. Telework is working regularly from a place other than the office, in most cases from a home office. During National Telework Week businesses are encouraged to trial telework by allowing their employees to work remotely for one or more days during the week and register their involvement online.

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Parts 7 and 8 of the Telecommunications Act provide an important basis to ensure that broadband networks operate in a similar way and to the benefit of consumers. They require network operators to offer services to any retail providers on request (offer open access on a non-discriminatory basis) and that they must operate separate to the retail level (wholesale only). While these specify the operation of networks, the ultimate aim is to ensure competitive networks exist that benefit consumer by increasing choice of providers.

Since 2012 Telstra have had an exemption to comply with these requirements in the South Brisbane network area. Telstra have now requested a further extension, with the Minister for Communications and the Arts has proposing an extension to January 2020 (designated day).

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