Click below to
find interesting
information from our
August 2010
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Roaming
with
maps
Mobile
navigation
provider Garmin
UK measured the
real cost of the
“free” Google
Map Navigation
application -
and by extension
many other
similar services
- when used
whilst roaming.
According to the
experiment, the
185 mile Calais
to Paris trip
costs £24 to £39
in data-roaming
charges.
The journeys
were carried out
using an Android
mobile phone
with a UK SIM
card, but would
be similar on
many other
smartphones and
mapping
applications.
“We tested the
route from
Calais to Paris
four times and
each time it
came up with the
same results:
between 12-13
megabytes of
data per
journey”,
explained
Anthony Chmarny,
Garmin’s Head of
Communications
in United
Kingdom. "At 20p
per mile the
costs could be
double that of
the fuel used
for the journey
they were
navigating."
Of course you
should expect
Garmin pointing
out the
"shocking costs"
of a free satnav
when they
obviously don't
like the "free"
model offered by
Google and Ovi
(Nokia).
Alternative
options are to
use oMaps for
iPhone, or Ovi
Maps Navigation
on a Symbian
handset that has
an off-line
mode. Using it
in off-line mode
takes away
dynamic features
such as traffic
cams, weather,
traffic etc.,
but allows you
to plan your
journey in a
free WiFi
hotspot or
before you leave
and
switch off all
roaming data.
Of course
because roaming
rates for
Australians are
much higher than
intra-EU
roaming,
Australians
data-roaming
with non-stored
maps in Europe
(or elsewhere)
would spend
around ten times
higher again
(our rough
calculation is
around A$1.30 to
$2 per km),
unless they try
an alternative
such as our
vSIM. Join
Australia's
smartest
travellers and
avoid high
global roaming
costs in Europe
or elsewhere!
Travel
Travel
power
We continue
our series on
travelling with
gadgets. Our
first article
was about making
sure it would
work when
plugged in
(getting the
power right).
This
article focuses
on simply
getting it
plugged in; or
whether the plug
fits the socket.
An Australian
plug will fit
sockets in New
Zealand, many
Pacific island
nations, PNG,
Argentina,
Uruguay and
(mainland)
China, which all
use the
Australian pin
configuration
(albeit in the
case of China,
upside down).
Otherwise
you'll need a
"travel adapter"
that turns your
Australian plug
into a foreign
pin
configuration.
There are at
least 15
"standard"
power-pin
patterns, and
many more
non-standard
ones. But four
main types cover
almost all the
world.
First a
warning: messing
about with mains
power can be
dangerous. Many
travel adapters
and many
overseas power
sockets have
inadequate or
missing earth
connections, and
do not have many
of the safety
features we take
for granted at
home. If in any
doubt, don't
fiddl
e
(and don't touch
anything
metallic).
First off is
the bulky,
rectangular-pin
plug used in the
UK and most of
the Commonwealth
countries
(right).
Unusually, there
is a fuse in the
plug (or travel
adapter) - if
the appliance
doesn't work,
check this fuse.
Second is the
"Europlug" with
round, thin pins
(left).
Provided
you don't need
an earth,
Europlug pins
will be usable
all across
continental
Europe, and many
other countries
in Africa,
Middle East,
ex-Soviet
republics and
Asia.
Most of
Europe has now
moved to a
larger,
round-pin
format (right).
The earth
connection is
either metal
clips top and
bottom of the
socket
(German-style),
an offset
"reverse pin"
(French style),
a
slightly-offset
round pin
(Switzerland), a
half-round
offset pin
(Denmark) or a
central pin
(Italy). The
sockets for
these plugs also
accept the
Europlug.
Lastly, in
North America
and much of
Central and
South America
and
Japan,
flat, parallel
pins are used
(left). The
earth pin is
usually U-shaped
or round (or
missing). This
style is usually
used for 110V
power.
You can get
away without
a travel adapter
if you rely on
the "shaver
outlet" that
many hotel rooms
have. The
drawbacks of
this are that
generally there
is only one
shaver outlet
(so charging
several devices
can be a
problem), it
tends to be
inconveniently
located in the
bathroom
(careful not to
get your gadget
wet) and not all
shaver outlets
can take
Australian-style
plugs.
Mobile phones
Femtocells
A device yet to
hit our shores,
but probably
available in the
near future, you
may hear more
about femtocells
soon. They are
meant for homes
and businesses,
and are
basically a very
small
cellular
base station
sold to
subscribers by
mobile networks.
They are used
for areas of
poor signal (or
even no signal),
and rely on the
connection back
to the network
being through
the subscriber's
ADSL broadband
connection. They
create a zone
with good signal
strength in the
nearby area
(perhaps your
house).
For networks,
they bring added
subscriber
loyalty (and
extra
revenue...), but
also mean that
data and voice
traffic are
offloaded from
the network base
stations, so
alleviate
congestion (you
also might like
to use one if
you live near
say a sports
stadium which
can overload
networks in the
local area when
lots of
spectators are
watching a
match).
They also tend
to accelerate
Fixed-to-Mobile
Migration
(subscribers
dropping their
fixed-line
service and
relying entirely
on mobiles).
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