Click below to
find interesting
information from our
May 2010
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Why is
roaming
so
expensive?
Global
Roaming is very
expensive. Using
a mobile phone
with an
Australian SIM
card overseas
costs an average
of $1000 for a
typical business
traveller. We've
written in
the
past about
HOW Global
Roaming is
expensive (flagfalls
and voicemail
tromboning) and
non-transparent.
What we
haven't really
done before is
explain just
WHY
roaming is so
expensive. There
are three main
reasons for the
high cost:
·
Travellers often
simply don't
understand Global Roaming
costs. We've seen
people think
roaming was
included in
their capped
plan, think that
international
rates (out of
Australia) were
the prices for
using mobiles
overseas or that
if they were
using a Vodafone
Australia SIM on
an overseas
Vodafone network
they were paying
non-roaming
rates.
·
Travellers don't
realise there
are
alternatives.
The
alternatives
(hotel phones,
pre-paid SIMs,
calling cards)
are not
particularly
cheap and
certainly
inconvenient.
Our
vSIM is a
notable
exception.
·
Travellers are
not
price-sensitive.
Many are
business
travellers ("the
company pays"),
or won't switch
carriers just
for a trip (any
anyway, the
difference in
prices between
carriers is not
great).
Travellers also
don't make more
calls if the
prices are lower
- mobiles are
more essential
overseas than
domestically
(you can't get
calls on your
normal home or
office phone)
and many calls
just simply have
to be made.
The result is that
the networks
would not get
significantly
more customers
or volume if
they reduced
roaming prices
(in Europe,
where intra-EU
roaming prices
have dropped
dramatically,
networks have
reported very
little increase
in call volume).
And (with the
sole exception
of intra-EU
roaming) there
is no effective
price
regulation. The
carriers have
every reason to
keep prices
high, and almost
no reason to
lower them.
So with
un-informed,
price-insensitive
customers with
little
alternative,
roaming prices
are high, and
will likely
continue to rise
in future.
Travel
Cheeky
luggage
security
We don't
endorse this
(lease don't do
it),
but we do find
it funny.... an
American
photographer
(carrying lots
of expensive
camera
equipment)
claims a
foolproof way of
avoiding lost
luggage by
taking advantage
of increased
security
measures.
He packs a
starting pistol
into his camera
case, declares
it at check-in
(starter pistols
are considered
weapons), and
receives
heightened
attention and
tracking of the
camera case. He
claims never to
have lost his
high-value
luggage since he
started doing
this in December
2001, as the
security
authorities are
very anxious
never to lose a
weapon in
transit.
Mobile phones
It is legal to
unlock your
phone
"Locking" a
mobile phone is
the practice by
some networks of
applying a code
so that only SIM
cards from that
network can be
used. Originally
locking was used
as a way to
bundle the
handset and the
network service
to avoid a user
taking their
handset and
switching
networks, then
was used to help
subsidise
handsets (those
"Free on a $49
plan" type
offers) because
the monthly fees
over the
contract period
were used to pay
for the up-front
cost to the
network of the
handset.
Unlocking is
done generally
by using an
unlock code
supplied by the
network (or
sometimes by a
third-party) to
enable any SIM
to be used in
the phone. We've
explained in
past newsletters
how to legally unlock
Australian
handsets by
contacting the
network
concerned.
Some users
worry that
unlocking the
phone is illegal
or will cause
their network to
cut off their
service. To the
contrary, an
unlocking
service is
provided by
every Australian
network, and
never causes
service to be
cut.
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