July 22nd, 2011
Imagine receiving your monthly cellphone bill only to discover you've been stiffed for an exorbitant amount, perhaps twice, thrice or ten times your normal monthly amount? Some of you out there may not even have the need to imagine.
Roaming has become the horror topic for many an unfortunate traveller.
Take for instance the 22-year-old UK student who received a bill of over €8 000 for data roaming during a single month while studying abroad. After sourcing the "most-cost effective" means for him to have temporary Internet access via mobile network Orange - an uncapped dongle used mostly for video skype calling, usually a free service, ended up costing him a fortune.
Or how about a situation closer to home, involving one of the Co-Founders of Motribe Mobile Networks - take heart in the irony of this if you too have had to suffer the foolishness of expensive roaming costs without any call-limit protection procedures in place. He was not impressed when he received his supersized bill after a business trip to Kenya, incurred mostly due to push data and uncapped usage not subject to any data bundles on his contract with South African provider Vodacom.
80 megabytes around the world...
For those not so familiar, this should give you some idea of data usage: One megabyte is the equivalent of downloading 100 emails without attachments, less than an hour of internet browsing, one minute of downloading music or a few seconds of video downloading. According to the Vodacom call centre data usage on a Talk 130 min package, while in France for example, can be as much as R128 per megabyte. Due to exchange rates, pricing varies so you can never really be sure what you're getting yourself into.
But it will most certainly be expensive.
The European Union was swift in their clamp down on European mobile phone operators. Since April 2010, EU roaming rules have made it obligatory for providers to offer their customers a cut-off limit facility to protect them from 'bill shocks' for surfing the Internet with their mobile phones and laptops while travelling in other EU countries.
For us consumers down on the tip of Africa it's a different story. No such obligatory cut-off mechanism exists for South Africans using roaming facilities while abroad. Add to this a three-month delay before you receive your unexpected and expensive roaming billing - since this is how long it takes for the cross-border, service provider recons to take place.
Despite growth in the use of mobile devices to transact, plan and purchase holidays via the Internet, a recent Tripadvisor survey has revealed expensive roaming charges to be the biggest barrier when it comes to travellers using the Internet overseas.
Things that stopped users from using their mobiles while abroad:
• 47% sited expensive roaming charges
• 18% said it was poor connectivity
• 7% because of the small screen.
But what exactly causes these bill shockers?
Providers across the globe have formulated service agreements with each other, which enables users to have connectivity abroad. Generally if you enter a country and encounter a network that doesn't have an agreement with your provider you're dead in the water. The problem arises when you're unaware that you're using the alternate provider and paying overseas rates at that.
Also, don't be fooled into thinking you're safe since your package includes a specific data bundle. More often than not these are not applicable for usage on data roaming. Black Berry users you have been warned. Pay as you go users - while your shock will be felt immediately, you can save yourself from having to top up continuously by switching off all settings that allow pushed data to your phone. In fact this is advised for all users who want to save on data costs.
Purchasing a cheap sim card in the country you're visiting is also another safe guard mechanism. Although with RICA now applicable in SA, it seems to rule out the prepaid option for foreigners travellers visiting our shores - although some have reported being able to purchase a sim for dirt cheap from a street vendor without having to provide proof of address.
Roaming and your local service provider
• Vodacom
- Does not have cap/limit on roaming costs.
- All contracts users have a credit limit amount on the account. Should you exceed this credit limit while you are abroad you will be required to at least pay a minimum of 70% on the credit limit amount, in order for the cellphone number to be unlocked.
- Vodacom offers 10% discount on voice calls made when roaming on participating networks.
- In the case where you are a prepaid user, you need to ensure that you
have recharged with enough airtime, in order to use you simcard for
calls and sending out sms'.
- A 3 month delay in call charges reflecting on statements due to the late
downloading of Call Data Records (CDR's) from foreign networks.
• MTN
- Does not have a cap/limit for roaming costs.
- A deposit of R2 000 is required for Contract users in order to activate roaming.
- This will be refunded after three months, once all overseas roaming bills have been received.
-While you are unable to set a cut off limit, all MTN accounts have a credit limit which the provider rationalises should protect you from running into debt which you cannot afford.
- PAYG and TopUp customers do not need to activate roaming as it is active by default
- A 3 month delay in call charges reflecting on statements due to the late
downloading of Call Data Records (CDR's) from foreign networks.
• Cell C
- Does not have a cap/limit for roaming costs.
- All calls and SMS charges will include the foreign network charge, plus a local roaming charge.
- You will be charged for messages left on your voicemail if you have activated Call Forwarding Conditional (e.g. if not answered) and for retrieval of voicemail messages.
- Inclusive Minutes cannot be applied while roaming.
- A 3 month delay in call charges reflecting on statements due to the late downloading of Call Data Records (CDR's) from foreign networks.
