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Vodafone Wallet, a handy way to pay

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

I’ve been using Vodafone Wallet for some time and found it a convenient way to pay when the transaction is too small for a card and you don’t want to use cash. Other payment systems are around or on the horizon but, if you don’t have an ApplePay compatible iPhone and don’t want to wait for Android’s offering, this is here and now.

 

I was involved in the initial trial and had a number of problems, to the extent that I became increasingly frustrated and very nearly gave the whole thing up. However, Smartpass help sorted me out and persuaded me to give it one more try and I’m glad I did. Smartpass is the card that underlies Wallet and handles the transaction side of things. It’s a pre-pay card and you’ll either love or hate that. Personally, I like knowing that if someone gets hold of it, they can only use the money that’s there, and not my full bank balance or credit card limit. You can enable automatic top-up if you want to keep the process seamless but, again, I like the security of having it turned off. In use, topping-up is quick and I’ve often done it while waiting in the queue at the till.

 

At the moment, Smartpass is the only payment card that can be used with the app, though there is a plug-in that allows you to add loyalty cards. How well this works depends a lot on the shop’s scanning equipment – at the moment, most can’t handle a screen, but you can display the number and work from that.   Loyalty cards don’t connect with the NFC system.

 

When the system was initially launched, there were few fully compatible devices and most payments had to be made by the stick-on tag.   This worked well, but didn’t feel “proper”. I’ve now upgraded to full NFC and it’s a breeze.

 

I was fortunate to have a chat with Mark Ryan, the product manager for Wallet and learnt a few things that aren’t widely known.

 

The first is that NFC payment is now enabled with both Vodafone’s old and new billing systems, meaning that anyone can use it if they have a compatible device. There are different SIMs for each system and you need to make sure you have the right one. The ones for the old system say NFC Legacy on the back of the carrier card. For this reason, it’s advisable to get your SIM from a shop so that you can both check you have the correct one. Legacy SIMs will continue to work when you’re eventually migrated to the new billing system, so there should be no need for a further change.   There have been some reports of shops being perplexed by the provisioning process, but the fact is that they just need to activate the SIM as they would for any other.

 

Security-wise, there is an advantage in the NFC functionality can be disabled by Customer Services if the phone is lost or stolen.

 

Moving from tag to NFC is a simple process. Mark sent me my SIM and I activated it via Live Chat as I normally do. Apart from providing the serial number and confirming the size, I didn’t need to do anything else with them.   It came on stream almost immediately and I followed all the prompts about updating my APN (which I doubt I needed to). Calls, texts and data are all fine.

 

When I opened the Wallet app that I already had installed, it went through an update process and reminded me to turn off wifi so that it could connect securely.   Even though I only had a 2G connection, the process was smooth and quick. I got various prompts that seemed to relate more to a new installation than an existing one, but I hit the purple “do it” buttons, which was what it seemed to want and everything was fine.

 

The one thing I did notice was that, when Wallet had finished, it was still necessary to open Smartpass and do some setting up there. If I was starting from scratch, this may not have been necessary, but the steps are fairly self-apparent as long as you know to check. In order for NFC payment to work, you need to have it turned on in your device settings (obviously) and the app will prompt you to do that.

 

The app sets the payment method to “automatic” by default, which means you don’t have to open or interact with it at the till. If you prefer an authorisation button, set it to “manual” and that’ll be available.

 

Everything appeared to be in place and my first opportunity to use the new system came 24 hours later. It worked easily, but I think you may need to check the location of the phone’s NFC sensor for best positioning.

 

If you want to protect your account, the easiest way is to turn off NFC on the device.   I’ve checked, and the app will reactivate by itself when you turn it back on.

 

I was told that, once NFC payment had been set up, the tag would be disabled and I could discard it.   I haven’t tried to use it, but all mention of it disappears from within the app.

