More "experienced" readers will remember the massive, almost miraculous effect the fax machine had in the workplace about 25 years ago.The downside for journalists was that for the first time corporates and politicians had an excuse for not answering your questions on the spot when you called. "I'll fax you a statement," they'd say, buying themselves time and stifling the Q&A process.Now it's e-mail we can't live without at work.And when it comes to play, many of us spend more time on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms than we care to admit.I know I wouldn't take too kindly to being told that I'd no longer have access to WhatsApp or Facebook on my contract phone.That's exactly what's happened to MTN subscriber Jonathan Withers, who just three months ago signed a two-year contract with a network, which came with a BlackBerry OS 10 Leap phone.WhatsApp plans to share your info with Facebook: 6 things you need to knowWhatsApp will start sharing users' phone numbers with Facebook, allowing for more relevant advertisements and friend recommendations on the social network. But what exactly does that mean? He has since discovered that both WhatsApp and Facebook will not be available on his phone from the end of the year."The problem is that, up until a few months ago, MTN was still contracting users on to these phones on 24-month contracts, despite WhatsApp putting out an alert in February 2016 that they would dump use on BB OS10 by year-end," said Withers."Facebook followed suit, so no FB on OS10 either."WhatsApp is already sending alerts to my phone when I use it, advising me to upgrade to a compatible phone. I have 21 months left on the contract."New MTN BlackBerry phones are running a version of Android, called Lollipop, which does support WhatsApp and Facebook.Withers tried to engage MTN on the issue but had no joy. That's when he contacted me."Who would like to use a smartphone cost-effectively without WhatsApp? Come year-end there are going to be a lot of very unhappy people forced back to SMS as a way of communicating."Thousands of MTN contract users will have to pay monthly for what will largely be a redundant smartphone for possibly 18 months or more beyond end-2016. OS10 phones may well be only a tiny percentage of the global market, but it is still running on millions of handsets, " said Withers.Why should cellphone subscribers forfeit their airtime?Why should cellphone subscribers forfeit the airtime they've accumulated - and paid for - during their contract period because they choose to migrate to another contract or to prepaid, on the same network? Responding, MTN said that based on its "insights" and sales figures, there was still a huge market for BlackBerry handsets in South Africa."Customers who purchase these handsets use them for a variety of applications, including but not necessarily limited to, instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp."For the most secure messaging platform, subscribers could use BlackBerry Messenger on any mobile," MTN said."Our newest devices, PRIV and DTEK50, running BlackBerry secure Android will continue to have WhatsApp available on them after January 2017."Power Report: The naked truth about cellphone smut ripoffFor some in big business, there's probably an upside to the political and corruption scandals that threaten to engulf us: they deflect conveniently from unethical and dubious behaviour in their own ranks. Withers said the network failed to comment on its lack of disclosure on the looming loss of functionality on the handsets in question."BBM is effectively dead. If you want to communicate, for business or social, WhatsApp is it. The network had to have known about the impending redundancy of the products they were offering the public at the time; it's their job to have their ears to the ground for changes to apps and OS updates.You would think so, yes. But since consumers clearly can't rely on getting the full story from sales folk (another example is being sold a car about to be replaced by a new model), it's best to research a product fully online before you commit.#Shelfie Sobering sums: My thanks to Barry McCallum for yet another example of why it's unwise to assume that buying in bulk is always cheaper. Buy one of these nonalcoholic beers from Woolworths and you'll pay R14.45 but buy a six-pack and you pay R17.50 each..