Cap plans are often cited as a bit of a raw deal. And it’s true, there is a problem with how they’re built that can fool the average consumer- for a low monthly fee, you get a massive amount of ‘credit’, which is eaten up by the calls and texts you make. The illusion is that you’ll never come close to that limit. With call rates as high as 98c/minute, it’s easy to exceed your high limit cap, and start paying real-world 98c per minute charges. The ensuing phenomenon of getting a $500 bill on your ‘cap’ plan is known as bill shock.

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But there is another big contributor to bill shock, and that’s premium content providers. While telcos can be held to task for bamboozling customers, there’s a fine line where you can’t really say they’re evil – they’re still providing an essential service, and the cap plan still offers tremendous value to most customers. It also allows companies to put the latest and greatest phones into the hands of more and more Australians.

But ‘Premium’ content providers are cartoonishly evil. They prey on children and adolescents, advertising almost exclusively on early morning music and cartoon shows. They offer ringtones, jokes, horoscopes and other ephemera, simply by texting a code to a 19- number. What’s usually glanced over in the fine print is that each reply costs up to $5; and that you’re usually locked in to a weekly agreement. Also, the charges cannot be applied to your cap credit. The telco also can’t do anything to remove the charges; the content company pays for access and bills through the telco, but the charges aren’t levied by the telco themselves, and so they have no power to remove those charges after your teenage son has racked up $1200 in services of negligible value.

It’s a sticky business, one that has attracted the ire of the regulatory bodies before. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) took steps in March of this year to enforce a new code of conduct, which has lead to complaints around premium content to fall by 90%.

Their latest warning was sent to Global Billing Solutions, a firm with offices in Europe, South Africa and Sydney, who create quizzes, competitions, games, puzzles and more. GSB was warned for sending unsolicited promotions to previous entrants via text message, and for not offering a locally based service to unsubscribe.

This follows warnings in April made to Moosta, who also sent messages with no option to unsubscribe, and EzyStays, who send unsolicited messages.

Service providers like Optus, Virgin and Telstra will block the ability to make 19 – text messages and calls on request, and providers like Amaysim do so by default. Most prepaid services will have these options barred, as there is no way to bill back for charges.

Telstra, Vodafone and Optus (1300 768 194) both offer a host of free content through App portals, provided on iOS and Android powered smartphones. Manufacturers, Samsung in particular, pre-install several free services of a similar stripe with their handsets. For iPhone users, there’s an endless world of content in iTunes that is either free or cheap. In the same vein, parents are warned to be vigilant around some free games, which charge exorbitant rates for add-ons, especially in games targeted towards kids.

It’s getting harder and harder for dodgy content providers to get to you, even as more services become available to the average consumer every day. Make sure you keep your passwords secure, and consider all the dangers before handing over a phone to kids and family members who don’t otherwise understand the impact certain decisions can have.