Frequently asked questions
Mobile Network Providers
Yes, Mint is network independent so you can source your mobile plan and PDA phone from any network provider (e.g. Telstra, Vodafone, 3, Virgin, Crazy Johns etc). However, Mint has partnered with Optus to provide special deals and pricing so you can talk to Optus and get everything from one provider if you prefer.
You’ll need a GPRS/CDMA/3G PDA phone with a data plan as these work out much more cost-effective – Optus has plans starting at only $5 a month.
Unfortunately you can’t use Mint where there is no network coverage. In this instance, you can return to your office and process the transaction using the online payment facility in your Mint Administration System
No, you can purchase Mint on its own and supply your own phone plan and PDA phone (as long as it’s a GPRS/3G capable Microsoft Windows or BlackBerry PDA phone). However, we do run special promotions with Optus.
All the major mobile phone carriers offer GPRS connectivity on both their post and pre paid services. These carriers include
- Optus
- 3
- Telstra
- Virgin
- Vodafone
- Crazy John’s
You need to talk to your carrier to have GPRS enabled on your PDA phone – there may be additional data charges with this.
Anywhere there is GPRS coverage and you get a data connection. GPRS coverage is dependent on the coverage provided by the mobile phone carrier and GPRS coverage will be different between carriers.
Customers can only use Mint over 3G as long as their device is 3G/GRPS compatible and is a Microsoft Windows Mobile (Version 5 onwards) or BlackBerry (Pearly, Curve, 8800 onwards).
They provide the communication network between the Mint device and the internet to securely process the transactions and, often, will provide the Mint compatible mobile device and SIM card if required as part of your contract.
The Mint software is only available for download from Mint via the internet once you’ve become a Mint customer. You need to be a Mint customer to use the software application as you require a UserID and PIN to activate and use it.
The Mint software that you load to your mobile device is approximately 400KB in size for a BlackBerry and approximately 2MB for a Windows Mobile device.
If you’re using a Windows Mobile device, you can avoid paying mobile data download fees from your carrier by using your home internet connection to download it to your PC and then transferring it to your mobile device via Active Sync and then installing it on your device. This doesn’t take very long and we cover this in your training session when you start.
Yes, you need to have a data plan activated by your selected mobile phone carrier. Plan costs vary per mobile carrier, but we recommend a monthly plan of around 5MB’s worth of data per month - it’s unlikely that Mint will use that much of your data plan as when information is sent back and forth, it only uses a small amount of KBs at a time. At the time of writing, Optus has a $5 per month for 5MB data plan.
The Mint software that you load to your mobile device is approximately 400KB in size for a BlackBerry and approximately 2MB for a Windows Mobile device.
If you receive a voice call while running a transaction, you may suspend the Mint application to take the call, or ignore the incoming call and complete your transaction. You will need to login again, check that the transaction did or did not complete (using Last Transaction function) and then proceed to either run the transaction again, or reprint receipts - a very simple process.
However, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile v 5+ PDA phones will accept an incoming call, and allow immediate resumption/completion of the transaction.
Yes, you can use wi-fi, rather than your mobile phone network, to connect to the Mint service if you have wi-fi on your PDA phone.
Don’t worry, payments can’t get lost with Mint. Mint only works where there is mobile coverage and simply presents a payment for approval which comes back as approved or declined. As long as the user has given their correct internet merchant account details then all payments taken will be deposited straight into their designated bank account.
In the rare instance that coverage is lost after the card has been swiped and the payment sent for approval, the system will try and return a message to the mobile phone for up to 30 seconds. After this time an error message will display on the mobile phone to cite that the connection was lost.
At this stage you can easily check if the transaction went through by downloading your most recent transactions from the Mint Administration System to your mobile phone. This takes less than 10 seconds. If it’s not in the recent transactions list then it didn’t reach the payment gateway for approval and you’ll need to swipe the card and process the transaction again.
No – Mint works on any network, as long as you have a compatible device and a GPRS/3G service, you won’t notice a difference.
The GPRS rate (data usage) is determined by your mobile phone carrier – see your carrier’s website for pricing details. However, the volume of data transferred when you use Mint for a transaction is small.
