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Roaming Rip-off

  • 07-03-2005 5:33pm
    #1
    d-j-k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭


    I'm an O2 Ireland speak easy (prepay) customer and used my mobile phone in the UK over the weekend. Making / receiving a call was at least 99c per min and sending an SMS was about 39 cents.

    Anyway, having made a couple of local UK phone calls I suddenly had zero credit having just topped up by €40.


    To avoid this rip off:

    When traveling abroad, make sure your mobile phone is unlocked and buy a local prepay SIM card. Set your Irish voicemail to give people your new number. You avoid paying O2, Vodafone or Meteor insanely expensive roaming charges and can receive as many texts, calls etc as you like while abroad. This works all over Europe, Australia, NZ, much of Asia the USA and Canada (if you've a triband / quadband mobile)


Comments

  • #2
    eth0_
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,846 ✭✭✭✭eth0_


    It's hardly a rip off. Roaming charges are high on all networks. Why didn't you look into this BEFORE your trip?


  • #3
    BuffyBot
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,924 ✭✭✭✭BuffyBot


    Why didn't you look into this BEFORE your trip?

    Ah now, that would be sensible, wouldn't it?


  • #4
    therecklessone
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,213 ✭✭✭✭therecklessone


    d-j-k wrote:

    When traveling abroad, make sure your mobile phone is unlocked and buy a local prepay SIM card. Set your Irish voicemail to give people your new number. You avoid paying O2, Vodafone or Meteor insanely expensive roaming charges and can receive as many texts, calls etc as you like while abroad. This works all over Europe, Australia, NZ, much of Asia the USA and Canada (if you've a triband / quadband mobile)

    I'm sure your mates will appreciate paying through the nose for international rate calls to your new number...


  • #5
    d-j-k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭d-j-k


    "It's hardly a rip off. Roaming charges are high on all networks. Why didn't you look into this BEFORE your trip?"


    Obviously you like donating money to mobile phone companies?!

    Just because all of the networks charge absoultely ridiculous rates for roaming doesn't mean that it's "hardly a rip off"

    The prices these companies are charging for roaming can't be anywhere near the economic cost of the service.

    I don't see why you're defending them!

    Do you have a large cellphone company shareholding ?

    If for example, you compare a typical mobile phone user in the USA and the EU you'll see just how much you're being ripped off by.

    Most US carriers allow coast to coast roaming within the USA and some are extending that into Canada --- AT NO EXTRA COST!

    So, for a typical business person on the move in the USA the costs of communication are possibly 100 times less than a typical business person on the move in the EU.

    I don't understand how any company could justify 99 cents to 1.50 a min to recieve a call on an Irish mobile in the UK. It's just completely unreasonable!


  • #6
    rondjon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 195 ✭✭rondjon


    Firstly, I've found this quite useful - http://www.valueireland.com/tips/avoid_roaming_charges.htm

    Secondly, one thing to be aware of, if you are using your phone abroad, when you come home, make sure you switch it on straight away when you get back.

    If you arrive back, and don't, but your friends/family/etc call expecting you back in the country, and your phone is still off (even though you're in Ireland), your phone will be directed to wherever you were abroad, and then bounced back to your voice mail, costing you a chunk of money.

    And this isn't a ripoff. It's just a technicality. When you turn off your phone in Spain or wherever, as far as your network knows, you're still there until you turn on your phone back in Ireland.

    So, if you have jetlag, and need to recover without having your phone one, turn it on, register on your Irish network, and then switch it off again.


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  • #7
    d-j-k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭d-j-k


    I didn't think you were charged for calls bounced to your voicemail box even if you are roaming.


  • #8
    rondjon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 195 ✭✭rondjon


    Think about it. Someone calls you when you're abroad, and you're charged for the bounce from Ireland to wherever you are.

    So why wouldn't they charge you for the bounce to wherever you are supposed to be abroad, and then the bounce back? You're at least charged for one of those bounces, if not both.


  • #9
    Sarsfield
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,359 ✭✭✭Sarsfield


    d-j-k wrote:
    Most US carriers allow coast to coast roaming within the USA and some are extending that into Canada --- AT NO EXTRA COST!

    But AFAIK, most USA carriers make you pay to receive calls, even on your own network! I'd call that a ripoff as it takes your phone charges out of your hands.


  • #10
    jester77
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,264 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    d-j-k wrote:
    I didn't think you were charged for calls bounced to your voicemail box even if you are roaming.

    Oh most definetly... I was abroad for a few weeks and forgot to swich off my message minder. People would call, get the start of my message minder and hang up, never leaving a message (Was in alot of meetings). Anyway I had a bill of over €30 for people hearing the first 2-3 secs of my message minder... haven't forgot to turn it off since !


  • #11
    d-j-k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭d-j-k


    That's unbelievable! So, you mean to say that if message minder is on (you can't turn it off on Speak Easy) that you have absolutely no control over costs.. i.e. if people ring you, even if you don't answer you pay!

    That's absolutely nuts!!


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  • #12
    jester77
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,264 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    I'm not on Speak Easy, but yeah you pay once they connect, it's nuts alright! You sure you can't turn off message minder, sounds strange that they would do that!


  • #13
    rondjon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 195 ✭✭rondjon


    Turn off your phone, or direct your phone to your message minder before you leave the country if you don't want these charges.

    The reason you're getting charged is because your network thinks your abroad (last place your phone registered on a network), and hence will direct calls abroad looking for you.

    If you turn your phone off before you leave, or direct ALL your calls to message minder before you go, your network doesn't know you're abroad.


  • #14
    jor el
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,713 ✭✭✭✭jor el


    rondjon wrote:
    Turn off your phone, or direct your phone to your message minder before you leave the country if you don't want these charges.

    The reason you're getting charged is because your network thinks your abroad (last place your phone registered on a network), and hence will direct calls abroad looking for you.

    If you turn your phone off before you leave, or direct ALL your calls to message minder before you go, your network doesn't know you're abroad.
    This is wrong. When you log onto a foreign network then that network lets your home network know you are on it, so any calls to you can be directed to this country. When you log off the foreign network then your home network is informed of this so no calls will be directed there.

    In all cases, your provider knows when your phone is on or off and in which country/network it's on. You're not charged for directing a call to Spain or where ever only to have it sent back because your phone is off.


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