Part of the series of Onliner.by articles, in which we look for useless, from our point of view, services of domestic cellular communication companies and tell how to disable them, was devoted to velcom. In today's material we will talk about the second Belarusian operator - MTS. As it turned out, the company’s arsenal of services imposed on subscribers is no less than that of its main competitor.
Part one, reference
“Toning” and “Melodies of the Day”
Let's pay tribute to MTS marketers - the company does not hide information about the music service, which is automatically activated when connecting to an operator, as carefully as velcom. You can find it in full description specific tariff:
“Services Subscription fee for the “TONING” service and Subscription fee “Melodies of the day” are added to the list of subscriber services automatically when concluding a contract. At the same time, in the first 30 calendar days, the subscription fee for the “TONING” service and the subscription fee for “Melody of the Day” are not charged. After 30 days from the moment of connection, the subscription fee for the TONING and “Melodies of the Day” services is written off in full.”
As you can see, the conditions are the same - the first 30 days are free, then money automatically begins to be debited for songs and dances that sound instead of beeps. It is curious that MTS decided to divide one service into two. “Toning” allows you to replace long beeps with any sound signal, and “Ringtones of the Day” is the actual melody that the operator plays to the caller.
For each service there is a monthly fee of 3,600 rubles, that is, in total you will have to overpay 7,200 rubles. A little less than for Melofon from velcom. However, if you connected to “Easy to Say” with a monthly fee of 3,000 rubles, do not be surprised that the real costs will exceed this amount at least three times! Unpleasant surprise for retired parents.
We are looking for painless ways to disable both services. It won’t work through the “Internet Assistant”: both services are present in the list, but there is simply no button to deactivate them.
As it turned out, you can disconnect from “Toning” and “Melodies of the Day” for a fee and for free. The second method is less convenient and is suitable only for owners of Android devices. You need to send a USSD request *711#, after which you will receive an SMS with a link to the application. You will have to install it and search in the jungle of settings for the desired option.
You will have to pay a little for human shutdown of services. For refusal via SMS, 228 rubles will be debited from your account. But you can try to use a less expensive method of refusing imposed services. We dial *302#call, say goodbye to 60 rubles and, perhaps, rejoice in turning off Toning. “Melodies of the day” will also not work without it.
However, there may be a problem waiting for you here. For example, when I tried to unsubscribe two SIM cards from a dubious service with using USSD, for two days I encountered the following message about an unknown error:
I had to use an SMS request. We send the word “off” to number 302. 228 rubles will be debited from the account, but you can forget about “Toning” and “Melodies of the Day”.
"Stay informed"
Phew, we somehow sorted out the beeps. Next in line is the “Be in the know” service, an analogue of “What’s new” from velcom. If it is connected, then during the day “spam” will appear on the screen of your smartphone with an offer to read news or download a song for money. Any careless click on OK will result in money being debited from your account. It can be either a thousand rubles or ten thousand at a time.
Moreover, “Be in the know” threatens not only one-time payments for jokes, music and news, but also entire subscriptions! In the latter case, a certain amount (usually about 1,500 rubles) will be debited from the subscriber’s account daily for a certain period.
We did not find any pitfalls when disabling this service. Yes, it is also not in ISSA, but the USSD request *987*0#call comes to the rescue. This time there were no errors - we managed to get rid of two numbers at once from the intrusive service.
After this, you won’t be bothered with advertising that seems to be waiting for an inattentive subscriber. In order to completely and irrevocably protect yourself from spam from MTS, we also recommend “ Personal assistant» find and activate the service called “Technological: Opting out of SMS and voice advertising.”
Compared to velcom, MTS was late in automatically connecting this service. It has only been valid for two years, but many users are not even aware of its existence.
Disable or customize trigger conditions voicemail You can go to your “Personal Account” via the Internet. Go to the “Services and Services” tab, click on “Call Forwarding” and on the right side of the screen either disable call forwarding or open a menu with forwarding conditions.
We completely get rid of any redirection of anything anywhere using the ##002#call command.
Credit payment method
For some subscribers, the opportunity to pay the operator based on the money spent is a blessing, just to always stay in touch. Others are afraid that they will get into a big disadvantage, which they won’t even warn about.
If you have been transferred to the credit method of service, but you want to switch to good old prepayment with less risk, it's time to pick up the phone and dial *150*0#call. There is no need for any trips to the operator’s salon; just one USSD request solves the problem.
Last time in the article about velcom we did not mention a similar example. Let's get better! You can refuse payment upon delivery using the USSD request *145*9#call. We emphasize that in both cases you must have a positive balance in your account, otherwise nothing will work out.
“Mood” and paid short numbers
We are talking about the “information and entertainment IVR portal” of MTS. The essence of the service is as follows: you call specific number phone and you find yourself in a menu with jokes, tests and other rubbish, which is full on the Internet, and for free. The operator won’t want to entertain you for free, so for every minute you spend on this IVR portal you will have to pay 4,800 rubles.
