Mobiles - Cheap international roaming

andy88_2

That is also interesting. I'd asked someone on here a while back about this when he said there would be an interesting announcement from Vodafone in the near future. It turned out he meant changes in off-peak charges, and didn't know about this.

It doesn't mention replacing or updating the SIM, and it doesn't quite mention which, or whether all customers, will be involved. Maybe I'll have to contact Vodafone Germany and ask about my SIM with them; if they're really organised they should send me the info.

Mind you if they think I want to roam at German prices - €0.79 - they must be joking! :rolleyes: I'd settle for free 0800 calls here as well as there! :T

monomer

You're probably right... ever since Vodafone came out with 'Vodafone World' and sent their customers a cheery text message that began with 'Good news! We're simplifying our roaming prices...' to ring in their price increases, I've been a bit on the cautious side with their intentions.

It'll be good to get some feedback on what Vodafone Germany has to say!

andy88_2

I've just seen Italian and German versions of the press release you found.

But some people seem to thinkit's not for payg; as I said, when I first heard it would only be corporate customers at first.

I think the 75p start is rather steep; how many calls are only about a minute - mind you, at Vodafone roaming prices that is cheap.

carmenes82

Andy88- did you manage to have a look at that web site (https://www.roaming-rates.co.uk)? I've been asked to contribute a couple of articles to them and they are always looking for people who have their finger on the pulse. Hopefully it's going to turn into a really useful, roaming-specific resource.

If you've got any good info you can email daniel@roaming-rates.co.uk.

Cheers,

Car.

andy88_2

A couple of interesting articles. Their dismissal of the Liechtenstein SIM seems entirely hypothetical; I'm not convinced they've even seen a SIM card, let alone used one or carried out any further research. They seem to have chosen only the most expensive way to make calls to it. From Orange it could be 20p or 16.7p per minute. From landlines 10p or so. They mention the idea of getting a foreign country-specific SIM without any similar discussion of high rates to call it.

For any roaming case, there is the dilemma of changing number. For business use, people will not take too much notice as the firm is paying, and they want to have the same number, as one missed call could be worth a lot. For very occasional users who just want to use it on holiday, there isn't so much difficulty in having another number instead, or using both and giving the new number to some. It is the cases in between that spend a bit more time abroad, not necessarily in the same country, and may be paying their own bills that should be most interested in a SIM that will be good in several countries ( I think all international lorry drivers should have one).

So I'm not sure where the site stands overall, or what is the target audience.

matty_bb

hi , Im going to Greece on sunday and have 400 cross network minutes to use, whats the best way to go about it

matty_bb

P.S its Vodafone

andy88_2

You won't be able to use your included minutes while you're abroad. Roaming calls, both incoming and outgoing, are separately charged.

How long are you going for and how much do you expect to use the phone? For only moderate use you might consider Vodafone's International Call Saver option which cuts charges from 75p for incoming and outgoing calls to 30p and 60p respectively.

If you intend quite a bit of use, then think of getting a local SIM card. Friends and family will be able to call you using cheap call operators for about 10p per minute, and if necessary you could set up a callback service for similar rates for outgoing calls.

I'll get some network details. I hope this is enough to be going on with

monomer

I went to Greece a couple of years ago and bought a PAYG Vodafone 'a la carte' SIM card. It was good value and incoming calls were free. I used it in conjunction with the (now sadly defunct) 'Boomerang Callback' service for outgoing calls.

Texts were cheap too. If I remember correctly they were about 10p a text. Shortly after, they decided that international texts should be more expensive than domestic texts (not sure why!). Instead of increasing the price of international texts, they halved the price of domestic texts...! Oh, if only they have the same business models over here...

I gave the SIM to a Greek friend when I left, and it's still in good use today!

andy88_2

carmenes82 wrote:

I read the sim4travel web site and decided that, as well as being a lot of hassle to get people to call me on a Liechtenstein number, I didn't trust them to offer a quality service (or at least one comparable to roaming). As agents of a bigger company they have little control over the quality of call termination. Moreover, a friend of mine who used United Mobile for some time, eventually dumped them and went back to roaming because he could not get a connection first time, every time.

After your disclosal of interest in rival commercial products perhaps you will reconsider these defamatory and distorted remarks.

Your companies are also agents for bigger companies; can you tell us what control you have over call quality and termination?

The rates quoted on one of your websites say correct at 26 April 05 (several are not), which predates several of your posts here. Perhaps you will apologise to forum members for your continued disingenuous pose as a student writing an article on the subject.