• 8ta
- Roaming is not available as a service as yet.
Some useful tips when using your cellphone abroad
- Divert incoming calls to voicemail prior to leaving SA to control costs.
- Accessing your voicemail or Customer Contact Centres while travelling
internationally is not free - you will be charged at the applicable
roaming rate depending on the roaming option you have chosen.
- Talk less, SMS more and use data wisely to save money.
- Close all unused applications while roaming. If you are connected to a
website while roaming, you may incur data charges even if no content is
purchased or downloaded. This is due to small amounts of data being
transmitted every 30 seconds, such as website content and banner ads
refreshing in the background.
- Turn off automatic updates.
- Set up your email account to download the header of the message only,and manually select which emails should be downloaded in full.
- Make sure you know wether voice, data or SMS will be available to you when roaming in your international destination and what the costs will be.
- Confirm at least two weeks before the time if your cellphone can operate in the country of destination.
- Familiarise yourself with the dialing codes of the areas you will be visiting.
- Save a list of emergency numbers and important contacts such as the hotel you will be staying at or the airline reservations number that you may need to use while roaming.
- Receiving a call while travelling internationally is not free - you will be charged at the applicable roaming rate depending on the roaming option you have chosen.
- To avoid being shocked when viewing your bill, turn Data Roaming off on your cellphone - select ‘Settings'>'General'>'Network'>'Data Roaming'
.
Have you experienced any roaming bill shocks? Why not post a comment below?
User Comments
Roaming solutions -Submitted by Juliet on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 14:46. |
I recently discovered www.execmobile.co.za |
Virgin MobileSubmitted by Anonymous on Wed, 07/27/2011 - 14:06. |
The whorst cell phone provider for any business traveler is Virgin Mobile, I got a bill of over R 50 000 now 3 months later and am still waiting to hear what it's for as I was billed for Data in the preceeding months whilst in China, in fact their sms service/voicemail service and internet access did not even work at all in China and I had to invest my personal time to sort this out with their technical guys and when you call the call center the monkeys there if they arrange to finally answer the call will interrogate you and refuse to connect any call to management even if you already dealing with them and have their name then they cut you off..so much for customer service in SA, not better than the City of Johannesburg. The billing system also does not even work as I got billed for July then suddenly received another invoice showing the other amount credited but it still went off my account. Anyway I have started with Vodcam who are the cheapest for roaming with their tie up with Vodaphone, my virgin card will be thrown away and the national credit provider will take over as I never had an approved limit of over 50 000 which is daylight robbery anyway, I don't need Virgin and as far as I am conerned they not surviving in the SA market and will soon dissapear because of bad service and connectivity |
Delayed download of usageSubmitted by Anonymous on Tue, 07/26/2011 - 10:05. |
If you can use PAYG on international networks, surely the credit available, costing, and allowed amount are all known immediately. Why would it then take 3 months to get this information purely because the account is on a contract? |
Bill of R13,000.00 for 3 days roamingSubmitted by Anonymous on Tue, 07/26/2011 - 09:32. |
I was in Dubai begining of May for 6 days. I have an iphone and I have call limit of R1,000 on my account. 2nd day in Dubai I received an sms saying I have reached my limit and you have been locked. I did not worry as I did not need to use the phone. 3rd day the phone was dead as I did not take the charger. on my return I received an sms from MTN saying your account is at R13,000. On inquiry I was told that call limit does not work for roaming and for the 3days I downloaded about 80m of data. I ask for proof but the sheet they give you does not explain anything. it does show that I was charged R270 per mg to download,I did not make calls however I downlaoed e-mails. Unfortunatley fighting with MTN did not help and I had to pay this bill. I am still horrified with this experience. It appears that iphones are the worst in charges, and yes the updates option was on. I was not warned about this by MTN. surely there is something we can do to avoid paying these huge bills. Regards Anonymous |
Roaming CapsSubmitted by Edmund Batley on Tue, 07/26/2011 - 00:01. |
The only reason the service providers don't provide roaming caps is because they would simply lose too much money - its got to be enforced legally as in the EU. Have been travelling every month for a decade - got a new Iphone and a bill of R50k followed thanks to auto updates. |
Messages from beyond...Submitted by Jivaldhinio on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 22:01. |
So, if you think you can have voice call roaming on and say to yourself i will not answer any of the calls so i dont get charged you will be in for a surprise. Useless AUTOPAGE charged me for people leaving voice mails!!! This is so friking wrong because a voice mail is a local service and should not be charged at international rates. Anyway, after sending a complaint to them i've had no response from anyone. I will try an take this further to see what happens :) ...anyway...all network operators are a usless bunch...my contract expired this month and going on prepaid :) |
Roaming CostsSubmitted by Kevin on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 21:55. |