At first glance, it seems that there is nothing dangerous in the service. Nobody automatically connects you to it. But the fact is that to activate it, just dial any four digits (except the first 0, 6 and 8) and press the call button. It’s unlikely that there are many such cases, but judging by the Onliner.by forum, people periodically sign up for various paid offers or “hang out” for a few minutes in “Mood.”
How can this happen? Whatever! Random clicks push-button telephone in your pocket, a smartphone glitch, small children pampering, erroneous clicks by older people...
They say that a subscriber can somehow prohibit receiving and sending messages from/to paid short numbers. In Russia, for example, MTS has a free “Content Ban” service. We honestly searched the entire Belarusian website of the operator, but did not find such a service. The MTS press service ignored the relevant question. If there is a person in the comments who knows how to cope with the scourge, we will definitely add instructions to this article.
Part two, practical
As is the case with other operators, an Onliner.by journalist visited an MTS communication salon. The following questions were previously sent to the company:
- What additional services outside the tariff plan does a subscriber receive when connecting to MTS?
- For what purpose are new users automatically connected? paid services“Toning” and “Melodies of the Day”?
- Does the operator inform the subscriber making the call that funds will be debited from his account for a message left on the voice box?
Unfortunately, it was not possible to promptly obtain comments from the company’s press service.
The MTS store had to wait out a small rush - people were actively buying smartphones in installments. About thirty minutes later I approach the girl and voice my intention to connect to tariff plan"Easy to say." For parents. As in the case of velcom, I steadfastly refuse offers to look at tariffs with a larger Internet traffic package or profitable calls. No, I want the plan with the lowest subscription fee.
The connection took no more than five minutes. What about connection information? additional services? Unfortunately, the operator salon employees will not turn off “Be in the know”, “Toning” and “Melodies of the day” for the new subscriber. But the girl, without any reminders, immediately wrote USSD commands on the contract page to deactivate these services. Already good!
But they didn’t say in the salon that there would be a fee for refusing “Toning” and “Melodies of the Day” using USSD. Moreover, the *302#call command, as mentioned above, did not work. Neither with the new SIM card, nor with another, much older number, to which the company’s music services had to be connected for the sake of the experiment.
At the end of the article, we will briefly recall the steps that must be taken to disable certain services:
- “Toning” and “Melodies of the day”:
- *302#call - paid USSD request to disable “Toning” and “Melodies of the day”;
- send an SMS with the text “off” to number 302 - also paid method disconnect from “Toning” and “Melodies of the day” if the USSD command did not help.
- *987*0#call - turn off “Stay informed”.
- We activate the “Technological: Opting out of SMS and voice advertising” service in “Personal Assistant” via the Internet.
- ##002#call - a command to prohibit any forwarding, including to “Voicemail”.
- *150*0#call - USSD command to return to the advance payment method. The account must have a positive balance.
In the next article of the series, we will consider the third Belarusian operator. In the comments to this article, you can tell what you don’t like about life:).
The “Stay informed” option from MTS in Belarus is a special service that gives access to many different information resources. From time to time, subscribers receive current news directly to their phones in the form of notifications. Subscribers don’t always like this, which is why the question is relevant: how to disable Be aware of MTS?
The operator himself claims that the presented option is a real guide in the client’s life. The service informs users about:
- Current and profitable services.
- Interesting news that is happening in our world.
- Useful information.
- Current poster of current entertainment.
The program receives all information from the main resources, including the following sites:
- TUT.BY.
- interfax.by.
- News service Yandex.
- lenta.ru.
- euronews.com, etc.
Thanks to this option, you won't miss a single important event. In addition, MTS Belarus clients can independently download various games and music.
How to activate the “Stay informed” service on MTS
Stay informed MTS does not require a connection, it is activated immediately when you launch the SIM card. All news reports and other information arrive on your phone as pop-up notifications. To become a participant in the program, you need to press the “OK” button to proceed when the next Push notification appears. Then the service will redirect you to a page where you will be offered information about the cost of the service, music or game.
Most users are not happy with sudden notifications on their phone. This explains the not very good popularity of this service.
How to disable the “Stay informed” service on MTS
You can disable Stay informed about MTS Belarus as follows:
- The simplest is to enter the USSD command on your phone *987*0*0#.
- Use the online service from MTS. On the official website, log in personal account, then go to the section with connected services and disable the required one.
- Download a special application from MTS. The interface is not much different from the official website. Log in using the same details as in online service. Find the “My Subscriptions” tab and cancel the one you want.
- Contact the nearest operator's office. Explain your question to the employee, provide the necessary data and deactivate the option.
- Call technical support on 0890. You must provide passport information to manage options and subscriptions.
Even if we take into account some usefulness of this offer in the form of alerts about promotions, discounts and current news, users do not find it comfortable. The main reason lies in unexpected Push notifications, which some subscribers may accidentally click on. Sometimes such erroneous transitions automatically activate additional services and charge you for them.
The operator offers a lot of additional services to subscribers who connect to MTS. Among them is the widely advertised news content channel “Stay Informed!” Given news channel is part of the MTS News service. If you enabled the service yourself or it was already connected as part of a set of services with a new SIM card or a new tariff, it turns out that you are already using several types of incoming content.
