“Help out” service from MTS: description, how to use, connection and disconnection

Date: July 24, 2021 | Updated: August 23, 2021 | Author: Moblie-man

As part of our articles, we have already repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that modern cellular operators offer many options for continuing to use services even if the subscriber’s account has a zero or negative balance. There are such, or the possibility of transferring funds between subscribers, but MTS also has this (sometimes it is mistakenly called “Call at the expense of a friend” or “Call at the expense of the interlocutor.” And we will look at it today, analyzing the main nuances and connection conditions this option.

How to use the MTS option

Many questions concern how to make calls using the Help Out service on MTS. Here the approaches differ depending on in which country the user activates the option - in the Russian Federation or in another state (while roaming).

In the Russian Federation

If you are in the Russian Federation, you can use one of two options:

• Dial 0880 (subscriber number, 10 characters). For example, 0880920234321.

• Call 0880. Next, wait for the automatic informer to respond and dial the recipient's phone number (10 digits).

The “sponsor” receives an incoming call with an offer to accept it for his money. If a person is busy, he receives an SMS asking him to dial a phone number. Limit per day - up to 10 calls or messages.

While roaming

A call to an MTS number in the Help Out service while roaming follows a different principle. The algorithm of actions is as follows:

1. Dial on the phone *880*(subscriber number, 10 characters)#. Example - *880*9165783456#.
2. A person receives a call and an offer to accept it for his own money.
3. If the user is busy and cannot receive a call, he receives an SMS with information about a call back.

You are allowed to make 10 calls or messages per day.

legislation

Is there any basis for such claims, strictly speaking? After all, at some point the user voluntarily performed some action that ensured his place as a victim in the chain (relative to the short number 0880). This is precisely the position that telecom operators adhere to when a subscriber, outraged by the loss of money, begins to search for the truth.

The answer is yes, there is

And this is called the federal law of July 23, 2013 N 229-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Communications”.

In it, Article 2 of the Basic Law is supplemented with subclause 34.1, which defines what “content services” are.

The legislator made this definition as general as possible, practically fitting into it everything that is not the actual connection. Those. if the user using the phone and through the telecom operator’s channels receives, quote,

...reference, entertainment and (or) other additionally paid information...", gets the opportunity "... to participate in voting, games, competitions and similar events...,

Then he, the user, receives a content service. And it, in turn, being provided with the participation of third parties, falls under the addition of paragraph 5 of Article 44 of the Federal Law “On Communications”, which prescribes a mechanism for protecting the consumer by:

• firstly, the possibility of creating, at his request, a separate account to pay only for content services;
• secondly, the requirement to obtain explicit consent to receive such services;
• thirdly, about comprehensive information, including prices and names of suppliers, about these services before obtaining consent.

Another addition, established by 229-FZ, to paragraph 5 of Article 54 of the Basic Law, states that services provided in violation of any of the above are not subject to payment. And finally, Article 68 of the main communications law is supplemented by paragraph 8, which directly indicates the operator’s responsibility for the implementation of Article 44 (see above).

Let’s summarize the legislative information, projecting the rights and responsibilities spelled out in it onto the practical side of life.

If the user consciously wants to become a consumer of content services, then you can secure your account for paying for communications by declaring your intention to open a separate content account to cover the costs of mobile subscriptions and SMS from short numbers. If it is exhausted, funds intended for regular conversations and SMS will not be affected.

For telecom operators Beeline and TELE2, this action is automated and is carried out by sending a USSD request, *110*5062# and *160#, respectively. Sets of commands are also provided for replenishment and checking the balance.

Megafon and MTS require a personal appearance at the office and presentation of a passport, and one must understand that regardless of the method of expression of will, the very fact of opening an account confirms voluntary consent to receive content services, and strictly speaking makes it unnecessary to inform about the details (in including price) of the same mobile subscription.

Terms of use Help from MTS

Above we looked at how to make a call within the MTS Help Out service.

Here it is important to take into account several important conditions:

1. When using the functionality, the subscriber agrees to the terms of the Public Offer.
2. Clients have access to no more than 10 calls per day.
3. Requests in your home region are not charged.
4. If a person has incoming forwarding enabled, a connection using the Help Out option is not established.
5. For outgoing calls using the Help function ]Anti-Caller ID on request[/anchor] or regular Anti-Caller ID do not work.
6. Subscribers of the Cool or Cool 2009 tariffs are only able to make outgoing calls within the Vyruchai service.
7. It is possible to set additional limits on the number of calls within the Help from MTS service - up to three. To do this, you need to come to the MTS office or your personal manager.

The last option is available only to corporate clients.

: description of how it works

At the end of December 2021, “MTS Search” combined 2 previously existing options.

