'Data exhausted; children suffering due to companies' fraud

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Data companies have come up with profit strategies as children became active in online classes and adults on various online platforms during the Covid era.

The main weapon of the companies is the fake message, 'Data exhausted, you should recharge immediately'. This will be followed by tempting messages such as 'Top-up for Rs 48 and you will get 3 GB of data. This message comes even to students who attend an online class for two hours a day. Most parents will soon top up over the phone or through the bank app as it is related to children’s learning. However, poor kids will be forced to skip their classes as they don't have money for top-up recharge.

Such messages come to those who subscribed to a monthly plan of one and a half GB per day and that too after just two hours of the online class. Many mobile companies have a 20GB monthly plan. Although this data will work with slow speed even after the data limit gets exhausted, zoom meeting and video streaming will not take place.

Data usage

300 MB .............. 2 hours Google Class

1500 MB ........... 10 hours Google Class
(One and a half GB daily plan will suffice)

60 - 150 MB ......... 1 hour net browsing, google class, online game

700 MB ................ 1 hour YouTube

1/2 GB ................... 1 hour zoom meeting

3GB .................... 1 hour Amazon Prime, Netflix one hour streaming

03 GB ................. 1 hour per month

03 GB ................. 1 hour of music streaming per month