REVEALING THE ACTUAL COST OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TO MOBILE USERS The title of my project is : REVEALING THE ACTUAL COST OF TELECOMMUNICATION TO MOBILE USERS Supervisorvised by professor tucker. Here you should recap the point of the project: that most people aren’t really aware of their price plans or how to get that information easily to see what they are really spending. By: Ghirish Chibba Supervisor: Bill Tucker

Price Plan Overview Services offered by Telecommunication companies providers SIM cards registered to specific Prepaid price plan Each price plan is unique: Call rate SMS date Data rates Promotions Prepaid Price plans are services offered by telecommuncation companies. Within SA there are 4 main tele companies : name them . Note: we’ve seen them already. Don’t repeat it. Each telecom has its own range of pre paid price plans that differ in terms of what they offer for a particular price. Each prepaid price plan consists of its own rates : call , SMS and data rates and promotions. Give an example of a promotion: buy a certain amount of data and get a certain amount for free

The Problem Users are unaware of: How much they are spending. Which price plan they are on. How to save What their price plan entails, e.g. promotions and rates The problem arises when users are unaware of : -how much they are spending -which price plan they are on How to save money and What there price plan entails. Because the package inserts use very small font (as shown here) and deliberately do not provide pricing info! This problem arises as customers are not informed of which price plan their sim card is on. when customers walk into a store they assume a SIM card is just a sim card and they all are the same. However each price plan has its own rates. This image shows the package insert of a purchased Vodacom SIM card, the package insert gives a very short promotion included in the price plan. No rates for call, SMS or data are included therefore the customer is unknown of howmuch they are spending.

Often tariffs are on the web page Once accessing the Vodacom website this is all the extra info that can be seen by the user. All rates are displayed as well as promotions. Not all users are aware that find this here and some may not have access to the internet to find further information. Try to make the font here as readable as possible. This isn’t about showing small print. It’s about showing where the needed data is.

The Solution Create an Android mobile application that : informs users of their price plan, informs users of data and call costs pushes notifications and info of promotions, how to save calculates the cost for the day, week , month and last recharge

Prototype: choosing/identifying a price plan This is a non functional proto type just to give a look and feel of the application and its functions 1st the user will select their network to find out more information about their price plan. Next they will have two options of doing this : By running a USSD code or by calling a toll free number, both are done within the application and not manually. If the user runs the USSD option, their price plan will be displayed on their screen and if they call, the name of the price plan will be read aloud to them.

Prototype : showing actual costs

High level design This is a flow of the overall application which depicts all parts of the system. Explain or mention each one quickly.

Low level design (an example) Title: Price plan information Description: This file accesses the databases after the user has selected their price plan and displays the users data rates, call rates, SMS rates and promotions that are currently valid on their price plan. Inputs :Inputs to this program is the database where all information about each price plan is stored. Outputs: This program outputs text onto the users screen: SMS rates, call rates, data rates and promotions. Caveats: None I have provided this level of detail for all of the classes but I will be displaying this example as I think its one of the most important functionality which is finding out what price plan the user is on and finding more information about the price plan. This is the method of the user determining their price plan: description, inputs , outputs and caveats Explain each one quickly

FetchUSSD() SetCodeToUi() Description: Fetches the correct USSD code or toll free phone number from the database based on the network selected by the use Inputs: The network which is selected by the user. Outputs: none. Caveats: none SetCodeToUi() Description: Sets the correct USSD code or toll free number to the user interface. Inputs: Inputs are the USSD code and toll free number stored in the database. Outputs: none. Caveats: none These are the methods which make up the class to check the uses price plan. The first method is called FetchUSSD() : what this method does is it collects the correct USSD code and toll free number from the database. For example if the customer is on Vodacome then this method will collect the Vodacom USSD code and toll free number that will later be used to check the price plan. The SetCodeToUi() method takes the toll free number and USSD code that was fetched in the previous method and sets it within the UI so that the user will be able to either call or run the USSD code within the application.

PushCall() Description: Calls the toll free number fetched from SetCodeToUI(). Inputs: Inputs are the toll free number fetched from the database in FetchUSSD(). Therefore FetchUSSD() is an input. Outputs:A phone call within the application where the users price plan is read to them aloud by a human voice. Caveats: none This method pushes the call within the application and creates a call where the user can listen to the name of their price plans. Both methods mentioned prior to this are inputs. This method then ouputs a vodacom call where the name of the price plan is read out. This will also be shown in my demo.

PushUSSD() Description: Runs the USSD code that was fetched from SetCodeToUI(). Inputs: Inputs are the USSD code fetched from the database in FetchUSSD(). Therefore FetchUSSD() is an input. Outputs:The USSD code is ran within the application and displays the name of the price plan on the users screen. Caveats: none The last method within this class is called PushUSSD, This is where the USSD code is ran within the application. This method then outputs the name of the users price plan displayed on their mobile phones screen.

What have I done this term? - Leant how to code in Android - Created functional and non functional prototypes - Collected and updated data USSD codes, rates, price plans etc - Eliminated manual checking of price plan

Project Plan : Term 3 Populate the database of the web application Update all data for database( new data or updated from telecommunications companies websites): All price plans for Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom Mobile. Get the following data: Call rate, SMS rates, data rates and promotions Update all USSD codes Create the user interface for all features: price plan, call cost, call history Create the push notification and implement Implement the database to pull updated feeds from official MNOs website implement the SMS sending - Enter your number, provider, then click send which will come with your mobile phone Implement the price plan checking Term 3 documentation and presentation

(1) Cellphone Contracts — Prepaid deals — Vodacom2017, 2017. (2) R2K and L. C. R. Project, The Lived Costs of Communications, 2014. (3) Mtn store site2 017, 2017. (4) Call cost application, 2017. (5) Ussd application, 2017. (6) Appmagazine.com, ZimCodes. (7) Pushover application, 2017. Bibliography This bibliography needs sooooooo much more information. Please fix it here and in the documentation. Each item needs an author list, and the source in which it appears, even if it’s just a website.