Weird connection maneuvers at Danycom. “Insurance at zero” in “Beeline”: a day to think about after the financial blocking. Why are operators in no hurry (to put it mildly) to introduce such a convenient service for their subscribers? Probably because, first of all, they think about their own profit, and not about the comfort of their subscribers, no matter how much you and I would like it.
Danycom, action “There are no SIM-ok too many!”
In the spring of this year, I wrote about the Danycom campaign “4 sim cards in one hand”, meaning 4 sim cards with free tariffs, you can read our review here. It looked somewhat strange, since the operator traditionally followed its rule “one passport – one SIM card with a free tariff.” The reason is clear: there would certainly be those who want to use several SIM cards in turn, thus organizing free mobile communication for themselves. Nevertheless, in March 2020, they did it. Now a repeat of the action, you can read the news on the Danycom website here.
The promotion is called “There is never enough SIM-ok!”, Announced from July 16 to August 15, 2020. It works as follows: if you have already registered two free tariffs “Free” and “Call for free”, then you can order one more SIM card of the same tariffs, in total you get four. If you are not a Danycom customer yet, then you can order four sim cards at once, two of each free tariff.
And two weeks later, on August 4, 2020, they publish another news on the same topic, quote:
“Due to the unstable epidemiological situation in certain regions of the Russian Federation and the threat of the spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), as well as in order to strengthen measures to prevent the incidence of influenza and acute respiratory viral infections, employees of the DANYCOM group of companies have been transferred to a remote mode of operation.
In this regard, the acceptance of applications for connection to DANYCOM.Mobile communication services has been temporarily suspended ”.
They promise that all previously accepted orders will be processed and sim cards will be sent to customers. Unusually, none of the Big Four operators stopped their connections due to the pandemic. Have you changed your mind about giving out free plans and decided to use quarantine as an excuse? Maybe so, or maybe everything is simpler. Surely there are not so many employees working at Danycom, and it was enough for one or two to get sick, and the rest, accordingly, go under quarantine for the work on registration to stop.
“Beeline”, “Insurance at zero”
Less than two years later, Beeline also made their own version of the SOS package, calling it “Zero Insurance”. After the financial block is triggered (the money on the balance has run out), you can use messengers, Yandex and Google mapping services, as well as the Beeline payment card application for another day. A couple of quotes from the press release:
“Zero Insurance” retains access to WhatsApp, Viber, Skype and a number of other messengers, Yandex.Maps, Yandex.Navigator, Google maps, as well as the Beeline payment card application for 24 hours from the moment the number is blocked. At the same time, the Internet traffic of applications during this period does not consume the main Internet package and is provided free of charge.
It is enough to activate the service once in the “My Beeline” mobile application with a positive balance. “Insurance at zero” is activated automatically every time the account runs out of funds and the number is blocked, and will be valid for the next 24 hours. After this period, the client needs to replenish the account in an amount sufficient to enter a positive balance.
The service is available for connection on prepaid tariff plans. Zero Insurance is only valid for smartphones. “
The service is free. Please note that this new service works only on prepaid tariffs, postpaid, as usual, “in flight”.
In Tele2, a similar service with the name SOS package has been operating since September 2018, you can read the press release here, the description of the service here. Since the versions of Tele2 and Beeline are very similar, one cannot help comparing. The Beeline version is functionally richer; Yandex.Maps, Yandex.Navigator, Google maps, almost all messengers, Tele2 WhatsApp and Yandex navigation applications remain available. But in Tele2, their package is valid from one to three days, three days for tariffs with a monthly subscription fee, one day – with a daily fee, and in Beeline – exactly one day. Well, we take into account who “licked” the idea from whom, it was already possible to creatively finalize it in two years. In some places, they even reworked creatively, causing my just irritation: in Tele2, the service automatically works for everyone at the current tariffs, and in Beeline they set up a circus with horses, the service is connected only to those who download the application “My Beeline” and in it this is happiness for themselves activates. They came up with a curious idea, yes, but they did not forget to advertise their concern for the client. Surely the official “excuse” from “Beeline” will be “the service is available only on smartphones, so we did such an activation!” So, although I have been using Beeline for more than 10 years, and a sim card in my smartphone, this grace will not automatically descend – alas! – on my quite a valid tariff.
You can read the description of the “Insurance at zero” service here, although there is nothing special to read, everything is simple and clear. I would also like to bring to your attention our two-year-old review here, this is also about “SOS” Tele2. A couple of quotes:
“This is a good thing and may well come in handy not only on a trip, but also at home. If the balance is zero or negative, the operator provides customers with access to the WhatsApp messenger and navigation applications Yandex.Navigator, Yandex. Maps ”and“ Yandex.Transport ”. The “SOS package” is valid both in the home region and on trips across Russia. The main thing is that it connects and disconnects automatically, you don’t need to do anything yourself. For one or three days (depending on the tariff), a modern and progressive smartphone user can continue to live a full and rich telecom life, even if, in the confusion of communication, he suddenly forgets to top up his balance.
Indeed, what else can you need to be completely happy, besides the universal WhatsApp messenger? Is that navigation, in order to still find the nearest iron box that accepts banknotes. I dare to assume that many young people will not even notice the lack of an opportunity to send SMS or call in a retrograde way, the messenger is our everything! I hope you can make WhatsApp calls in this mode. Unfortunately, I can’t check it myself, because I don’t use WhatsApp, and my balance approaching zero annoys me immensely. “
Actually, that’s all you need to know about the new service. Surely many are wondering if the “Insurance at zero” functionality is redundant. Indeed, there is a service “Trust payment” especially for the forgetful! I was not too lazy to find and read a detailed description, a couple of quotes:
“5.1. The “Trust Payment” service is not provided with a blocked subscriber number.
5.2. The service is not available to subscribers of the postpaid settlement system and users of the Always in Touch service.
It is logical with postpaid tariffs, but the inaccessibility of “Trust Payment” with a blocked number is a little puzzling. Actually, this “Trust Payment” is needed only in case of zeroing the balance and blocking the number. Or do they not mean financial blocking? But something else is more interesting there, in order to use the “Trust Payment” you need to have a certain subscription experience and spend at least a certain amount monthly. And, of course, it is much better when such insurance is triggered automatically. So no, “Insurance at zero” does not duplicate the “Trust payment”, these are different things.
With the Internet package, it was decided to be interesting, the traffic of messengers and cards during these daily blockings does not consume the Internet package of the tariff. That is, the packet is by itself, and the traffic during the blocking period is by itself. This is another difference from the “Trust Payment”, which simply extends the duration of all communication services.
I also want to know if sly subscribers will come up with a way to use instant messengers and maps for free, for example, half the days of each month. It’s confusing and constant hemorrhoids, but at the tariff with daily charging of the subscriber, perhaps something can be invented. And the people will try to invent, not even for the sake of profit. And out of sports interest, to show off. Fortunately, there is something to fight for, on the same WhatsApp in “Beeline”, even in this mode, sending voice messages functions. It also depends on how often you can go to the “Insurance at zero” mode and on the presence / absence of other barriers, about which, of course, we will not see anything in the descriptions. As I once wrote, to foresee, “calculate” and prevent possible abuse in tariffs and services takes almost more time for specialists than developing the services themselves.
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