MSE News: Are mobile giants' new roaming bundles any good?

Former_MSE_Helen

"Vodafone, Three and T-Mobile have all introduced new plans this month, though they have not all been met with joy ..."

Read the full story:
Are mobile giants' new roaming bundles any good?

ahxcjb

I'm getting really irritated by these assertions that T-Mobile has released new packages.

Let us be clear, they have NOT released anything of the sort. The bundles quoted have been available for nearly 2 years now. EVERYONE has fallen for their mis-leading press release.

Very bad journalism from all involved - both at MSE, The Guardian & The Telegraph.

dealer_wins

Internet abroad is a rip off. For each £10 you pay it costs the mobile network about 1 pence if that.

magyar

All of these roaming packages are total rip-offs, and should be completely avoided.

I travel to Germany quite a lot and bought a Fonic PAYG SIM card, which costs me €10 for 512MB of data and works in my iPad. If you just want phone there are dozens of other options.

In most countries you need a locally-registered credit card if you want to automatically top up, but in Germany (and I suspect most other places) you can buy top-up cards from garages, newsagents and so on.

Takes me 5 mins once a month and probably saves me £200-300 a year vs. rip-off roaming charges.

zagfles

An old one, but Vodafone Passport is still pretty good particularly for long-ish calls back to the UK. For data we've never found it necessary, most hotels, campsites etc offer wi-fi either free or for a low cost eg EUR2 per day. Some restaurants even offer free wi-fi which the kids use for their facebook updates etc while waiting for the meal!

AddieB

What is interesting is the EU roaming regulations now dictate what we can be charged and, more importantly, what networks can charge each other.

But rather then charging us data at these rates, networks are packaging them up and selling them onto us a bundles to (hopefully, I assume) make more money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission_roaming_regulations#Prices

The thing with Vodafone Data Traveller is @ 25MB/day for £10/mth it was already WELL below these limits - working out at just 1.3p per MB or £10 for 750MB assuming you used your full allowance (which I did every day, for 12 months while having a gap year around Europe in a camper van!).

In that respect, these new packages are not an improvement and even in 2014 when the costs fall further we would still be looking at 16p per MB far in excess of the old Data Traveller package.

I can understand the logic behind the new tariffs, for those who are unable to manage their data or understand their price plans a straight £3/day is simple - but for anyone spending a significant time abroad (admittedly a minority) this is a step backwards for sure.

zagfles

AddieB wrote: »

What is interesting is the EU roaming regulations now dictate what we can be charged and, more importantly, what networks can charge each other.

But rather then charging us data at these rates, networks are packaging them up and selling them onto us a bundles to (hopefully, I assume) make more money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission_roaming_regulations#Prices

The thing with Vodafone Data Traveller is @ 25MB/day for £10/mth it was already WELL below these limits - working out at just 1.3p per MB or £10 for 750MB assuming you used your full allowance (which I did every day, for 12 months while having a gap year around Europe in a camper van!).

In that respect, these new packages are not an improvement and even in 2014 when the costs fall further we would still be looking at 16p per MB far in excess of the old Data Traveller package.

I can understand the logic behind the new tariffs, for those who are unable to manage their data or understand their price plans a straight £3/day is simple - but for anyone spending a significant time abroad (admittedly a minority) this is a step backwards for sure.

But you can't compare a package/bundle with "pay just for what you use" tariffs charged in 1 second/1KB increments. I spend quite a lot of time abroad and find it easy to use wi-fi in most places, it would be pointless me having any sort of data package unless they were very cheap, I might just need data for the rare occasion I can't get wi-fi.

Packages/bundles are priced based on the fact that many/most people won't use the whole allocation, or will only use it because it's "free" rather than using an alternative. So they have to be significantly cheaper than non-committed "pay for what you use" tariffs.

TakeThis

O2: From July, we're changing the way you can use your mobile in Europe. You'll pay a 50p connection charge to make or receive a call, then use your UK call allowance.
And no more than £1.99 for a day of data.


http://go.o2.co.uk/o2trpm

TakeThis

AddieB wrote: »

What is interesting is the EU roaming regulations now dictate what we can be charged and, more importantly, what networks can charge each other.

But rather then charging us data at these rates, networks are packaging them up and selling them onto us a bundles to (hopefully, I assume) make more money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission_roaming_regulations#Prices

The thing with Vodafone Data Traveller is @ 25MB/day for £10/mth it was already WELL below these limits - working out at just 1.3p per MB or £10 for 750MB assuming you used your full allowance (which I did every day, for 12 months while having a gap year around Europe in a camper van!).

In that respect, these new packages are not an improvement and even in 2014 when the costs fall further we would still be looking at 16p per MB far in excess of the old Data Traveller package.

I can understand the logic behind the new tariffs, for those who are unable to manage their data or understand their price plans a straight £3/day is simple - but for anyone spending a significant time abroad (admittedly a minority) this is a step backwards for sure.

I felt equally inconvenienced when T-Mobile stopped their Blackberry World Email at £15 per month.

We just have to adapt. There is always an alternative.

propertyman

After 10 years I finally gave T mobile the boot for out and out lying not for the first time, on their boosters.

How can they sell a 30 day Euro booster and 21 days later take the balance?! ( Bought 5-5, message to say times up on 26-5).

:money:I unlocked a USB stick and bought a PAYG chip for the two countries we visit regularly and they work just fine.

:money:Get a tri/quad band phone, unlock it ( ZTE is free to unlock) and buy a local chip for local calls/roaming.

Roger1

I usually take my laptop and connect with 3G using a dongle. (I have specific dongles/SIMs for Switzerland and South Africa and hope for free internet elsewhere.)

These 'new' packages are for smartphones. Does anybody know of such packages for dongles using 3G?

Thanks.