MSE News: O2 sends international roaming costs soaring

redux

Buzby wrote: »

This was foretold by the networks who were badly affected by the EU price cap. Commentators noted the cost burden would shift to non-EU base networks - and that's just what's happened!

Sorry, but this comment is nonsense.

Before the regulators started driving down roaming prices, profit margins on some calls were about 90% of the retail tariff.

When Orange started its roaming rates in some countries were the same as or cheaper than their calls here. Rates at home then dropped while some roaming rated doubled or trebled. I was in Poland when they increased the rate there from 51p to £1.10 (without notifying everyone)

The EU is supposed to be a single market, and it's about time the phone companies stopped trying to refuse to accept that, or carping about regulation that occurs after their refusals.

There is no reason for them to raise tariffs elsewhere either.

donny-gal

diamonds wrote: »

Lately ?

The writing was on the wall when Telefonica bought it, have you experienced utilities in Spain, maybe be cheap but service ? LOL

Not cheap either!
DG

NFH

redux wrote: »

When Orange started its roaming rates in some countries were the same as or cheaper than their calls here. Rates at home then dropped while some roaming rated doubled or trebled. I was in Poland when they increased the rate there from 51p to £1.10 (without notifying everyone)

Good example but I have a better one. A local call while roaming with Orange in Singapore used to cost 6p/min, but on 1st February 2001 it suddenly jumped to £1.30/min. This is because whereas previously the networks charged the visited networks' prices + 35%, they started uncompetitively setting their own flat rates, overriding the healthy competition between the visited networks. Oftel just sat back and allowed this uncompetitive behaviour to happen.

redux

NFH wrote: »

Good example but I have a better one. A local call while roaming with Orange in Singapore used to cost 6p/min, but on 1st February 2001 it suddenly jumped to £1.30/min. This is because whereas previously the networks charged the visited networks' prices + 35%, they started uncompetitively setting their own flat rates, overriding the healthy competition between the visited networks. Oftel just sat back and allowed this uncompetitive behaviour to happen.

Yes. Somewhere I still have the roaming booklet that came with my phone in 1999. Maybe Hong Kong was also about that price. In France and Belgium were about 28 p, while the outside bundle price here at home was 30p

I can see an offer by one foreign network that has free incoming calls anywhere in the world. Contract only available to residents, unfortunately. I imagine there are some places with no coverage on that deal though.

But any of us can get a SIM with free incoming calls in USA and other places, and forward an O2 contract number to it, so the canniest of their customers won't be affected by this increase. This MSE article doesn't really make this point.

CockneyBrum

This makes Truphone even more of a bargain. I divert my O2 to the UK number of their SIM card when in America to avoid these obscene rates.

http://www.truphone.com/en-GB/Products/Tru-for-you/Rate-Checker/

Just 10p a minute to receive and 20p per MB, compared to O2's 90p to receive and £6 per MB.