Mystery Caller: parental controls

Mystery Caller wants a fashionable prepay handset for his younger brother, costing no more than £70. However, he needs a way of stopping him from accessing inappropriate content on the device. Can the networks provide the answers?

6: Virgin

I tried my best to get off the call, but Marion hadn’t finished with me yet…

Manner – 3/5
Understanding – 2/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 2/5
Total – 14/30

5: T-Mobile

She launched straight into full touchscreen handsets running off Android, assuming that’s what teenagers are into nowadays

Manner – 2/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 2/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 15/30

4: Orange

Someone needs to tell Orange that the Samsung Galaxy S III is now fi ve months old and is not new

Manner – 3/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 2/5
Helpfulness – 2/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 16/30

3: O2

I got the impression Michelle was unsure of what to recommend, asking if I was bothered if the price went slightly over my budget

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 3/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total –19/30

2: Vodafone

Vodafone’s website wasn’t loading very quickly, so I was left hanging while Sophie did her best to give me some options

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 4/5
Knowledge – 3/5
Helpfulness – 3/5
Clarity – 3/5
Overall – 3/5
Total – 20/30

1: Three

Scott wasted no time in suggesting that it might be more benefi cial to take out a contract – he was the only CSA to suggest this

Manner – 4/5
Understanding – 3/5
Knowledge – 4/5
Helpfulness – 4/5
Clarity – 4/5
Overall – 4/5
Total – 23/30

Summary

This was a closely-fought contest, with only nine points separating top from bottom. Most performed well, but nobody was outstanding.

The lack of detail in Marion’s answers at Virgin was poor and her attempts to direct me to the fi rm’s website just seemed lazy. T-Mobile’s Trudie was snappy and appeared to get bored with our call.

The product comparisons from Stephen at Orange seemed misleading and, like Marion, he seemed to adopt a lazy approach. Michelle at O2 performed well but was let down by her vague answer on content controls, with Sophie at Vodafone just slightly hesitant in places.

Scott edged it this week. He did lose direction with his answers towards the end, but had put in a strong performance up to that point.

Full article in Mobile News issue 526 (November 5, 2012).

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