1. The MTS Locator service (unofficially called MTS Radar) allows you to find out the location of selected users. Data is provided with the consent of the subscriber, regardless of the technical characteristics of the device. The geoposition is determined with an accuracy of up to a couple of meters, even if a person walks around with an outdated push-button telephone - using base stations, WiFi access points or using GPS technology. In addition to tracking the subscriber's location, the option allows you to set up notifications about visiting certain places and leaving the selected zone. The movement history is stored for 7-90 days, depending on the package.
2. “Child under supervision” includes “Parental control” in addition to geolocation. If an MTS subscriber is being tracked, it provides information about the account status of the number. If a person uses a device running Android, the mobile charge level, notifications about turning Wi-Fi on and off, airplane mode, and sound are available.

The location is determined by MTS, MegaFon and Beeline subscribers. The cost of tracking depends on the package and additional options.

If you plan to make information available to your loved ones, enable Family Sharing. For an additional 3 rubles per day, 3 family members or friends can use the basic package for free.

What is the price

Before dialing a friend to a subscriber using the Help Out service on MTS, it is important to understand the potential costs. Here the approaches differ depending on the place where the option is used - in the Russian Federation or in roaming.

In Russia

When working in the Russian Federation, the service is free for the caller. For the called user the cost is:

1. When registering numbers in one region - 2 rubles.
2. In case of registration in different regions - 3 rubles.

There are no special conditions or discounts for outgoing calls using the Help out option. Such calls do not participate in programs for spending or accumulating minutes within tariff plans, promotions or options.

While roaming

The caller does not need to pay. The recipient of the call (“sponsor”) pays for the connection, taking into account the country from which the call originates. There are two options available here:

1. Countries of the former CIS, as well as Greece, Austria, Romania, Malta, Denmark, Cuba, France, Poland, Egypt, Cyprus and others - 20 rubles. The full list can be found on the MTS website in the service description section.
2. Other states that are not included in the first list - 80 rubles.

It is allowed to receive a call from the territory of another country only if the “sponsor” himself is located in his home region.

Cost of use on MTS

The cost of the service implies payment by the receiving party for calls in accordance with the following tariff conditions:

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• Provided that both the calling and receiving subscribers are in the home region, tariffs are charged at 3 rubles per minute;
• Provided that both parties to the call are registered and stay in different regions, tariffs are charged at 5 rubles per minute;
• If the caller is roaming throughout the country, the tariff is 8.90 rubles. in a minute.

All text messages are billed at a rate of RUB 2.72. for 70/160 characters of text in Russian/English letters, respectively. If the number of characters is exceeded, payment is made in double format.

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How to create a whitelist

In the Help from MTS option, it is possible to create a white list. The numbers included in this list allow you to receive incoming calls from certain numbers. To create a white list, you need to enable the Personal List function - dial *111*785#.

Add number

There are three ways to enter a number into the BS:

• *880*0# and select menu 2;
• *880*22(subscriber number, 10 characters)#;
• SMS with the text 22*(phone number, 10 characters) to 8800.

Delete subscriber

In the future, you can remove the phone from the BS. The following options are available here:

1. *880*0# and select menu 2;
2. *880*23(subscriber number, 10 characters)#;
3. SMS with text 23*(recipient's phone number, 10 characters) to 8800.

Use the option

To send a request you must:

• *880*41(subscriber number, 10 characters)#;
• SMS with text 41*(phone number, 10 characters) to 8800.

The maximum number of phones in the BS is 10. Before adding a user to the BS, you must remove him from the BS (if he was added there).

Conclusion

is very convenient and allows you to make communication between subscribers even easier and more enjoyable. Now each subscriber can use the method of communication that is most beneficial for him at one time or another. Also, the service will be indispensable if you have a zero balance on your phone. Also, in some cases, when you have money in your account, making a call at the subscriber’s expense may be beneficial to the parties. When the caller is in the “White List” of the callee, apart from dialing an additional prefix before the phone number, you do not need to perform any other actions to connect. Therefore, it is recommended to save the number 0880 in your contact list. This will never be superfluous.

How to create a blacklist

Users of the Help from MTS service can create a black list (BL). To create an emergency option, enable the Personal list function. To do this, dial *111*785#.

There are three ways to enter a number in an emergency situation:

• *880*0# and select menu 2;
• *880*26(subscriber phone number, 10 characters)#;
• SMS with text 26*(phone number, 10 characters) to number 8800.

In the future, you can remove the phone from the emergency situation. The following options are available here:

• *880*0# and select menu 2;
• *880*27(subscriber phone number, 10 characters)#;
• SMS with text 27*(subscriber's phone number, 10 characters) to 8800.

The maximum number of numbers in an emergency situation is 10.

How to get money back from 0880 number

If it does happen that an inexplicable loss of money from a mobile account is discovered, you need to try to remember if you received any annoying SMS message from the number 0880, for example, with an offer to find out the most accurate weather forecast or check your watch with the London Observatory?

