How can you be charged?
You can be charged for premium services in several ways:

• Flat rate: this is where you are charged a fixed amount for each call you make.  It is a good idea to keep track of how many calls you make as the cost can quickly add up.
• Timed rate: this is where your calls are timed and charged at a rate per minute.  A fixed set up or connection fee may also apply.  Keeping track of how long you spend on the call will help to keep your costs to a minimum. The average cost of a premium service can range from several cents to a few dollars per minute, depending on the service.
• Calls from mobile phones: if you are calling from a mobile phone, additional costs such as air time may apply.
• By data volume: this is where you are charged according to the amount of data you download from or via a proprietary network.

Liability for Cost
You are usually responsible for the cost of any calls made from your phone, including calls made by family and friends, even when made without your knowledge. There are a number of specific rules that relate to the provision of premium services aimed at ensuring that customers are fully informed about the price and content of the services.  If these rules have been broken, your provider may not be able to ask you to pay for the service.

What steps can you take to lessen the risk of high, unexpected bills?
You can bar access to some or all premium services using one of the following options:

• Barring only 190 calls: This means all calls to 190 numbers are barred permanently.
• Barring all calls (excluding local calls): This means all national, international, calls to mobiles and calls to 190 numbers are barred permanently through Telstra.
• Temporarily bar all calls (excluding local calls) using Easy Call Control: At a small monthly fee, you can use this service to temporarily bar calls to mobiles, national, international and 190 calls. We provide you with a PIN which you can use to activate or de-activate the bars.
• If you wish to bar all international numbers with your service provider, but don’t have a bar put on over-ride codes, you could be charged by another service provider for an international call.  Over-ride codes are four digit numbers starting with the prefix 14 and allow customers to use another service provider on a call by call basis for long distance and international calls.

• Logging into our online billing system will allow you to view your unbilled calls. All you need is a username and password.
• Your computer modem may dial an international number by using internet dialer software to access content on internet sites (‘internet dumping’).  This can lead to unexpected high bills.  See a fact sheet on internet dumping that is available on the Australian Communications Authority’s website (www.aca.gov.au) to explain what internet dumping is and how you can protect yourself from internet dumping.

If we are unable to resolve this matter you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
The TIO is an office of last resort for complaints about telephone and internet services.