23 08 2010

Wireless Roaming Charges are the fear of many while travelling.  We’ve all heard horror stories of people going on a relaxing vacation somewhere tropical, or perhaps a more scenic trip overseas to Europe only to come home to a cell phone bill racked up to hundreds to thousands of dollars.  For example, the famous Jason Boutang, of Albert Canada racked up a bill of $7763.70 on his trip to Europe.  Of all the possible ways to rack up your roaming fees, we’ve narrowed it down to…..the Terrible Two.

T1.) Data roaming charges

• it’s near impossible to calculate how much data you’re using.  iPhones were meant to be used for data, mainly with online media (YouTube, Podcasts etc). They were also built to be data sucking devices as well.
• although BlackBerries and other smartphones do not consume as much data, for the business person receiving hundreds of e-mails per day, the fees definitely rack up! Most people are on at minimum, a 500mb data plan and consume anywhere between 1/5 -> 4/5 of that data regularly.  Translation: at minimum $300 assuming you use about 100mb of data (Rogers rates).

T2.) Talk time and Non-Talk Time?

• Most wireless carriers charge anywhere between $1->$4 for wireless talk time.  For our purposes, we’ll focus on travel between the USA and Canada and assume that travel from North America -> Overseas will only cost more.  Keep in mind: seconds in a phone call are always rounded up to the nearest minute.
• Scenario 1: Jason, a Toronto, Canada student with a home carrier of Rogers Wireless decides to go to Miami Florida for Spring Break. Of course they need their phone to keep in touch with friends, family and fellow travelers.  In a 1 week span, they use 15 minutes/day.  15 x 7 = 105 minutes. The roaming rate to the USA is $1.45. $1.45 x 105 = $152.25 + their original monthly costs + any other surcharges + data (if applicable).  This student is now looking at a phone bill easily over $200.
• Non-Talk-Time: How could you possibly get charged for NOT talking on the phone? Let’s use Jason again to illustrate this picture. Within his regular plan, Jason is subscribed to a voicemail add-on. He receives a call from a telemarketer and decides to ignore the call because it’s not worth $1.45 to tell them he’s not interested.  Too bad!  Some network carriers such as Rogers Wireless charge their roaming rate; in this case, $1.45 if your phone goes to voice mail. This fee is incurred on the user because their phone ‘connected’ to the communication towers.  Now how does this affect US travelers to Canada?  AT&T and T-mobile’s primary roaming partner is Rogers Wireless.  As soon as you cross the US/Canadian border, your service provider changes to Rogers.  Now if you decide to ignore a call and have voicemail, you will be charged your respective roaming rate for 1 minute.

Solution:

First we’ll review the talk time issue.  Jason has 2 options to reduce his roaming charges. His first option, and possibly not the best is to add a data value pack.  Since he will be using about 105 minutes he will have to add the $40 travel pack which gives 70 minutes and an overage rate of $0.57.  His grand total will be $59.95 in roaming charges instead of $152.25 with a savings of $92.30.

His second option is to unlock his cell phone and purchase a prepaid SIM card in the USA.  It would probably be best to buy a T-mobile prepaid starter kit (SIM card & 10 min of airtime) which will cost $10 and recharge his card with $10 giving a total of 110 minutes.  He will receive a local number in Miami.  His grand total will be $20.00 in prepaid charges instead of $152.25 with a savings of $132.25 and Jason has Eliminated his roaming fees.

The data roaming solution is not as simple. Since most prepaid plans across the globe do not allow smartphone data, we will have to veto that option.  There are however international SIM cards which do have data packages.  They are quite expensive and not as reliable as a carrier SIM card in terms of reception.  This leaves us a Data Roaming Package from your home carrier.  In Jason’s case, he can add a data package of 75mb for $60 which definitely beats paying upwards of $300.  We’re still working on creative ways to figure out the best way for users to be able to use their smartphone data without worrying about the ridiculous roaming fees they would have to pay.

We’re constantly working on ways to help travelers save money! If you have any tips or feedback, we’d love to hear from you!

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