Know It All Broadband

Oh no, it is the fifteenth of the month, you’ve just gotten in from a long hard day of work in the rain and notice that your flat is eerily quiet. No reassuring hum of electrical appliances greets you and there is definitely no smell of supper in the air. Looks like someone forgot to make a phone payment of the hydro bill again.

Paying utility bills over the phone just makes sense. Most people have their phone with them at all times and more than a few of the modern phones will allow you to keep reminders in them. Important dates like when that hydro bill is due by.

Fewer and fewer companies expect you to write a check and stop in at their office to hand-deliver your payment and have a bit of a chat with the receptionist on bill payment day. In this time of instant gratification where the focus is on ease of access and speed of delivery, many businesses are making it easier for you to give them your money by using your phone.

A different tone is associated with each number making a telephone keyboard an easy way to enter amounts, banking numbers or credit card information, all without breaking strides as you power-walk your way through lunch. Watch out though, pedestrians may have the right of way but some countries still allow drivers to text and drive so the driver who is busy using his mobile phone to transfer funds, may not look up in time to see you walking along. Better push the number key to record your bill payment otherwise there’s going to be no coffee in the morning as your hydro remains off for another day.

Technology is a wonderful thing. Just ask the geek who just made a phone payment for the latest version of the online game that he has been eager to get at since it was released yesterday.

With direct mobile billing, it is possible for consumers to purchase something online and have the amount charged direct to their cellular phone account. This is a true alternative payment program because there is no exchange of banking information and users of this system are not required to be registered with traditional online payment programs like PayPal.

Banks and credit card companies are left out of the loop completely, and security is maximized by two-factor authentication. Such two-factor authentication involves a PIN (person identification number) and a one-time-password. As well, a risk management engine prevents fraud.

This payment method is extremely convenient for mobile phone users because no pre-registration is required and no new software is required. Direct mobile billing is extremely popular in Asia, since roughly 70% of all digital content that is purchased on line in some parts of Asia is purchased using it.

The average transaction using billing direct to your mobile phone can be completed in less than 10 seconds so you could be just 10 seconds away from playing that hot new game right beside the geek that just purchased it using his mobile phone.

In a nutshell, phone payment direct from your mobile phone have been proven in the large Asian market, and provide secure, convenient transactions that are both easy and fast. In every important way this type of billing is a useful addition to a mobile user’s phone.

There are four potential models for making phone payment for all sorts of things.

1. The Operator-Centric Model: In this type of transaction, the mile operator acts to start the mobile payment service requested. The operator has options to provide mobile wallet services direct from the user’s mobile account – their airtime. It is unlikely that this method will find wide usage in among current mobile phone users due to a lack of connectivity between existing payment networks and the mobile networks. There have been pilots launched to test this type of service out, but these pilots have proven unable to cover even the basic services required by their business case.

2: A Bank-Centric Model: This model requires that a bank deploy mobile payment applications or even devices (free phones from your bank) and then makes sure that merchants have the necessary POS (point-of-sale) capabilities. The mobile phone network is simply used as a carrier in this instance.

3. Collaboration model: Involving collaboration among banks, mobile operators and a trusted third party this model brings a high level of complexity that could cause transactions to break down on a regular basis.

4. Peer-to-peer Model. This model has at its core the mobile payment service provider acting independently from banks and mobile networks in order to provide payment options. One example allows for mobile payments to be made instantly by SMS – texting as it is more commonly called.

No matter which method ends up being the most common, paying for things using a mobile phone is the preferred method of most young consumers today and it is increasingly preferred simply because virtually every person from teenagers to the geriatric set has a mobile phone these days.

Gone are the days of paying bills by wandering down main street of town, stopping in for a chat at the local butcher’s, handing him some cash and getting a receipt. Once you reached the end of road, your wallet was empty and you could hold your head up high in town again for another month. Today’s consumers have the option of phone payment for virtually everything they could possibly want.

Set yourself up to pay your utility bill over the phone by following these simple steps:

1. Call all the companies that now regularly bill you on a monthly basis and ask if they have the capability of accepting payments over the phone.

2. Find out if there is an additional fee for this service and if they will accept credit or debit card numbers for these transactions.

3. Some companies may require you to sign up for the service, and provide a special telephone number for you to call.

4. Once you access the utility company’s self-service payment area you’ll need to enter your password or other identification number assigned to your account. Expect to hear numerous prompts asking you to use your touch-tone phone pad to work your way through all the required numbers.

5. Once your transaction is complete, write down any verification numbers the company may provide you with. This might be required if it turns out that somehow your payment wasn’t recorded properly and the company asks you to prove that you really did send them a payment over the phone.

In an age where everything seems to move faster than the eye can follow or the brain can comprehend it makes that more and more consumers are choosing phone payment options for a wide variety of transactions.

Paying for things using your phone has never been easier whether you are using a hand-held mobile phone or the old familiar land-line, that beautiful pink princess model on the little table beside your bed. These days, the only thing that seems to limit what you can pay for using your phone is your own imagination.

We’re used to ordering food over the phone, so it only makes sense that the local delivery places see it as a win-win situation if they’re set up with the ability to charge your pizza purchase to your mobile phone number. From the company’s perspective there is no more worrying about not receiving payment when the driver drops off your order. Drivers may not be happy with the drop in tip revenue though.

Gamers in Asia are some of the heaviest users of payment methods using their mobile phones. Such technology wise users know that the two-step process used to purchase games allows them to enter their PIN number, a one-time password and be playing the game they want, all in less time than it took to read this explanation of the process.

Utility bills are another thing that has long been available for payment over the phone. Any type of activity that is heavily based on numbers such those found on your touch-tone phone pad lends itself to accepting phone payment. Bill paying is essentially all based on numbers, from the telephone number that you need to access the correct company, to your account number, right down to the bank account or credit card number that you use to make your payment – more numbers involved there as well.