Wasn't the answer "yes" sent to him?

Or maybe, in the heat of Internet surfing, a phone number was entered to obtain a registration code on some little-known but attractive resource?

Services for checking the availability of paid services on the number 0880

In order not to speculate, you need to use the service (and every operator has one) to inform you about the availability of paid services tied to your number, including subscriptions to the number 0880

The most informative is access through the web interface of your personal account, and in the absence of the Internet or the desire to use it, the good old USSD request will help.

Megafon - *583#, Beeline - *110*09#, MTS will inform you about this by command *111*919#, TELE2 - *189#

If the acquired knowledge shows that there are subscriptions, and money is quickly debited from the account because of this, you should not hesitate. Using the same tools, you need to disable the subscription, and the debiting of money will stop.

This is done using your personal account and personal assistance services by calling the support service. The USSD commands indicated here will also allow you to select the desired command - “disable”.

Also, a quick cure for a paid subscription, when the user receives an SMS about activating this service, will be a response message consisting of the word stop (or STOP).

Refund of spent funds

Losing money on an unnecessary paid subscription, by accident, through negligence or ignorance, and even more so due to someone’s selfish intent, will certainly prompt the restoration of justice. I want to get back what I lost because of the 0880 number, but that’s the difficulty. As already mentioned, from the point of view of the operator, namely, we pay him, and it is to him we will go with a claim, the user himself, voluntarily, even if not consciously, but voluntarily committed actions that led to the activation of a paid subscription, and, as a result, to write off funds.

Therefore, they are unlikely to return the money voluntarily, without a fight. And in view of the fact that the burden of proving compliance or non-compliance with the same Federal Law No. 229 lies on the party making a claim for the loss incurred, you need to understand what can be stated as evidence. It’s unlikely that any of us keep print screens of every manipulation with the phone, and it’s unlikely that the warning about the paid service is difficult to read because it’s printed in gray font on an even grayer background will serve as a weighty argument.

What has been said, of course, does not mean that there is no need to try, it is absolutely necessary, and the Internet is replete with stories about successful disputes. Sometimes, in order to avoid image losses, in mass cases when the problem of paid subscriptions becomes public knowledge and is discussed on social networks, operators meet halfway and restore the status quo of the wallets of their subscribers who suffered from their ignorance and inattention.

Knowledge is never superfluous, this is an axiom, and this also applies to the security of your own money. Having an idea about the structure of paid subscriptions, including to the 0880 number, about working short SMS numbers for someone else’s benefit, it is easier to navigate, it is easier to avoid mistakes, and there is a greater chance of not regretting lost money and time. We will be careful when pressing buttons, entering our data and phone numbers, and, for sure, there will be a few fewer disappointments in life associated with mobile communications.

How to disable the Help from MTS service

Many users do not like the ability to pay for calls or SMS at the expense of other users. In this case, the question arises of how to disable the Help Out service on MTS. To do this, you can use one of two ways:

• *880*0# and menu selection 3, and after 1;

• SMS with text 30 to 8800.

An alternative option is to ban this method of communication. The following paths are available here:

• *880*0# and menu selection 3, and after 2;
• SMS with text 32 to 8800.

Description of the begging service

used when the phone is blocked due to a zero balance, but if necessary:

• Call;
• Send a message.

The way it works is to use another person's phone bill . There is no need to pay for the service, but only residents of certain regions and regions can use it.

Important! In order for money to be withdrawn from another account, you need to receive confirmation from the subscriber. To do this, you need to know the subscriber's number, how to dial a call request and how to give a positive answer to make the connection.

Just remember the following:

• Characters 0880 for call (5880 for message);
• The number of the subscriber through whom the call will be made (10 digits).

Connection sequence: call p. 1, then you will be asked to dial p. 2. Or enter p. 1, 2 together and call. When sending a message, enter the prefix from the first paragraph before point 2.

The party receiving the call presses:

1. "1" to accept a call.
2. “2” to determine the cost of an incoming request;
3. "0" for disconnect.

Important! If during the call the receiving party is in “conversation” mode, he will receive a message asking him to call back.

Each MTS subscriber can connect to such an additional service through the Internet assistant menu.

Reviews

As a rule, users respond positively to the Help Out service. They note the following advantages:

1. The ability to quickly make a call to another subscriber.
2. Availability for all clients.
3. Possibility of use in roaming.
4. Simple and transparent conditions.
5. Convenient request method.

Among the disadvantages, cases of illegal connection of the service stand out, but such a problem must be dealt with immediately and a complaint must be filed.
The use of this option is relevant in extreme cases, when there is no money in the account, but it is necessary to urgently contact the subscriber. If our article helped you, please like it!