I recently bought an EE MiFi device on contract, 3GB per month allowance for a minimum of 2 months after which I can suspend the service and charges.
I did so as my mother and father have moved into a new build property and are waiting for broadband to be connected so this seemed like the ideal solution for them in the short term, and then I have the device should I ever need it.
However, it appears that as soon as you give anyone access to the WiFi hotspot, you also implicitly give them permission to Top Up the data allowance and bill my bank account. My mother last night simply clicked "Top Up" in her browser when the MiFi blocked her browsing and instantly charged my account with £15. Now, I trust my parents and, should I ask them, they'd pay me back, but surely that's wrong?
As far as their customer services are concerned, I can either switch off the ability to top up entirely and have to ring up should I want to top up, or anyone on the network can top up with no further authentication.
I contend that this is a bit daft, by giving someone access to a device that is designed to provide WiFi to up to 10 devices, I don't necessarily want to give them access to be able to charge my account. A colleague (who has ties to EE) contends that it's like iTunes and I take the risk by giving someone access to the WiFi as if I gave someone access to an iTunes account.
I call rubbish on that, you can opt to make sure an iTunes account requires a password for paid content, and iTunes isn't a product that is specifically designed to be shared across multiple users.
You could quite easily, as a family, have a young child who inadvertently tops up and all you can do is revoke access after you've been informed it's happened.
tldr: Should EE MiFi isolate the ability to use WiFi from the ability to charge the contract holder's account by way of simple authentication at point of data top up?
I did so as my mother and father have moved into a new build property and are waiting for broadband to be connected so this seemed like the ideal solution for them in the short term, and then I have the device should I ever need it.
However, it appears that as soon as you give anyone access to the WiFi hotspot, you also implicitly give them permission to Top Up the data allowance and bill my bank account. My mother last night simply clicked "Top Up" in her browser when the MiFi blocked her browsing and instantly charged my account with £15. Now, I trust my parents and, should I ask them, they'd pay me back, but surely that's wrong?
As far as their customer services are concerned, I can either switch off the ability to top up entirely and have to ring up should I want to top up, or anyone on the network can top up with no further authentication.
I contend that this is a bit daft, by giving someone access to a device that is designed to provide WiFi to up to 10 devices, I don't necessarily want to give them access to be able to charge my account. A colleague (who has ties to EE) contends that it's like iTunes and I take the risk by giving someone access to the WiFi as if I gave someone access to an iTunes account.
I call rubbish on that, you can opt to make sure an iTunes account requires a password for paid content, and iTunes isn't a product that is specifically designed to be shared across multiple users.
You could quite easily, as a family, have a young child who inadvertently tops up and all you can do is revoke access after you've been informed it's happened.
tldr: Should EE MiFi isolate the ability to use WiFi from the ability to charge the contract holder's account by way of simple authentication at point of data top up?
