just been billed £1554 for phone use in Australia

jayme1

d123 wrote: »

I would disagree, in the 3 months I have had my new iPhone (brand new, so no cache) I have used 380MB out and 43MB in.

That includes daily use of the internet and email and Google Maps use at least 2 or 3 times per week.

195MB in a few weeks sounds like there must have been streaming or large attachments being downloaded.

if you have already seen that part of the map then it is cached so would barely use any more data after the first time. also if you have used the maps on wifi then you have cached it already so wouldnt use much 3G and wifi data isn't counted in the data total.

Bob_the_Saver

PAYG has it's uses when you're abroad.

d123

drbesty wrote: »

You could easily stream 195mb in under an hour. There's not a chance you've only used 380mb in three months, unless you've been using the phone on Wifi for most of the time

did you actually read my post, I said exactly that, the OP must have streamed video at some stage.

Email and some internet = 380MB, NO streaming included.

boliston

I think it is high time legislation is introduced to prevent these extortionate charges for roaming.

How can they justify £8 per mb when the locals are paying a couple of pence at most for those same bytes of data?

Where is the actual "cost" incurred?

d123

boliston wrote: »

How can they justify £8 per mb when the locals are paying a couple of pence at most for those same bytes of data?

Where is the actual "cost" incurred?

as you said, it really is no more than a few pence per MB.

HappyMJ

The cost in Australia would have been $1176 for a 24 month contract including the cost of an Iphone and 500MB of data per month. So total cost £735 in GBP. You could try coming at it from that point of view.

Another way you could approach it the PAYG rate is $2 per MB if you buy the phone through Telstra (£1.25 per MB). You used 195MB so that's £244. Plus the costs of having to bill that from Telstra to your network so I'd mark that up by 100% being £488.

Data in Australia is NOT cheap.

Quote for your reference

http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/phones/iphone/pricing.html
If you don't select a Browsing Pack, the Pay As You Go rate will apply to browse and download content on your iPhone. The Pay As you Go rate is $2 per MB, charged on a kB (or part) basis. For example, if you use 0.5 MB in one session it will cost $1.

boliston

d123 wrote: »

as you said, it really is no more than a few pence per MB.

So it's almost like a cartel situation where they use their near monopolistic powers to "milk" the consumer for every penny they can get, even though their actual costs are minimal.

darich

d123 wrote: »

I would disagree, in the 3 months I have had my new iPhone (brand new, so no cache) I have used 380MB out and 43MB in.

That includes daily use of the internet and email and Google Maps use at least 2 or 3 times per week.

195MB in a few weeks sounds like there must have been streaming or large attachments being downloaded.

Agree with Techhead.....your out and in figures are the wrong way round.

I also disagree with your assertion that the 195mb is a lot to use in a short time.
I got my iphone on 26june......obviously there was a novelty factor but I managed to download around 600mb in my first month. I was watching it because although I'm on an unlimited tariff, there is a fair usage policy so I wanted to stay under 750mb.

It's ridiculously easy to download 195mb and not realise in a short space of time.

HappyMJ

boliston wrote: »

So it's almost like a cartel situation where they use their near monopolistic powers to "milk" the consumer for every penny they can get, even though their actual costs are minimal.

I'm Australian. Australian telecommunication costs are not minimal. Even landline broadband costs are high at around the $1 per GB mark. It's not pennies as most data is from US or Europe servers and either comes through fibre through the ocean or data via satellite. Very expensive.

They don't make a huge profit yet they charge £1.25 per MB for mobile data not per GB that would be £1250 per GB. But if OP had planned it and bought a local SIM and a data pack it would have been a lot less. OP was using a casual data pack without knowing costs so I would say the bill should be £488.

boliston

HappyMJ wrote: »

I'm Australian. Australian telecommunication costs are not minimal. Even landline broadband costs are high at around the $1 per GB mark. It's not pennies as most data is from US or Europe servers and either comes through fibre through the ocean or data via satellite. Very expensive.

They don't make a huge profit yet they charge £1.25 per MB for mobile data not per GB that would be £1250 per GB. But if OP had planned it and bought a local SIM and a data pack it would have been a lot less. OP was using a casual data pack without knowing costs so I would say the bill should be £488.

In the UK some payg data packages are charged at up to £3 per mb but there is usually a daily cap of £1 or less, so the actual cost per mb is a LOT less, usually a few pence per mb in real terms.

You say you can get an iphone on contract in oz for about £30 per month with 500mb data, but some of this amount will cover the cost of the handset and some will cover the cost of the inclusive minutes & texts so probably about £10 or less is the "true" cost of that data which works out at a true cost of only a couple of pence per MB for data paid by the locals.