Click below to
find interesting
information from our
January 2010
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Hidden roaming
costs
Prominent
international
consultancy
Gartner has
identified
international
roaming charges
as a primary
area of
corporate cost
savings. These
costs have
become more
difficult to
manage in the
face of
globalization
and network
price increases.
Typically, 10
percent of users
who travel
internationally
will make up 35
percent of the
total mobile
service costs
for companies in
2010.
Voice-roaming
charges are one
cause of
swelling
wireless bills -
data roaming is
in some cases a
greater factor.
International
data roaming can
drive up bills,
reaching
thousands of
dollars in a
single short
trip. Gartner
recommends that
companies
disallow all
ad-hoc use of
international
wireless data.
Gartner
suggests cutting
roaming costs by
reducing the
number of users
who travel and
making users
aware of the
costs, thereby
reducing the
number and
length of
call-minutes.
However vRoam
offers a more
reliable
additional
roaming cost
reduction by
giving
travellers
specific roaming
SIMs allowing up
to 50% and more
cost reductions
compared to
roaming.
Travel
All
seats
are not
the same
Airlines
around the world
are struggling
financially, a
result of high
oil prices and a
reduction in
premium (first
and business
class) travel.
Not surprisingly
they are seizing
any opportunity
to increase
revenue they
can.
One area
which has been
with us for a
few years but is
now being
accelerated
dramatically is
charging for
desirable seats.
Exit-row seats
(in economy
class) have
greater
seat-pitch (the
distance between
seats) which
gives greater
leg-room and
many airlines
allow these
seats to be
booked for an
added fee
(beware however
- some older
exit-row seats
do not recline,
so may not be
such a good
idea).
www.seatguru.com
is a well-known
site for
travellers
wishing to check
what seats are
available on a
given flight.
Airlines are
now taking this
revenue-raising
idea much
further. Seats
towards the
front of the
plane (quieter,
less movement in
turbulence) and
aisle seats are
more desirable,
and are being
charged at a
premium. This is
becoming very
prevalent
especially in
the US, with
variants such as
on-line seat
assignment
available for
high-status
frequent-flyers
well ahead of
departure (e.g.
Delta) or being
able to board
ahead of the
crowd if a fee
is paid
(Southwest).
Expect something
along these
lines to spread
more widely for
flights from
Australia this
year.
Mobile phones
Battery life
Travellers
rely on mobiles
much more than
when home. One
of the banes of
travelling is
running out of
battery life
when travelling.
Here are a few
tips for
conserving your
battery so that
it lasts longer:
·
Turn off WiFi, Bluetooth, infrared and GPS (ignore this last one if
lost). These systems use a lot of
power and are
often not used.
Minimise colour
display use.
Turn off 3G if
you don't need
the high data
rate.
·
The screen backlight uses a lot of power, make sure you lock the
screen/keypad so
it doesn't keep
turning on from
accidental
touches. Some
phones can
adjust the
screen
brightness - set
it to minimum
for best life.
·
Don't use vibrate, speakerphone, loudspeaker. All these can consume
quite large
amounts of
power. Reducing
ring-tone volume
helps, too.
·
Turn the phone off or use airplane mode or select another network if signal strength is
low. With low
signal, your
phone's power
output is
increased to
compensate
(especially if
you are calling
or using data).
If you don't
need the
connectivity,
turn it off.
·
Turn off unwanted apps, reduce use of them (especially games and music
playing etc
which can take a
lot of time).
Increase the
time between
e-mail downloads
(use fetch
instead of push, or even set to
manually synch).
·
Talk less, text more. Talking uses more power, for longer.
·
Turn the phone off when not needed. Leaving it on when you are
sleeping may not
be a good idea.
·
Keep it cool
(seriously...). Leaving a phone in the sun, or in freezing conditions, reduces
battery life a
lot (and isn't
too healthy for
the electronics
either). Room
temperature is
great.
Other ways to
help include
taking a spare
battery, making
sure you have a
charger that
will work in the
country you're
going to (both
voltage-wise,
and with an
adapter for the
power sockets
there), and
taking any
option to
recharge the
battery (maybe
using a power
socket whilst in
an airport
waiting for a
flight).
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