Click below to
find interesting
information from our
May 2011
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Telstra
data
roaming
We continue
to hear stories
of travellers
with smartphones
(particularly
iPhone users)
incurring huge
data-roaming
bills,
particularly
Telstra
customers.
One
(big) reason for
this is the
charging
mechanism used
by Telstra (Optus
also has its
problems).
Telstra charges
1.5 cents per
kilobyte, PLUS a
50c
per-data-session
flagfall. A data
session is a
connection from
your handset.
There can be
(and often are)
many
simultaneous
data sessions
running on an
iPhone, for
instance the
default e-mail
setting is to
check e-mails
every minute -
that means that
even if you
don't send or
receive e-mails
but don't change
the settings you
will incur a
charge of more
than 50c each
minute. If you
leave your phone
on whilst
roaming for a
16-hour day,
that is more
than $720 per
day, just for
(no) e-mail! It
makes a mockery
of the
per-kilobyte
charge, as the
effective rate
jumps up to
perhaps as high
as 2.5 or more
cents per KB
when the
flagfall is
included.
And almost
every other app
also connects
with one or more
extra data
sessions, so the
cost just keeps
adding up. Along
with our
other
suggestions,
try
Onavo, an
app which
compresses
images from
websites that
you browse.
Newly released,
it may help
reduce the
number of
kilobytes
charged (but
won't help much
with the
per-session
flagfalls).
Save hugely
on travel costs
with vRoam's vSIM
post-paid
alternative.
Travel
Not-quite-online
travel
We've
had the
occasional
dig at
on-line
travel-booking
sites in
the
past,
but
here's a
new one
that we
like
more
than
most.
TravelRope
has a different
model - it acts
as a wholesaler
(so has holiday
packages as well
as flights) but
not a retailer
(you don't buy
direct from
them). Instead
it refers you on
to real live
travel agents
that you
complete the
booking with.
That way you can
customise
things, put in
special
requests, and
rely on the
agency's
credit-card
security and
bonding if
things go wrong.
You can also buy
packages that
aren't available
through most
on-line sites,
such as bundled
accommodation/flight/transfer
packages.
Mobile phones
Mobiles - how
many is too
much?
According to
research firm
IDC Australia,
around 35,000
mobiles were
sold in
Australia each
day last year.
That's 12.74
million for the
full year.
Impressive
considering the
Australian
population of
around 22.6
million people.
Smartphones
were around 57%
of that total,
with Nokia still
the leader in
number of
handsets (mostly
non-smartphones),
mostly due to
big price
discounts
averaging 43%.
IDC expects
Android phones
to become the
leader this
year, with
around 40% share
after a year or
two. Apple will
have around 30%
and Windows
Phone (some of
which will be
Nokia devices,
due to the
recent tie-up
between
Microsoft and
Nokia) around
20% by 2015.
To
subscribe
to our
Newsletter
click
here