 

For support, you need to distinguish between the two elements: Wallet and Smartpass.   Support for the former is via the Vodafone customer service channels. Some people have reported issues with this, but reminders have gone out and this will hopefully improve. If the issue is with Smartpass, you need to call their dedicated number, which is on the app. I’ve done this a few times and they answer quickly and deal with queries promptly. If you lock yourself out of Smartpass, you can solve this on your own with a password reset.

 

Another thing I’ve noticed is that, if there’s been an update, or a longish period of inactivity, Smartpass may ask you to log in again, so it’s wise to have your username and password handy at all times.   You can still pay, but you won’t be able to check your balance or top up until you’ve logged back in.

 

As I’ve got used to contactless payment, I’m finding myself using it more and more. Looking to the future, the one refinement I’d love to see is the option of having an electronic receipt transmitted back to the payment device. Paying by a quick tap still generates till and card receipts and a wad of paper to file – where, when all you have about you is a phone?

23 REPLIES 23

SimonWilding
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

I just wish we could add our bank debit/creadit card to the wallet so we can make payments in the same way as using the card itself on a contacless terminal rather than having to top up the smartpass.

 

Quite often I'm without my wallet/card and want to buy something but have to leave the store to find a decent mobile data or wifi signal to enable me to top up my smartpass, which was a pain.

 

Must be coming soon, surely?

Samsung A52S 5G - SM-A528B/DS

Android Version - 12 One UI version 4.1

Last Update 19.4.22

Build- SP1A.210812.016/A528BXXS1CVD1

Baseband- A528BXXUiCVC4
Nova Launcher. Chrome browser.

My phone history (back to 1997!):

Huawei P30, P20, VF Smart V8, Note 4, S4, S2, Tocco Ultra, F490, P300, E250, RAZR v3, Timeport 250, A300, Star-Tac 

 

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

I wouldn't disagree with you there - except that I quite like having the protection of a pre-paid card as my contactless one.   Bear in mind that you can set up automatic top-ups which, afaik, work at account rather than device level (ie shouldn't need a data connection).

 

It's noticeable that mobile payment systems have been slow to come and that only Apple have managed it with their walled-garden system, and then only on the iPhone 6.   NFC was never intended to be a bank-level secure system and I suspect that's what's holding it all back.   I've seen it suggested that AndroidPay is coming later this month, but I don't think that was an official announcement.  I'd want to know what they're doing about security - will it only work on certain devices, is security baked into Android M - or will it be in N, will it require a fingerprint reader?  And anway, security really needs to be hardware-based so that there's an area of memory that even the OS can't touch.

SimonWilding
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

Good points but I dont buy the security concerns - if you have cash in your wallet and lose it you'll never get it back.

 

If you have a contactless card and lose it someone can use it, up to the the £30.00 limit per transaction, until you report it lost - it's no different with the phone. The contactless limit will still apply so having having your contactless card attached to your phone is no less secure than carrying the card around.

 

In fact, you could say that the phone is more secure; a contactless card is "always on" until you report it missing, but the NFC function on the phone can be switched off until you need it, do it in the queue at the till. That way if someone finds your phone they have to unlock it then turn the NFC on the pay with it

 

As an aside, over the last 5 years I have lost my wallet twice but never my phone, just shows which one I take more care of and which is more secure!!

Samsung A52S 5G - SM-A528B/DS

Android Version - 12 One UI version 4.1

Last Update 19.4.22

Build- SP1A.210812.016/A528BXXS1CVD1

Baseband- A528BXXUiCVC4
Nova Launcher. Chrome browser.

My phone history (back to 1997!):

Huawei P30, P20, VF Smart V8, Note 4, S4, S2, Tocco Ultra, F490, P300, E250, RAZR v3, Timeport 250, A300, Star-Tac 

 

jeffkinn
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

Having a pre paid facility as opposed to an open ended debit or credit card is I believe a policy of the bank that is operating the facility on behalf of Vodafone.

