Click below to
find interesting
information from our
February 2010
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Roaming
Voicemail
At vRoam,
we've never
charged three
times for a
voicemail.
Most
travellers don't
realise that
they are charged
three
times for
voicemail when
roaming using
their normal
Australian SIM:
once (as a
received call
whilst abroad,
again (as an
outbound call
from the visited
country) to
deposit the
voicemail and a
third time to
retrieve the
message.
This is
called
"voicemail
tromboning" and
results in costs
for a voicemail
being as much as
$15 per minute
or more: one of
the great hidden
costs of
roaming, that
can account for
a large portion
of your bill.
The EU has
now legislated
that from July
1st 2010,
travellers can't
be charged for
having a
voicemail
deposited whilst
roaming in
another EU
country.
Unfortunately
whilst the EU
regulation helps
Europeans
travelling in
Europe, it won't
help Australians
at all, who will
still pay for
voicemail
tromboning
(everywhere,
including
Europe) while
roaming, except
for those using
vRoam's
SIMs.
Travel
Plane
Talking
As mobile
coverage during
flight is
increasingly
becoming a
reality instead
of pure concept,
there is now an
etiquette push
to avoid loud
talking
in-flight.
A recent
on-line survey
conducted by FCm
Travel revealed
that travellers
are of the
opinion that
keeping in
contact while
flying should
only be done
through texting
and email.
"Texting and
emailing is
pretty
unobtrusive but
when it comes to
voice calls, it
seems that few
travellers want
to be stuck next
to someone
talking shop for
two hours
straight or
divulging
details of their
personal life"
says Chris
Preston, FCm
Travel Marketing
Manager
Australia.
In the FCm
Travel survey,
44% of corporate
travellers
surveyed didn't
approve of any
wireless
connectivity
during flight,
47% said texting
and emailing
were fine but no
talking, while
8% were happy
for travellers
to talk, text or
email during
flight.
Of course,
all these
activities can
blow your travel
budget as
in-flight mobile
use is a form of
global roaming,
yet charged at
even higher
rates than the
already-high
in-country
roaming prices.
Mobile phones
Brighter Phones
One of the
trends in mobile
phone handsets
is brighter
displays.
Traditionally,
LCD colour
screens used a
lot of battery
power, and were
not particularly
bright (because
the light power
is turned down
to lengthen the
battery life).
The screens are
back-lit, which
means most of
the light is
blocked (and
wasted) by the
display, which
only lets
through the
amount and
colour needed.
A new type of
display
technology is
now appearing on
mobiles. Called
AMOLED
(Active-Matrix
Organic Light
Emitting Diode),
it is ultra-thin
and bright, yet
uses less power
than normal LCDs
(it also handles
faster refresh
rates, so has
less blurring).
The key to the
technology is
that each pixel
emits its own
light (rather
than blocking or
filtering a
back-light).
Handset
manufacturers
are now bringing
out their first
models with
AMOLED displays,
and we expect
them to become
widespread over
the next couple
of years.
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