[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by randolf105

If you sent a text then switched the phone off at the right time whilst the text was sending you used to get them free...

There was a hardware mod after the "switch off free text" scheme, even calls were free. It caused O2 (Cellnet as it was) to completely change their PAYG systems when it was discovered.

[jonmorris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by binary

It was the Philips Diga that a lot of people had on the pay-nothing-as-you-go plan, was it not?

It was ridiculously stupid of Cellnet to put the billing control on the phone, but it was done so as to avoid having to set up a complex billing system to manage prepay, and it also had the added benefit of allowing international calling/usage. Something the others couldn't do from the off, as there was (then) no way when abroad to check what you'd spent and impose a bar.

Cellnet just hadn't figured out that people would hack the software to give unlimited credit (well, restoring the credit repeatedly).

And even more crazy was the fact that so many people were doing it (it was incredibly hard to get hold of the phones at one point, and most were snapped up to be chipped and resold for big bucks in Loot etc) yet Cellnet seemed to prefer to play down the problem, possibly for fear of being lambasted by shareholders or having the scam exposed in the media only to make it even worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by d123

There was a hardware mod after the "switch off free text" scheme, even calls were free. It caused O2 (Cellnet as it was) to completely change their PAYG systems when it was discovered.

Cellnet wanted to be ahead of the pack, and paid the price - although I doubt anyone really knows how much Cellnet lost. It wasn't widely reported in the press at the time, and Cellnet would have just written it off and kept as quiet as possible.