Ombudsman Services (formerly OTELO), an Ofcom UK approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme / consumer complaints handler, has warned that Mobile Broadband operators still aren't doing enough to protect people against BILL SHOCKS that can occur when somebody exceeds their mobile data allowance.

The news follows shortly after Strategy Analytics’ released its latest report into the growth of Mobile Hotspots and USB Modems (Dongles), which found that the Mobile Broadband Device market will claim a global installed base of over 525 million units by 2016.

Earlier this year Cisco's Visual Networking Index (VNI) also reported (here) that global mobile data traffic had nearly tripled for the third year in a row (up by 159% over 2009).


The EU has already introduced a number of new measures to help prevent Mobile Broadband "bill shocks", including lower wholesale data prices and new usage caps/warnings. However these were mostly focused upon roaming charges and consumers can still be hit by big bills, although the days of massive ones appear to finally be passing.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has also toughened its stance on abuses of the term "unlimited" (here), although this only covers access and not cost. Meanwhile the European Commission (EC) has put forward a new set of proposals (here) that could eventually make it "significantly" cheaper to surf the internet from your Mobile Broadband connection while abroad (within the EU).

In the meantime Ombudsman Services wants consumers to make "reasonable efforts" to understand the limits of the package they are on and take steps to understand the terms and conditions of what they are buying, before they sign up to a fixed contract. Easier said than done.