When on roam...

18 May 2005

 

Using a mobile phone overseas can be expensive. Michelle Innis finds ways to cut the costs.

Using your mobile telephone to make or receive calls while you're overseas is a sure way to burn a hole in your wallet.

While carriers are scrabbling for local market share and slashing prices on text messaging, international call costs have risen.

Overall, roaming call rates to major business destinations have increased by an average of 6 per cent over the past year, even though local mobile telephone rates have been reduced, says Danny Nathanson, chief executive of vRoam, which sells and rents SIM cards.

Charles Britton, the Australian Consumers Association's IT and telecommunications policy officer, says the price hikes are counter-intuitive.

"You would think that as technology becomes cheaper and more people use it, costs would fall," Britton says.

"Perhaps there is not a lot of regulatory traction on it, because it is not a national issue."

Australian regulators have no control over foreign networks. When you use your mobile overseas, you are using someone else's network. Calls from the US and UK to Australia can be as high as $3 a minute.

And if you've signed up for a mobile plan, that plan won't cover the charges imposed by a foreign carrier.

"Plans just subsidise the cost of the handset," Nathanson says. "The reality is that 'free minutes' won't cover overseas calls."

Still, if you're travelling and taking your mobile, there are some measures you can take to cut costs.

Before leaving Australia, ask your mobile carrier to switch you to global roaming. Switching is usually free and it means that once you reach your destination, your mobile will automatically search for a network.

Virgin Mobile says you need a "triband" telephone to access US networks. Local carriers can check this before you leave.

Once you're on an international carrier's network, you're officially a visitor. And the carrier has little incentive to provide visitors with cheap rates.

When you use your phone overseas, your call is routed back through Australia. It is the same when you collect voice messages. The international network you have roamed onto will charge you for using its network. You may also pay administration and connection fees.

If you receive a call on your mobile, it is redirected from the Australian mobile network to the offshore carrier. You pay for the international "leg" of the call, while the caller pays just to be connected to the Australian network.

A Virgin Mobile spokeswoman, Kerry Parkin, says mobile users should divert calls to voicemail. "You just pay for the outgoing call to check messages," she says.

Parkin also recommends users become adept at text messaging.

A spokeswoman for Optus says text messaging is cost-effective. Optus last year introduced one rate for people calling anywhere in the world from Australia. If you're using your mobile to call the UK from Australia, you pay the same rate that you pay for a domestic call. The actual price depends on the plan you are on.

However, if you are in the UK and receiving or making telephone calls on your mobile, you will pay international carrier charges.

International carriers also set prices for transmitting text messages. They will vary from country to country and between carriers.

Another way around steep charges is to buy a SIM card for the country you're visiting before you leave Australia or when you arrive at your destination.

If you are travelling to Europe, you can rent a SIM card from vRoam for $2 a day, plus a $100 refundable deposit.

Inserting a new SIM into your mobile means putting up with a temporary new telephone number, but it hooks you into the local European network and call charges are between 20 and 30 per cent cheaper, Nathanson says.

For an extra fee, vRoam will forward calls from your usual number to the local number assigned when you rent a local SIM.

But the consumer association's Britton says: "Look at other options - write letters, find an internet cafe or try VOIP technology [voice over the internet, which allows you to make phone calls using a computer]. If that fails, ask how much it costs to phone home from your hotel - it might be cheaper than your mobile."

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