I’m reaching the end of my mobile contract with Orange. I’ve been with the company since 1995 and they’ve always treated me pretty well. However, this last year I’ve seen my contract price increase and an increased push to get me onto 4G with EE which, strange as it might seem, I don’t actually want.
In the last month or two I’m getting around 3-4 calls per day from several companies wanting to upgrade my contract. I’m always really careful not to give out my number and I never, ever give out my contract renewal date, but these companies all know the exact day that I took out the original contract. Who’s told them this? Well, I obviously don’t have concrete evidence here, but I’m guessing it’s Orange / EE.
In addition to this, The Sunday Times is reporting that EE is offering location data, call and text records to Police. Research firm Ipsos Mori has data that reveals “gender, age, postcode, websites visited, time of day text is send [and] location of customer when call is made”.
Not only that, but thanks to an exclusive deal with EE, your…
…mobile phone use and location can be tracked in real time with records of movements, calls and texts also available for the previous six months.
The paper spoke to EE, who stated that it had authorised data to be released only in an aggregated, anonymised form to protect its customers. Details would be released only for groups of 50 people or more. Hmm.. strange. If your website history and location (to within 100 metres) is being sold on, it’s not exactly anonymous is it? My internet history includes Facebook profile visits, Twitter usernames and more. It would take minutes to figure out who I was, where I lived and where I worked.
i’ve been with t-mob for years and haven’t had any complaints until this last contract which has had 2 price hikes in the space of less than 2 years. i know the small print says they can do this, but it seems like sharp practice to me. tesco mobile next time i think as they promise that a contract is a contract and if you sign up for £25 for two years, that’s what you’ll pay….
I’m with t mobile and have also been getting calls to upgrade 2-3 times a day. that’s not so bad if it’s just to keep me as a cutomer but if they are collecting my data and selling it on to god knows who too do god knows what then that’s the end of that. Been with t mobile for about nine year’s and orange since 1994 with the same number so can’t imagine what they know about me time to get 3 sim only or gif gaf.
…and when you do decide to leave them, you either have to pay for an extra month on top of your contract, or their early termination fee. I’m so glad in Tesco mobile now!
it’s the same with all of them, and has been for years, no? I used to calls near the end of my vodafone contracts a decade ago
I’ve no evidence to suggest this is the case with Vodafone these days. I have been with them for several years and not got a single unsolicited call, aside from a couple of wrong numbers. In fact, if I were to find out that Vodafone had sold my info, I’d be out of there straight away.
EE appear to be quite despicable generally, and I really hope enough people see what they are doing and act accordingly. I mean, if you were getting something super cheap I could maybe understand this behaviour a little more (not condoning it), but EE is the most expensive network by far. Very poor show indeed.
End of contract date yes, but all of your personal data, browsing, locations, apps etc – that’s a new low from EE!