Recently my son and I were in Namibia on a bike trip, I purchase an MTC pre-paid sim however my son had roaming on his smartphone, when returning to SA 24 days later he was presented with a bill of R3 638.60. This was only data usage for a few days we had coverage and while he was on Facebook. Vodacom roaming rates are R102.40 per MB, this is robbery, no reason exists for these high costs. Something should be done to stop this, it is unacceptable. |
TipsSubmitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 18:20. |
I travel fairly often with my iPhone on full roaming, but I NEVER data roam. The safest way is to disable data while roaming as mentioned. I also find that especially in Europe and the USA wi-fi is readily available, cheap and fast. I use this to Skype home, both video and by using the Skype out service. Skype out is especially cost efficient when calling landlines in SA. That way I only make and receive calls in an emergency, and keep MTN's grubby paws off my money. |
Phone bill crazy...Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 18:03. |
after being in the states for 2 weeks i got a bill for 17000 Rands crazy... i hardly used my phone... |
Vodacom sms roaming ripoffSubmitted by Chris on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 17:29. |
When I travel I leave my blackberry at home and take a normal cell phone, activated for sms roaming. I send very few sms' and they are all short. For a two week period the bill is normally R 50.00. I can see that the same sms was billed 3 times every time, although it was received once on the other side. This time it was R 180.00! Vodacom insists that I sent very long messages and it therefore had to be split over three sms'. What a load of hogwash. But what could I do, had to kak and betaal as my phone would be cut otherwise. |
RicaSubmitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 16:02. |
Foreigners do not need to provide proof of address they merely need to show their passport, so they can still buy pre-paid sims here. |
MTN Rip-offSubmitted by Slaapies on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 15:47. |
While visiting Singapore I discovered that I could not send SMS's. I could receive, but not send. Reluctantly I was forced to make call where normally I would have sent an SMS. One week and R4000 later.... It's not worth the bother tring to complain. MTN's held facilities are (deliberately?) absolutely hopeless! One day an operator will emerge that actually understands that you can make a healthy profit AND provide reasonable rates and excellent service! |
cell phoneSubmitted by Isaac on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 13:46. |
I need a iphone |
They're all the sameSubmitted by Johan on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 13:10. |
Having done consulting in the cellular industry, I've come to know how things operate. When roaming, I devert all calls so that I only receive sms's, but the service providers know this, which infuriates me. On my last overseas visit to the DRC, CellC sent me the same sms from a friend, twelve times, so instead of not paying for a local sms received, I'm billed approx R10 x 12 = R120 for this (intentional) mistake. Also not the first time it happened. I've given up on trying to complain because I've had to put the phone down after 21 minutes of trying to get hold of the complaint people... Well done Trevor!!!!!!!!!!!! You suck!!!!!!! Can't wait for my contract to expire!!!! |
RoamingSubmitted by Nompi on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 13:08. |
When I leave the country I enable SMS roaming - that way, I wont make any calls and there automatically won't be any data usage. If I want to make a phonecall back home, I use a public phone. And I found that most overseas countries have free WIFI at a lot of their restaurants and shops, so I use that for browsing the internet and sending e-mails. This has worked very well for me. |
Roaming - VODACOM SHOCKSubmitted by Pablo on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 12:43. |
Blackberry has done it for me. I have always been on roaming when I am out of the country, but recently I went to Canada with blackberry and R56000.00 yes that was the bill in two weeks. NEVER EVER happen to me my life. I have always travelled with my phone. I was in Namibia for three months and R2000.00 was my bill. So "Blackberry" and "Continent", WATCH OUT U HAVE BEEN WARNED. |
MTN BB roaming bill shockSubmitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 11:40. |
I normally have a monthly bill of around R500 but after holidaying through Europe and Dubai I came back to a R4000 bill.I only phoned twice over the period and sent possibly 3 sms's per day.I also used my BB message at times. |
Also stung by roamingSubmitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 11:34. |
on my talk 130 vodacom package, 12 "units" as shown on my account costs about 50c in south africa. While travelling in new york it amounted to R2000! Hit R10k worth of data in a week. Had no way of knowing what kind of bill I was running up using the maps on my iphone, not even an sms from vodacom to say my usage was much higher than normal. A mistake I wont make again! |
I have been a victom of VodacomSubmitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 10:39. |
R45000 phone bill when I came back from the USA. They allege I have used 100s of MBs, and I have no way of proving I did not use it. This is the rip off of the century. Iphone users be especially vigilant, your phone loves data even if you do not see it. |
Vodacom rip offSubmitted by Allan on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 10:24. |
I recently travelled to a few neighbouring countries without disabling data roaming on my blackberry. I used laptop email quite extensively for sending and receiving files needed for work. Unfortunately these are sent to my berry too. While in Swaziland I received a call from Vodacom saying my bill was currently in excess of R 10k, normally R 850. Mozambique charged me R60 / mb. Trick, put data roaming off. Funny they don't warn you about this at airport. |
