Click below to
find interesting
information from our
April 2011a
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
NZ
roaming
The New
Zealand and
Australian
governments have
just launched a
formal
investigation
(following on
from the
discussion paper
circulated last
year) into the
trans-Tasman
roaming services
provided by
mobile operators
because of fears
consumers are
being
overcharged.
The
investigation
will be carried
out by New
Zealand's
Economic
Development
Ministry and
Australia's
Department of
Broadband,
Communications
and the Digital
Economy.
The two
governments will
release a draft
decision early
next year
outlining their
conclusions on
the state of
competition and,
if appropriate,
their preferred
options for
action. The
action itself
will take more
time, of course.
We predict
that any action
will be either
largely
ineffective or
greatly delayed
(the networks
may well try to
fight price caps
in the courts).
And of course
there are around
another 180-odd
countries where
Australian
international
travellers will
be at the mercy
of high roaming
prices.
So you'll
still need vRoam's vSIM
cheaper
post-paid
alternative.
Travel
Travel
fees
The
USA
tends to
lead the
world in
many
things,
including
(arguably)
travel
trends.
So it's
a little
bleak
when it
comes to
airline
fees and
charges
- those
annoying
add-on
charges
that
seem to
always
be
needed
to get a
comfortable
trip.
Perhaps
it is the fact
that two-thirds
of US travellers
are hit with a
surprise fee
after arriving
at the airport,
according to a
survey from the
Consumer Travel
Alliance.
Australian
travellers are
less used to
airline fees,
and perhaps
less-prepared.
If you are
travelling
through the USA
(and
increasingly
everywhere
else), be
prepared for
services that
you previously
assumed to be
part of the
airfare to be
charged for
separately.
This is a
useful summary
of the major
North American
airline fees.
Mobile phones
Smartphone
congestion
The annual trade
show for the
mobile-phone
industry is held
each year in
Barcelona. In
February, around
60,000 visitors
crowded the
GSMA's Mobile
World Congress
halls to see
thousands of the
latest gadgets.
Almost all these
visitors, and
most of the
gadgets, used
mobile data
connections is
some form or
other,
e-mailing,
browsing and
watching videos.
The
GSM Association
was prepared,
with extensive
free WiFi
connections and
femtocells.
And the data
speed was lousy.
Really slow.
Not surprising
when you think
about it: with a
lot of people
consuming a lot
of bandwidth in
a confined area,
the wireless
networks just
ran out of
bandwidth and
slowed to a
crawl. See it as
a sign of things
to come, with
increasing users
of data, each
consuming more
data (due to
higher
proportions of
smartphones and
many more uses
they can be put
to). We forecast
effects like
this will become
even more common
as smart mobile
devices spread.
Our
take on it is
that networks
will have to be
upgraded - both
in the wireless
technology to 4G
or LTE, and that
the other
network
bottlenecks such
as backhaul and
interconnects
will have to be
massively
upgraded.
In addition,
data usage will
have to be
rationed by
price (goodbye
sooner or later
to unlimited
data plans), and
that there is a
place for
fixed-line
broadband (i.e.
the NBN) after
all. Because the
only fast
connections in
Barcelona were
wired ethernet
feeding into
fibre
connections.
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