Click below to
find interesting
information from our
April 2009
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Roaming
cost
quirks
Stories
abound of
extremely high,
verging on
extortionate,
Global Roaming
bills. Our
favourite is one
of $17,000 for a
three week trip
(please
contact us
if you want to
share yours!).
If you are
responsible for
paying,
approving or
have oversight
of telephony
bills that
including
roaming, you
might be
wondering how on
earth the cost
could mount up
so much. Roaming
bills are often
not
straightforward,
so here is our
quick guide to
why roaming
bills get so
high:
·
Suspect number one is high call rates. Call costs whilst roaming can
easily hit $3,
$4 or higher per
minute (even up
to $11 or more).
And there is
usually a
flag-fall (which
these days
almost seems
archaic).
·
Suspect number two is paying to receive calls. Unlike domestic use,
when roaming you
will be paying
when you answer
a call.
·
Suspect number three is voicemail tromboning. Don't think that NOT
answering the
call will save
you money. If
the call diverts
to voicemail
(and that's
common, these
days), you'll
still be paying
to receive as
the caller
leaves a
message. You'll
ALSO be paying
to send the
voicemail back
to Australia.
And if you
retrieve the
voicemail later,
you'll be paying
yet again.
That's three
call costs, all
at high roaming
rates, for one
voicemail, at a
cost to you
between $4 and
$15 (or more)
per minute of
voicemail. If
it's someone
travelling with
you (and also
roaming) there
will be a fourth
call charge for
them (to
Australia) as
well. Imagine if
your return call
to them also
goes to
voicemail -
avoid phone tag
when roaming!
·
Suspect number four is the perception of contract caps or discounts.
Roaming is
always (check
the contract
fine print!)
excluded from
capped plans (or
has a
significant
component
charged in
addition), and
significant
discounts are
simply unheard
of.
·
Suspect number five (the new kid on the block) is data. Newer
smart-phones use
data heavily
(often invisibly
as their
applications
poll remote
servers). All
the above
suspects apply
equally to data
usage. Whilst
many smart-phone
applications are
attractive to
travellers (e.g.
Google Maps,
videos) the data
consumption may
quickly become
prohibitive.
Reducing
roaming costs is
what vRoam does.
Contact us
for details of
how we can help
you keep your
travel costs
under control.
Travel
Cruise
ships
We
receive many
calls from
customers
with roaming
problems.
One of the
few we
cannot help
(much) with
is
travellers
on cruise
ships.
Cruise ships
often have an
on-board GSM
station and
travellers'
mobile phones
will roam onto
these networks.
There are four
providers
(Italian, US, UK
and Norwegian)
of cruise-ship
roaming, that
make an
arrangement with
the ship owners
to provide
services (routed
via the ship's
satellite
communications
system). When
you turn on your
mobile (even if
it is in an
Australian port,
by the way) it
will register as
roaming.
The (serious)
drawback of this
is that call
charges can be
very high (even
by roaming
standards).
Generally
leaving the
phone off,
waiting until
the ship is in
port, and then
making/receiving
calls after
manually forcing
a registration
onto a domestic
network (this
may require
moving to an
outside area of
the ship or near
a window to get
a signal) will
be (much) more
cost-effective.
Of course,
using a vRoam
vSIM will
reduce your
costs
dramatically!
Mobile phones
BlackBerryTM
Security
BlackBerry
handsets are a
popular means
for corporate
users to access
e-mails,
especially when
travelling.
At vRoam we get
occasional
questions as to
the security of
e-mails sent to
and from the
BlackBerry.
BlackBerry
e-mails are sent
encrypted (the
encryption is
actually
stronger than
that used for
GSM voice calls)
via a BlackBerry
server, which
authenticates
the BlackBerry
handset. This is
done by reading
the BlackBerry
handset serial
number and
comparing it
with the number
set on the
server for your
e-mail account -
if correct then
e-mails will be
exchanged with
the handset.
We recommend the
security and
ease-of use of
using a second
handset for
voice calls
(with a vRoam
vSIM) whilst
still receiving
e-mails on your
BlackBerry
handset. vRoam
has special
deals on rental
(voice) handsets
should you
choose this
option. For more
information,
contact
vRoam and we
will help.
vRoam is
Australia's only
full-service
roaming
specialist,
providing
post-paid
roaming
solutions to
Australia's
travellers.
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