BP's Weblog

I recently decided that, given my various VoIP experiments, and the resulting affect on number of cell minutes I was using, that it was high time I ditched the expensive, though gadget-friendly cell-phone service plan I'd been living with.

My solution was to find a decent replacement. At the rate I was paying, I'll come out multiple hundreds of dollars ahead on the year using a phone like this for my mobile cavorting. And, with fun automated dialing hacks, who needs to give anyone their cellphone number anymore anyway?

Unfortunately, pay-as-you-go phones come at a price... they are sold without credit checks, so there tends to be a lot more, er, scrutiny, in transactions associated with them. When I went to T-Mo's website tonight to put my first recharge on the phone's minutes, I wasn't expecting nearly the process that follows.

1. Fill out form on website. Technically, anyone who wants to can buy me cell minutes, if they know my cell number. Of course, you'd have to go through the rest of this process, too.
2. As a matter of course when filling out the online requests, you, as payer (not as recipient of minutes) are asked for a number you'll be reachable at during the next hour, for “fullfillment” purposes. I assumed this meant a number they could use if the destination phone number for credit was wrong. Not so...
3. After waiting almost 2 hours, and wondering where my $100 had just gone, I called the number provided in the “confirmation” page from the website:
   1. Identify self.
   2. Explain what has happened (or rather, hasn't).
   3. Get put on hold while the friendly representative checks to see if he can find the “representative” who was handling my order.
   4. “That representative is busy, I'm going to help you”
   5. Round one of personal credit questions. Check address. Check partial SSN (mind you, I've never given T-Mo, or the web order form, any of this information - so it seems a little odd that they even can corroborate such information). At this point, I ask who I'm talking to, since I don't normally start handing out SSN info without knowing why. The guy sounds totally understanding, and explains he works for a company that does these kinds of checks for several other companies in the business... I think he said “Besta”, but I'm having a hard time pulling up a Google reference. In the very least, they handle Cingular and T-Mobile, though I think he mentioned others, as well.
   6. After providing the basics, I'm put on hold again. In another minute or two, the guy comes back. This time, he's asking questions that could only have been pulled from my credit record.... only, in a very interesting format. One of the questions identified where I had had a previous address. The question was “Answer yes or no to the following question” followed by the names of several counties (all in the general vicinity of previous addresses of mine, though scattered around two of the previous states I've lived in). After passing that question, I was asked an age-range question regarding someone who I'm closely related to... same format, “24-31”, “31-45”, etc. Pick the right answer. Not hard, amusing for the way they build in the ability for people to answer correctly, without having to remember/know the exact details anymore. Contrast this to Safeway who's always asking me my telephone number. Like I remember exactly which telephone number I've ever given to Safeway?
   7. After all of that, my payment was processed immediately, and I was assured that future transactions using the same card would go through without delay.

Now, I understand this process. Companies are always trying to avoid getting hit for a pile of services on a stolen credit card, since they generally eat much of the cost of services rendered in such situations. And, I did purchase the biggest and baddest unit of currency - also, of course, the one with the most appropriate rate: also the easiest unit of retail for a would-be-theif to negotiate without having to constantly go re-up the plan.

Was it necessary? Perhaps, in the long run, this is the right thing to do. But, I gave them the same personal information, and credit card, when I bought the phone at the local (company) retail store. It all got put into the computer (anyone thinking prepaid phones are anonymous is likely to be sorely mistaken). I was buying currency for my own phone. Seems like they could short-circuit this process. The ~13 minutes of operator time involved costs them money, too.

Amusing aside: On prepaid plans, you can rarely get into Voicemail and other services without using up (relatively expensive) minutes. VoIP to the rescue - dialing the Voicemail number directly won't allow access, even for leaving a message. But, calling the voicemail number with caller ID set to the number of the cell phone - well, that works much better. And it only costs me 1.1cent/minute, vs. 10 cents or more. Woohoo for phone hacking.