Jeffkinn_Sig.png

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

@SimonWilding wrote:

If you have a contactless card and lose it someone can use it, up to the the £30.00 limit per transaction, until you report it lost


Exactly, and that could be several times, so maybe a couple of hundred quid goes in less than an hour, and you have all the hassle of getting it back.   If you only have £20 or £30 on a contactless card, that's as much as you can lose.

 

That was my personal feeling and you may well have a different view.   The matter in hand was when more cards will come to the Wallet app and that, I suspect, is much more down to device security and the view the banks take of it.  As I said, it's very noticeable that ApplePay only works on the iPhone 6 and that promised on-phone payment systems such as Samsung and Android Pay have been slow to arrive.  In other words, the hardware security isn't in place (alomst certaily a reserved area of memory that's inaccessible via the OS).  I'd even be prepared to bet that Android Pay may only work on devices that have a fingerprint reader.

 

Smartpass is a Vodafone-specific prepayment Mastercard and (again) my guess would be that this was as far as the people behind it were prepared to go: ie, they were considering their exposure in the event of fraud.

SimonWilding
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

That was my point, having your bank card linked to your phone leaves you open to no more potential losses if it is stolen than if you have your card stolen (or carry cash in your wallet).

 

Indeed as I said in another post, I think the phone is more secure than carrying your bank card around; you can lock the phone and turn the NFC off until you want to use it - two hurdles the person who has your phone has to get across (once they even realise you have VF wallet installed in the first place).

 

You can't turn your card off; as soon as someone finds it, they can use it.

 

Not only that I know where my phone is all the time, can't always say that about my wallet!  

Samsung A52S 5G - SM-A528B/DS

Android Version - 12 One UI version 4.1

Last Update 19.4.22

Build- SP1A.210812.016/A528BXXS1CVD1

Baseband- A528BXXUiCVC4
Nova Launcher. Chrome browser.

My phone history (back to 1997!):

Huawei P30, P20, VF Smart V8, Note 4, S4, S2, Tocco Ultra, F490, P300, E250, RAZR v3, Timeport 250, A300, Star-Tac 

 

I can testify that once I got the system up and running, it worked well, there was just a lot of faff getting it there.

 

Which of course I now have to go through again since I upgraded my phone, and they sent me a new nano-sim, which was not an NFC sim. So back to the shop for yet another sim I shall go.

 

All that for pay-by-bonk.

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

Unfortunately, the system/s don't seem geared to the idea that you might have an NFC SIM (I think most people don't, and they're a bit more expensive than standard ones), which is why you have to ask for one.

 

I don't think I'd describe the process as faff, just setting up something that needs to be secure.  Once you've done that, using it is painless.

Following on from my earlier posts I'm pleased that Android Pay has now been launched in the UK which means I can now, at last, use my phone as a direct replacement for my contactless card rather than having to transfer money to my Smartpass first.

 

So long VF Wallet!

Samsung A52S 5G - SM-A528B/DS

Android Version - 12 One UI version 4.1

Last Update 19.4.22

Build- SP1A.210812.016/A528BXXS1CVD1

Baseband- A528BXXUiCVC4
Nova Launcher. Chrome browser.

My phone history (back to 1997!):

Huawei P30, P20, VF Smart V8, Note 4, S4, S2, Tocco Ultra, F490, P300, E250, RAZR v3, Timeport 250, A300, Star-Tac 

 

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

The other obvious advantage is compatibility - Android Pay will work with any device that has KitKat and up.   You have to have some kind of lock, but it can be a PIN or pattern as well as the fingerprint (which would be the most convenient).

 

I'll be sticking with Vodafone Wallet for the time being as a) the bank that issues the card I want to use with AP isn't onboard yet and b) I rather like the added layer of security that a prepay card gives me.   I can anticipate moving over, though, especially if I upgrade my phone and the new one isn't compatible with Wallet.