FCC labels ensure you get your daily dose of internet

Posted on 04/04/2016 by Billy Steele

The FCC passed its so-called Open Internet guidelines last year, and much of the talk focused on the practice of net neutrality. Those rules also reclassified broadband service as a utility and discussed steps for increased consumer protections, incl...

Tidal charged ex-subscribers and re-activated accounts (update)

Posted on 18/01/2016 by Billy Steele

If you gave Tidal a shot and have since cancelled, you likely noticed you were charged for the service in the last day or so. You're not alone. The Verge's Chris Welch was charged $20 by the streaming service, the price of its Premium or hi-fi tier....

Sony Let’s You Charge PlayStation Store Content to Your… Mobile Phone Bill?!

Posted on 31/08/2013 by Shane McGlaun

If you enjoy playing games or watching movies on your PS3 or other Sony device, you may be interested to hear that Sony has added a fourth option for adding funds to your PlayStation Store digital wallet. Previously the only options were credit card, prepaid gift card, or PayPal. Now you can charge digital content to your mobile phone bill.

mobile pay

That means using your mobile phone and SMS text messages you can purchase additional items such as games, DLC, movies, and TV shows. You can even charge monthly Music Unlimited subscriptions to your phone bill. Sony says that adding funds to your digital wallet from your phone bill will require the user to reply to an SMS text message and text messaging rates will apply.

All charges will be placed on your mobile phone bill in the next payment cycle. Apparently, some prepaid mobile phone services will also support this payment type. This sounds weird until you think about the fact that some people may not want to trust Sony with their credit card information and a lot of people don’t have PayPal accounts.

Google Play carrier billing goes live for impulse buyers on Verizon

Posted on 31/10/2012 by Jon Fingas

Google gave the broadest of targets when it said Google Play carrier billing would reach Verizon in the "coming weeks" -- those last two words are often hints from companies that we shouldn't hold our breath. Call us surprised, then, when Google quietly takes the option live two weeks later. At least one Droid-Life reader has discovered that it's now possible to load as many as $25 in purchases per month on an existing Big Red smartphone bill and pay through just the one channel. The move puts all four major US carriers on the same page, and gives Verizon subscribers an incentive to splurge on apps and movies for that new Droid RAZR HD... so long as they remember to deal with the financial fallout afterwards.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, Verizon

Google Play carrier billing goes live for impulse buyers on Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mach inks carrier billing deal with Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone and Three in the UK

Posted on 26/09/2012 by Jamie Rigg

Not a month after Mach's last carrier billing deal, UK network providers Vodafone, Three, O2 and Everything Everywhere are getting in on the action. The company's direct billing solutions will initially allow the networks to charge app and online purchases straight to your bill, with in-app sales joining them at a later date. Don't expect this to be implemented immediately, however, as the agreement covers the back-end processing -- the individual carriers will be responsible for turning it on customer-side. They'll likely inform you when they hit the switch and your phone bill becomes a monthly surprise.

Continue reading Mach inks carrier billing deal with Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone and Three in the UK

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

Mach inks carrier billing deal with Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone and Three in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Budget Billing

Posted on 24/09/2012 by Radhika Seth

When you are living on a shoestring budget (popularly known as student’s budget), you know that every penny counts. This is why time and again we see designers coming up with innovative ways to split the bill. Go Dutch Bill is one such concept that allows diners to get their bill printed individually, as per their order. Super non-fuss way of doing the math!

Designer: Szu-Yu Liu

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(Budget Billing was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Telefonica partners with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM for global carrier billing

Posted on 05/07/2012 by Zach Honig

Making a half dozen attempts to guess your login info or typing each digit of a credit card account certainly can get in the way of following through on impulse purchases, which is exactly how you'd categorize FarmVille cash or a featured flick that you know you may not have time to watch within the month. The solution is carrier billing, eliminating those precious seconds between impulse and reconsideration, and Telefonica has just signed on to offer the service to Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM account holders. The partnerships will enable O2 users in Germany or Movistar subscribers in Spain to charge purchases to their mobile phone accounts, for example -- in total, 14 Telefonica subsidiaries should be up and running with carrier billing by the end of the year, though some services, such as Google Play and Facebook, have already begun to roll out. Click through to the PR after the break for the full breakdown.

Continue reading Telefonica partners with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM for global carrier billing

Telefonica partners with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM for global carrier billing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook warms to subscription billing for devs, backs away from Credits as main currency

Posted on 19/06/2012 by Darren Murph

Subscriptions. It's the wave of the future, man. It's also the wave that Facebook's now riding, as it has just announced plans to enable developers to offer subscription payment services starting in July. In other words, devs that charge monthly for a premium edition of a title will be able to accept automated payments so long as the user continues their subscription. Without question, it's bound to be attractive to prospective app builders, and moreover, Facebook's about-face on Credits as the primary payment method will be met with praise, too. For the past year and a half, Facebook Credits were the way that many items were priced; going forward, devs will be allowed to price things in their own currency, eliminating yet another barrier in the transaction. The status quo 30-70 revenue split isn't going anywhere, however, but Facebook has admitted that it'll "convert any Credit balances into the equivalent amount of value in local currency," according to TechCrunch.

Facebook warms to subscription billing for devs, backs away from Credits as main currency originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook smooths the way for carrier billing on in-app purchases

Posted on 07/06/2012 by James Trew

Facebook has known for some time now that its app-monetization process was more SucksVille, than FarmVille. Now, it's just announced that it's rolling out the new silky-smooth two-step payment process. This means you can stock up on Farm cash sans typing, and forget about the real cost until your mobile bill turns up. Currently most US and UK networks are on board, but more international operators will be added as soon as they can. If you already have payments integrated in your app, you should be good to go, but if you don't, and you want a slice of the pie, there's an API and instructions via the source link.

Facebook smooths the way for carrier billing on in-app purchases originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 05:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google brings in-app subscriptions to Android

Posted on 24/05/2012 by Terrence O'Brien

Developers can never have too many options when it comes to ways to take your money. Google has opened the doors to In-app purchases, carrier billing and now, in-app subscriptions. Perhaps it wasn't enough that game creators be able to lure you in with perks and content you could purchase for a one-time fee, now devs can choose to hit you with a monthly charge for the privilege of using their wares. Of course, it's not all that bad. Subscription-based games aren't the only potential uses here. Customers can now buy monthly or annual subscriptions to services or publications as well. There's even a publisher API for extending the subscription beyond the walls of Google Play and your Android device. Glu Mobile will be first out the gate, turning on subscriptions in properties like Frontline Commando, but we're sure plenty of others will follow. Soon enough you might be able to get your New York Times subscription or Spotify Premium account without ever leaving the comfort of the Android app. Any handset with Google Play 3.5 or higher installed should have access to subscriptions starting today.

Google brings in-app subscriptions to Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.