Smartphone overseas internet warning from Which?
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From: CJB on 20 Mar 2010 08:16 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8576941.stm The consumers' association Which? is warning that people going abroad with smartphones can still face huge bills if they connect to the internet. By 1 July, new rules will come into force in the European Union which will cap bills for downloading data. But, until then, people travelling in Europe could face unlimited bills. And anyone visiting non-EU countries, like Turkey, the US or the Caribbean, will continue to have no limits on their internet usage. === According to research by Which?, people using smartphones abroad can pay up to £8 for every megabyte downloaded. That's the equivalent of one email with a photo attachment. === Some owners of smartphones are unaware that their phones roam the internet whenever they are switched on. With so-called "push email" programmes, that means you will be charged whenever someone sends you an email. Equally, if you use an application to search for a nearby restaurant, or go onto Google maps for local directions, you are downloading data. Which? advises users to go into their settings and simply turn off the data roaming facility. ===
From: Rainer on 20 Mar 2010 13:29 "Peter" <occassionally-confused(a)nospam.co.uk> schrieb > >Which? advises users to go into their settings and simply turn off the > >data roaming facility. You can by in germany a FONIC or ALDI Card as prepaidcards (15/30 or 50 Euros) to get a 24 hour acess to the internet for euro 2.50 or 1.99.
From: CJB on 20 Mar 2010 15:33 On Mar 20, 7:25 pm, Peter <occassionally-confu...(a)nospam.co.uk> wrote: > "Rainer" <newsgroups_s...(a)t-online.de> wrote > > >> >Which? advises users to go into their settings and simply turn off the > >> >data roaming facility. > > >You can by in germany a FONIC or ALDI Card as prepaidcards > >(15/30 or 50 Euros) to get a 24 hour acess to the internet > >for euro 2.50 or 1.99. > > Sure you can buy a local card but a) you lose your phone # (which is > no good if using the phone as the data modem and b) buying local SIM > cards, topping them up etc (and much of the topup is always wasted) is > a hassle. Also see BBC Your Money - Mobile Roaming http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8577997.stm CJB
From: Rainer on 20 Mar 2010 15:36 "Peter" <occassionally-confused(a)nospam.co.uk> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:568aq59bm0bei1rtt2lpjufnv279ja373n(a)4ax.com... > > "Rainer" <newsgroups_spam(a)t-online.de> wrote > > >> >Which? advises users to go into their settings and simply turn off the > >> >data roaming facility. > > > >You can by in germany a FONIC or ALDI Card as prepaidcards > >(15/30 or 50 Euros) to get a 24 hour acess to the internet > >for euro 2.50 or 1.99. > > Sure you can buy a local card but a) you lose your phone # (which is > no good if using the phone as the data modem and b) buying local SIM > cards, topping them up etc (and much of the topup is always wasted) is > a hassle. My english is not so good, sorry for that. I am using a local SIM card here in germany for data transport (7.2 mb/s) and for make calls via sipgate ore skype. Costs are 2.50 Euros (~ 2 britisch Pounds) per Day as flate rate. So i can connected to the internet 24 hours per day.
From: Chris Blunt on 21 Mar 2010 01:54
On Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:25:07 +0000, Peter <occassionally-confused(a)nospam.co.uk> wrote: > >"Rainer" <newsgroups_spam(a)t-online.de> wrote > >>> >Which? advises users to go into their settings and simply turn off the >>> >data roaming facility. >> >>You can by in germany a FONIC or ALDI Card as prepaidcards >>(15/30 or 50 Euros) to get a 24 hour acess to the internet >>for euro 2.50 or 1.99. > >Sure you can buy a local card but a) you lose your phone # (which is >no good if using the phone as the data modem and b) buying local SIM >cards, topping them up etc (and much of the topup is always wasted) is >a hassle. For anything other than a very small amount of data, I would never even think about using a roaming SIM card because the prices are just outrageous. I always buy a local SIM and use it with a separate data modem. My roaming SIM gets used for one thing only when I'm overseas, and that's receiving incoming text messages. Everything else gets switched off or diverted. If everyone voted with their feet and walked away from using data while roaming the networks might eventually see sense and reduce their charges. I'd be happy to pay a reasonable markup to use roaming, say 15-20% extra, but I refuse to pay their crazy prices when local SIM cards are usually so easy to buy and cheap to use these days. Chris |