Click below to
find interesting
information from our
July 2010
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Businesses
feel the
roaming
pinch
A study by
vRoam Global
(undertaken
before the
recent Optus and
Telstra
price
rises) shows that
Australian
businesses pay a
high cost in
mobile phone
roaming fees
when employees
travel
internationally.
The study
reveals that
international
roaming fees
cost Australian
businesses $677
per trip for
every
international
traveller -
which is 13
times more than
the average
monthly bill.
Surprisingly,
few businesses
plan to look for
more affordable
options.
Around 15
percent of
employees make
at least one
international
trip per year,
which translates
into costs of
more than
$100,000
annually per
1000 employees.
While mobile
networks reap
the benefits
from roaming
fees, these
costs are bad
news for
businesses. As
the economy
prompts
companies to
focus on
cost-cutting
initiatives, the
benefits of a
solution that
delivers a
telecom spend
reduction are
clear.
Most
businesses agree
that roaming
costs are
overpriced, but
surprisingly,
vRoam finds that
most have no
plans to switch
international
roaming
providers. vRoam
found that
decision makers
have limited
visibility into
their company's
average roaming
costs per month,
or believe there
is little they
can do to reduce
the cost.
Mobile
devices are
currently the
most popular
form of
communication
during business
travel; four out
of five
companies report
mobile phones
are the primary
communication
tool used when
they travel
internationally
and 67 percent
of all calls
made on a trip
are made on
mobiles.
·
Across the
board, users are
more likely to
use a mobile
phone rather
than a land line
whether they are
calling locally,
to another
country or back
to Australia. If
not using their
mobile,
one-fifth will
use a calling
card and half
will use the
hotel phone.
·
Most calls are
international
calls made back
to Australia.
Just over
one-fifth of
business calls
are local calls
within the
overseas
country.
vRoam
has the only
post-paid
alternative
in Australia...
Travel
Card
skimming
Travellers
often depend on
using ATMs.
However there is
an
increasing
incidence of
card-skimming
(obtaining
credit-card
details for
fraudulent
transactions),
especially
overseas. Card
skimming
involves
fraudsters
attaching a
device to an ATM
(or other)
card-reader -
such devices can
be very
difficult to
spot. This
(right) is an
Italian ATM -
can you spot the
skimmer?
Perhaps
only if you
inspected the
card area
closely (left).
To avoid
skimming fraud,
always inspect
the card-entry
area closely on
unfamiliar ATMs,
looking
especially for
raised edges and
ill-fitting
mouldings.
Of course,
the most serious
frauds require
the card PIN. S
kimmers
have a number of
ingenious ways
of obtaining
PINs. The same
ATM screen area
(right) has a
PIN-capture
device. Can you
see it?
It's
actually a
miniature
video-camera
coupled to a
mobile phone
inside the
(fake) brochure
pocket (the hole
marked with an
arrow on the
left is the
opening for the
camera lens).
Sophisticated
scams such as
these can
seriously spoil
your trip.
General bank
recommendations
include only
using ATMs in
well-trafficked
areas,
inspecting the
ATM mouldings
looking for fake
panels, avoiding
ATMs with people
lurking in the
neighbourhood or
vandalised
(graffiti-ed)
ATMs, as well as
shielding your
PIN entry with a
hand. And
checking your
monthly
statement
carefully for
unauthorised
charges.
Mobile phones
Locked-phone
codes
Handsets that
are SIM-locked
(meaning the
network has
locked them so
that only SIMs
from that
network can be
used) show
various error
messages if
another SIM is
inserted
(depending on
the type of
handset).
Common "lock"
codes include:
SIM Card
Not
Accepted
Enter
Restriction
Code
Restricted
Enter
Special
Code
Enter
Subsidy
Code
Enter
Subsidy
Password
Contact
Service
Provider
(Motorola)
Invalid
SIM
Incorrect
SIM
SP
Locked
If you see these
codes, it means
your normal
network has
locked the
handset. Of
course, handsets
can be
unlocked
fairly easily,
by your network.
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