This could slash our mobile phone bills – but are we patient enough to use it?

There’s a raft of new services that could dramatically reduce the amount of money we spend on mobile phone calls and data (ie checking Starts at 60 when out and about).

The question is: are we patient enough to accept the conditions?

The deal on offer is a significant reduction on your phone bill or extra data for free, provided you allow ads to be served to your phone.

According to this Fairfax Media report, these “fremium” phone deals or “ad-supported” plans are already in use by companies called Unlockd and Lebara.

Users on these plans see ads “about every third time they unlock their phone”. They can close the ads immediately and choose to opt out of the ad-supported plan at any time, if they find the ads too annoying or intrusive.

Examples of the ads you might see are Sportsbet telling you which races are on that day, or Channel 10 updating you on that night’s news bulletin.

Having spent the majority of our media consuming lives suffering through the ads on free-to-air television, we are probably the demographic most likely to put up with ads in return for a bonus, whereas Generation Netflix might not be so tolerant.

Marketing expert Brent Coker told Fairfax deals like this showed marketers were starting to understand that people want something back for their time.

“People have grown over time to resent advertising because there is a trend towards just pushing ads in front of them, day in, day out,” Dr Coker said. “What marketers are trying to do now is give you something in return.”

Let’s talk: Would you be willing to watch (or close) a few ads in order to get more data for free? Are you happy with your current mobile phone plan? What do you get for your money?