A modern person cannot imagine himself without a mobile phone. To be in touch everywhere and always, to be able to communicate with relatives around the clock, to maintain many business contacts is the norm of our time.
The world is wider than it seems
With the development of mobile communications, the telephone market has grown rapidly. Large operators are fighting for consumer attention, offering more and more new tariffs, various functions and additional services. Every year the use of a mobile phone is becoming more convenient.
The giants of the mobile market in the face of fierce competition are ready to offer customers a solution to all or almost all problems. One of these weaknesses for the time being was a temporary lack of communication for various reasons - from network failures to a discharged subscriber phone.
Several telecom operators undertook to liquidate the breakthrough. Almost every major player on the mobile field has its own methods for tracking failed calls and transmitting information to customers. One of the leading telecom operators in the Russian market is Beeline. What does he offer his customers?
New features from Beeline
By introducing a new, modern “Be in the know” service, Beeline provides its subscribers with additional amenities. Now no call will be missed! Previously, this was possible if the subscriber’s phone was disconnected (for example, discharged), was out of network coverage, or the subscriber simply could not answer the call.
Now everything is different. If you cannot get through to someone, your failed interlocutor will receive an SMS message about the call as soon as his phone becomes available again. Of course, only if he has this option connected.
The same applies to you. If you have activated the “Be in the know” service, Beeline will carefully inform you of all the callers at a time when, for example, you were attending an important meeting (naturally, turning off the phone) or did not hear calls in the noise of city streets. The total number of calls from each subscriber and their exact time will also be indicated.
Clarify the conditions
Does Beeline "Keep in touch" allow us to connect for free? Or is it a paid service? What are the general conditions for connecting / disconnecting this option? The most detailed information on the topic can be obtained on the official website of the operator.
Especially convenient is the use of your personal account. Each Beeline subscriber, by default, has its own account on the site, the login to which is the phone number. You can get into your office for the first time by receiving a password to enter. The password can be sent by SMS by special request or to the email address that you want to specify.
Once in your personal account, the user has the opportunity to get details of their calls for a certain period, check the balance or specify the tariff. "Be in the know" Beeline positions itself as a free service. That is, the subscription fee for it is not taken either with a prepaid or postpaid payment system.
But is this “chip” from Beeline “Be in the know” really completely free? The cost of disconnecting or connecting a service with the help of a support center operator is as much as 45 rubles, which Beeline explicitly informs customers in the service description section.
How to connect the service?
To activate the service, dial * 110 * 401 # and press the dial key. The telephone number for connecting the option is 0674 09 401. The command to disable "Be in the know" Beeline provided the following: * 110 * 400 #, pressing the dialer key. Similarly, a shutdown can be performed by calling 0674 09 400.
How relevant is this service? The consumer must decide for himself whether he needs to be aware. Beeline positions it as necessary and extremely useful, but everyone makes the final choice for himself. Obviously, this service will be very useful for those who have many business contacts and simply do not have the right to miss an important call. For subscribers who lead a more measured way of life and use the phone mainly for personal conversations, it may not be necessary.
News from Beeline
With the development of the mobile services market, Beeline alone decided not to be limited. Recently, a new, more "advanced" option "Be in the know +" has been introduced. Obviously, it is assumed that it will replace the former, and that it will join the ranks of archival services. That is, it will become inaccessible to new connections.
What is the difference? What does Beeline keep up with Beeline? The description of the new "chip" with the "+" sign states that if you are unavailable, then your subscriber will no longer have to listen to dull beeps or the message "subscriber is unavailable". Instead, he will be asked to leave a voice message. And you will receive an SMS notification that "such-and-such and such-and-such" has left a message for you, and you can listen to it by a specific short number. Moreover, the number for each message is separate, and the message of your interlocutor is stored for at least 24 hours.
If you suddenly delete one of these messages, then there is nothing wrong with that. There is a short number 0646, by dialing which, you can listen to all messages left for you over the last day.
There are limitations. The duration of each message is no more than 40 seconds. And such messages per day, the subscriber can receive no more than 30.
In the event that your failed interlocutor does not want to trouble yourself with a voice message, you will simply be sent an SMS about the missed call.
What is the price of the question?
If initially the new service was positioned as free, then Beeline later changed its mind. At the time of writing this article (August 2014), the monthly fee for the “Be in the know +” service is 60 kopecks per day, which is about 18 rubles per month. The amount, it would seem, is insignificant and completely pays for itself for those who need to receive a voice message from the caller.
But it should be remembered that those who leave a voice message will also pay for it. The exact amount will depend on its own tariff. And inevitably the question arises, is this paid service really needed. After all, during the conversation, only one interlocutor pays - the one who called. And if the conversation did not happen, both the caller — for the message left to the “elusive” message, as well as its addressee — pay by daily payment of the service. Moreover, the subscription fee for the provided option will be deducted from him even if the caller does not even think to leave any message - after all, the service is still connected.
What do consumers think?
An ordinary consumer of communication services very often does not even know which services are connected to him. Not everyone will begin to meticulously check the balance every day and will not notice the write-off of such a small amount. Many do not even remember which tariff they use. And if they suddenly become puzzled by this issue, then not everyone will come to a personal account and thoroughly figure everything out.
Meanwhile, when switching to a number of new tariffs (for example, to the “Zero Doubt” tariff), this option is connected automatically, which the consumer is notified in small print at the very end of the description of the tariff plan conditions. There is also a link to detailed information about the service, which also implies a way to disable it. Although in most cases the description page remains unavailable, for which Beeline apologizes.
Thus, the consumer has every chance of getting an all-inclusive option. And he will think, refuse him (spending an additional 45 rubles, which are taken when disconnected through the operator) or give up a small amount and leave everything as it is, even if he does not need this service at all.
The vast majority of consumers will not be trifled with because of such a meager amount. But the unpleasant residue from the imposed service still remains.
To summarize
This service is important and necessary. And for most subscribers, the fee for it is purely symbolic. In addition, the opportunity to find out about the content of an important missed call, as they say, is worth a lot.
For those who basically do not want to overpay even a penny for an unnecessary service, there is always the possibility of disconnection - it is worthwhile to show minimal persistence.