Data roaming 13 times more expensive on Orange compared to Vodafone

NFH

As customer of Orange who is a frequent traveller and a heavy data user, I have been comparing Orange's European data roaming bundles with those of Vodafone.

Vodafone's best deal is £10/month for 25MB/day, which works out at 1.32p/MB. Orange's best deal is £8.68/day for 50MB/day, which works out at 17.36p/MB. Orange is therefore 13 times or 1200% more expensive than Vodafone. I could understand price differences between networks' charges of 20% to 30% typically, but 1200% is ridiculous. The problem is you're locked into a long-term contract with Orange, you can't easily switch to Vodafone. Using a foreign SIM card is not an option either, given that Orange SIM-lock their iPhones and removing the Orange SIM card prevents incoming calls and texts on one's normal mobile number.

GRM

Buy a Voda SIM and a MiFi? Your calls and texts still get through, your iPhone can access the net and so can your laptop/other devices.

NFH

GRM wrote: »

Buy a Voda SIM and a MiFi? Your calls and texts still get through, your iPhone can access the net and so can your laptop/other devices.

Good thinking - even better, use MiFi with a local SIM. Anyway, it still means carrying a second device around. Aren't most MiFi devices mains-powered only?

GRM

NFH wrote: »

Aren't most MiFi devices mains-powered only?

I had one of these in mind: http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/MiFi

Looks to be available new and unlocked for around £60 on eBay.

dvirreznik

If you're using an iPhone, you can request to join the Onavo Alpha Program. Onavo lets you enjoy your iPhone abroad while slashing your data roaming bill by up to 80%.

We're building a very cool iPhone app (Android coming very soon), that shrinks your cellular data traffic using cloud-based technology we've developed here. Now in closed alpha, we're accepting new users for the 2nd phase of our program.

Dvir.

[disclosure: I serve as Director of Marketing at Onavo.]

NFH

It seems that Orange have finally addressed this matter, although their bundle is still a lot more costly than Vodafone. According to the Orange web site, you can now pay £3/day for 30MB/day, i.e. 10p/MB.