Cell phone "roaming is a bitch'

Data roaming charges is absurd, there's just no justification for charging that much. Ripoff of note *looking sternly at cellular providers*
 
deweyzeph said:
Make no mistake, they vaseline them good and proper too.
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Would not be surprised. Hey you can rip off our customers and we will rip of yours, sound good? Mmmmmmmm monies!!! nom nom nom.
 
Rouxenator said:
LOL - roaming is for n00bs that don't know how wifi and voip works.
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Yeah cause there is always a wifi spot avaialable no matter where you are... :)

But that said lesson learnt buy a local sim, at least not everyone is as mal as SA with RICA
 
Here are the charges of what a UK Vodafone subscriber will pay whilst roaming in SA:
http://campaigns.vodafone.co.uk/goingabroad/costs.php?country=112&tariff=1

Data
£3 (R33) for each MB up to 5MB, then £15 (R165) for every 5MB after that.

So who is ripping who off?!
Surely any international roaming network shares the absurd charges (profits) with the local network!
So it may be true that our networks pass on the roaming usage charges to the roamer but how much of these costs lands in the pockets of our networks?!

Not only we get screwed locally but internationally by our own networks!:mad:
 
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Tomasz-London said:
Here are the charges of what a UK Vodafone subscriber will pay whilst roaming in SA:
http://campaigns.vodafone.co.uk/goingabroad/costs.php?country=112&tariff=1

Data
£3 (R33) for each MB up to 5MB, then £15 (R165) for every 5MB after that.

So who is ripping who off?!
Surely any international roaming network shares the absurd charges (profits) with the local network!
So it may be true that our networks pass on the roaming usage charges to the roamer but how much of this costs lands in the pockets of our networks?!

Not only we get screwed locally but internationally by our own networks!:mad:
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Yup big diff between R33 a meg and R160 hey....
 
It does work out cheaper sometimes to use a satellite phone or satellite internet device like BGan for international roaming.
 
Don't trust customer care with roaming rate inquiries before you travel. Try speaking to three of them and you will get different responses.
 
Beri said:
Bull Sh@t to that. Just looked at e-mails my ass. Must have had some big attachments.
What is scary that this guy does not know that you can get a prepaid card in any country and use that. Much cheaper.
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Oh please .. it's actually very difficult these days NOT to have hundreds of MB's download in the background .. I can think of half a dozen pieces of software that could fairly easily be on the average computer that will do so without most users even knowing, and some of it is extremely difficult to stop. For example, I installed Adobe CS4 (yeah I know, it's a bloody virus, but I need it for work) on my laptop the other day, and innocently logged on to my Cell C - which is fast - and when I checked like half an hour later or so my usage was at 300MB and counting for a single short session ... a quick check in Resource Monitor revealed the culprit. And disabling Adobe updates is another story. But Windows updates, Java updates, OpenOffice updates, anti-virus updates, anti-malware updates, Firefox updates, Chrome updates, Office updates ... Joe Average has no hope of turning all these things (nor should they HAVE to - bandwidth SHOULD be dirt cheap) ... the average user logs on and sits for an hour or two doing email, and in the background, on a connection like Cell C's, you can easily do hundreds of MB's. All this software updating is also incidentally considered normal in most the world, since bandwidth has become cheap in most markets thanks to competition. It's only places like here (and cases like roaming where price gouging reigns supreme) where we suffer with this mentality that you should be terrified of every little megabyte that you download, sitting trying to figure out what to turn off next and what's using the bandwidth instead of getting actual work done.
 
For all the non Vodafone service providers the price is R128/meg. So they all charge exactly the same amount and there are no currency fluctuations. Cost is directly passed on the subscribers. Biggest Cartel in the world. WHATEVER UTTER BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
deweyzeph said:
There's no solution? What rubbish, there's actually a very simple solution: just get a local prepaid sim card and use that for your calls and data.

That's the first thing I do when I go overseas. Then I just email everyone who needs to know what my temporary number is.
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+100 There is an old saying that goes "As jy dom is moet jy ***" The first thing you do is to get a local SIM....and sms the people back home so they have the nr in case if emergency.
 
One thing Vodacom might be able to do is to disallow international roaming for good. Refuse to do business with the Cartel. It would be in the user's best interest.
Heck even the CEO basically thinks it's a scam, he might as well make sure there's no one in SA to scam.
 
use SMS roaming or get a local SIM

HideInLight said:
One thing Vodacom might be able to do is to disallow international roaming for good. Refuse to do business with the Cartel. It would be in the user's best interest.
Heck even the CEO basically thinks it's a scam, he might as well make sure there's no one in SA to scam.
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I agree 100%, disallow international roaming. If it is too expensive for the network CEO, it is too expensive for everyone. There are alternatives - use SMS only roaming, or get a local SIM.

It is commendable that they recommended that people get a local SIM when travelling. This should not just be stated at a small conference though. The networks should recommend this to everyone travelling abroad.
 
“You don’t want to roam with a very high speed network. I did it two months ago…I just did email, and I had a bill of R140 000,” said Reichelt. “Roaming is a bitch.”

LOL. Instead of e-mail, he could have printed the letters and sent them home with his private jet. That would have been cheaper.
 
I always get a local SIM - I have SIMS for Kenya, UK (3) - also works in Europe, USA, Mozambique. Some of them have now expired.
 
Buy a PAYG SIM at destination

Went to Europe in Jan with my BB for 2 weeks, and got a roaming bill for R5,500!!!
With BB you can't change your SIM and access your mail - what a locked in system.

Went back to Europe in Aug, also for 2 weeks, this time I bought a local PAYG sim card for €15 (no RICA required!) included €10 airtime, configured my old number to forward all calls to the new sim.
I could receive calls on my ZA number, and make calls on my Euro number.
Also change to Android, so no problems access Gmail and Exchange.

Total cost for 2 weeks was about €40, much less than R5,500.

Their are new laws coming in USA that forces service providers to first warn you and then cut you off if your roaming charges get excessive (about $100).
You have to make special arrangement to exceed the limits.
 
Fortunately with the advent of the far-sighted RICA law you will not be able to purchase a local SIM as a visitor, unless you are a criminal of course. One question, South African cell co's make themselves out as victims but are they charging other partners exhorbitant fees? I assume that they are, being deeply unethical organisations with a madate for profit.
 
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