With more and more banks offering services via your cellphone, being able to do your banking in the palm of your hand is a reality. Considered the ultimate in terms of convenience, cellphone banking means you can bank any where and at any time.
Nedbank was the first bank to launch cellphone banking, via the internet, in November 1999 and Absa was the first to offer Secure SMS (short message service) banking in May this year. The most recent bank to launch cellphone banking is First National Bank, in conjunction with eBucks.com.
Essentially, there are two types of technologies used to deliver banking services to your cellphone, WAP and WIG. Banks offer one or the other, or sometimes both.
WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, technology which is able to display internet pages on mobile devices, such as cellphones, pagers, personal digital assistants and other wireless devices.
WIG, or Wireless Internet Gateway, on the other hand, is an application which sits on the SIM card of your cellphone and connects you to your bank account via SMS messages. With WIG, banks are dependent on cellphone networks to deliver cellphone banking to you.
The technologies are relatively new and the costs are higher than what the average consumer would like, but within two years or so, cellphone banking should come into its own.
Who can use cellphone banking
The decision on whether to use WAP or WIG banking will depend on which service is offered by your bank. You do not want to go to the hassle of moving your bank accounts just to have the facility of using a particular technology.
A factor which will determine whether you can bank by cellphone at all is whether your cellphone can accommodate the technology or not. Most of the newer handsets are suitable for cellphone banking, for instance, the Nokia 7110, Nokia 6210 and Nokia 6250 are all phones that can accommodate WAP. Similarly, you need a WIG-compliant phone (which has a special 32K Sim card) in order to sign up for Secure SMS banking. Generally, any cellphone which can send and receive an SMS can be used for WIG or Secure SMS banking.
If your bank offers the SMS service only, you will also need to check if both MTN and Vodacom users can be accommodated.
What can you do with
cellphone banking?
Cellphone banking is an extension of internet banking. If you are registered with your bank as an internet customer, you will generally not be charged extra to make use of cellphone banking. Overall, compared to internet banking from your personal computer, you can do fewer types of transactions on your cellphone. But most of the common transactions are available, such as balance inquiries, transfers between linked accounts and account payments. Some banks offer you extras, such as news reports and share prices.
Costs
The big drawback to cellphone banking is the cost. There are two cost components to cellphone banking: The costs of the cellular service paid to the cellular service provider and the fees charged by the bank.
* Cellphone service costs:
Your cellular service provider charges a monthly fee for the use of the service as well as call charges. These fees depend on the contract you have chosen.
Generally, WAP banking (via the internet) is not available to pay-as- you-go cellphone users, but is limited to those who have contracts. As a contract user, you could argue that the monthly service fees charged by your cellular phone provider is a cost you are paying anyway.
However, you are also charged a fee for every minute you spend on the phone. Similar to accessing the internet from your personal computer, it may take a while to link up to your bank's website, because of the narrow cellular bandwidth available in this country.
But, unlike accessing the internet with your computer, you are charged cellular rates instead of local call rates when banking from your cellphone. Cellular call rates can be as high as R1.80 a minute, depending on the cellphone call package you have and whether you make the call inside or outside peak hours.
The alternative to WAP banking is to opt for SMS banking. SMS messages, at around 60 cents per message, are cheaper than cellular call rates. However, a single transaction involves sending about four to five SMS messages, so it may not work out to be much cheaper than WAP banking.
Also, because SMS messages are not done in "real" time, you may experience slight delays in response times. It may take 30 seconds for confirmation that an account has been paid and the response times may be longer during peak call times.
* Monthly and transaction costs:
Banks charge you for each transaction you do as well as a monthly service fee. The transaction charges are a lot cheaper than, for instance, when you do your banking over the bank counter.
If you are already using internet banking, banks generally do not charge an additional monthly service fee for cellphone banking. Monthly service fees vary between banks and range from R12 to R23 a month.
How to go about it
You have to bear in mind that the procedures to register for cellphone banking may differ from bank to bank.
For WAP banking, you need:
* A WAP-enabled cellular phone;
* A dial-up account with an internet service provider (although some banks allow you a direct dial-up link into the service);
* To be registered for internet banking. This may involve a visit to your branch with your identity book to confirm your identity; and
* To set up your phone to receive fax and data services. Refer to your phone handbook or speak to your cellular service provider.
For SMS banking, you need:
* A compliant cellular phone;
* A new 32K SIM card, which costs around R150. Your existing cellphone number will not change and by doing a SIM card swap, you will not lose all the details in your existing phone book;
* The new SIM card, which needs to be activated by your cell phone service provider; and
* To phone your bank to download the necessary banking menu onto your phone.