If you like constant pop-up messages from the operator on your phone screen for no reason or no reason, then this is your choice. But most often users have a question: how to disable the service?
There are several ways to disable the service. Let's look at each of them carefully.
How to disable “Stay informed” in MTS using a short USSD commands? You need to dial the combination *111*1212*2# on your device, then send a call and all incoming MTS News content will be disconnected from your mobile connection, including the “Stay in the know” channel.
Device menu
If you disable it yourself using the “MTS Services” section in the main menu of your phone, you may also be unable to receive incoming news reports. You disable your subscription this way:
- By clicking on the icon, the “MTS Services” section is opened, then the “MTS News” item is selected, and the “Received” subheading opens. Here you need to delete all incoming messages received.
- Then in the “MTS Services” section in the “MTS News” item, the “Settings” subheading opens and the “Advanced” subsection opens in it, then the “Broadcasting” subsection opens and the “Turn off” option is selected.
Operator assistance
If you still can’t figure it out and there is no shutdown, you should contact the service technical support operator by phone 0890 (for MTS subscribers) or to 8 800 250 08 90 (from the number of another operator) and you will be sent an informational SMS message to your device, which will describe in detail the previous option proposed by us.
If this does not help, then it is best to visit the salon or company office and carry out the disconnection procedure with the help of a consultant.
Personal account
For those who are accustomed to using the Internet assistant, subscription management is always available in the My Content section on the operator’s website at: http://moicontent.mts.ru.
You can also get there through the standard one after authorization at: https://login.mts.ru. In the “Service Management” section, you need to select “My Content” and check the incoming services connected to you and, if necessary, disable them.
SMS command
Another option to unsubscribe from the intrusive service is to send an SMS command to the short number 770911 with the text “STOP”. After sending this command, service notifications will no longer be sent to your device.
"Oldies" who have been using it for a long time mobile operator Beeline probably remembers the “Stay Informed” service. It is useful in situations where you really need not to miss an important call, but, as luck would have it, the phone is dead or the network has stopped receiving. In such a situation, how can you find out if they called you when your mobile phone was turned off or out of network coverage? This service is a real lifesaver in such situations.
A Beeline operator subscriber receives an SMS message detailing who tried to contact him and when while the phone was unable to receive calls. The message arrives almost immediately when the mobile phone is in the network access area. The “Stay Informed” service is a basic one, there was no charge for it, and the connection was also free. Therefore, it worked smoothly even with zero balance.
Changes that have taken place
On April 24, 2015, some changes occurred. Subscribers of the Beeline operator were automatically disconnected from the “Stay in the know” service and connected to “Stay in the know+” instead. What has changed? Firstly, the subscription fee. They began to withdraw 50 kopecks per day, so for many subscribers of the Beeline operator the question became relevant. Secondly, in addition to SMS messages notifying about failed calls, there is now the option of an answering machine without special settings.
In 2018 there was another price increase. The daily fee for the included service has increased from 50 kopecks to 1.5 rubles.
The old “Stay Informed” service on the Beeline official website has been moved to the archived section, where you can still read its terms and conditions. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to connect it.
What is the “Be in the know+” service?
When your phone is turned off, the network does not pick up, or you do not pick up for half a minute, the person who called you will hear an answering machine asking you to leave a voice message. If the person does not want to do this, then you will receive an SMS notifying you of his call. To listen to the message left, dial 0646.
Connection/disconnection
The “Be in the know+” service is activated automatically for all subscribers of the Beeline operator.
To disable it:
- Call 06740 1062;
- Dial the command *110*1062# and click on the “call” button.
If you change your mind and want to set up an answering machine again, reconnecting will be free.
To reactivate the service:
- Dial 06740 1061;
- Use the command *110*1061#.
Price
Subscription fee - 1.5 rubles per day. Not charged to subscribers, “EVERYTHING!”, “Doctrine 77”, “Zero doubts 2014”.
Listening to a message left on an answering machine is not free, a call to 0646 will cost the same as any on-net call on your data plan.
The person calling you pays for the recording of the message as for a standard call on their calling plan.
Additional information
Voice messages are stored for only a day from the moment they were recorded, so hurry to listen to them so as not to lose information. No more than 30 such messages can be stored per day. After this time they are automatically deleted. The maximum duration of a voice message is 40 seconds. The answering machine is designed to transmit important information, so the caller’s task is to clearly and concisely communicate the purpose of the call. Or the person may simply ask you to call him back when you have the opportunity.
Subscribers who have been using the “Be in the know+” service for a long time can receive voice messages in the form of MMS. This option is not available for connections since August 1, 2014. People who connected the service before the specified date have unlimited access from voice message. The subscription fee for them is 0.33 rubles per day.
How to find information on the site?
All information about the “Be in the know+” service is available on the official website of the Beeline operator https://beeline.ru. To find them, follow the link provided, or follow the path with home page website: hover your mouse over the section "products", further in the column "mobile communications" select item "services".
