Cellular roaming charges under the spotlight

Voting with their Rands? And go where? I don't think I have a long enough extension cord for my landline.

Simple solution - purchase a pay as you go SIM card from the local provider (where you're holidaying) for data usage.
 
quovadis said:
Voting with their Rands? And go where? I don't think I have a long enough extension cord for my landline.

Simple solution - purchase a pay as you go SIM card from the local provider (where you're holidaying) for data usage.
Click to expand...
First thing I do when I land at a foreign airport - I've got a nice collection going :)
 
Dogs they are all of them (sorry dogs have pride)
 
MTN data charges are per MB but they can't provide how much data has been transferred when roaming (only the duration of the call is listed on the invoices) and provide no indication of roaming data costs on their website... should they be allowed to charge for data while roaming if they don't indicate how much data has been transferred and what it costs per MB?
 
MTN are a serious bunch of crooks - in Cyprus MTN is the cell phone operator and their data charges, and roaming charges are out of this world. A couple of years back I received 2 calls lasting exactly 1.5 seconds each (bad reception). I got whacked R 95 for each call !
to this day MTN is still investigating (it's only been 4 years). I switched to the other sharks - Vodacom.

I need to go to Cyprus in a couple of months - I get a better data rate with vodacom (or buying a card in Cyprus), than roaming with MTN if I have an MTN SA contract.
 
So where does the bigger shark lurk?

  • Is it the international interconnect rates (so the shark is the foreign operator)?
  • Or are our local operators putting an additional large fee on top (sharks everywhere)?

Out of interest what do MTN / Voda charge overseas folk to roam (voice/data) here?
 
quovadis said:
Voting with their Rands? And go where? I don't think I have a long enough extension cord for my landline.

Simple solution - purchase a pay as you go SIM card from the local provider (where you're holidaying) for data usage.
Click to expand...

From my experience many foreign networks do not allow data roaming on their pay as you go services. It is restricted to voice only.
 
Why, when visiting me in SA, do my UK business partners use their phones whenever they like? Because it is cheap! Currency exchange rates are not at issue because they are charged in pounds.

I was charged R29.00 per minute when using my phone in the UK. How many networks does the call go through? Let's say 2. Orange pay as you go is GBP0.15 per minute. That's GBP0.30@ R16/GBP1 = R4.80. Plus R2.00 for MTN = R6.80

Where does the R29.00 come from?:eek:
 
MTN are a bunch of crooks - simple as that.
They are quick to lay the blame on interconnect charges, even when it's their own WHOLLY OWNED subsidiary that's charging these exhorbitant interconnect charges.

Tip - in Europe - Stick to Vodacom or get a PAYG card.
 
EU have cut roaming charges

I found this article:
"EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding insisted the costs of SMS and data roaming were too high and opaque and must come down because consumers are being ripped off.

Costs people pay for making mobile phone calls outside their home countries have dropped by up to 60% since the European Commission capped fees last September.

But the price cap does not cover mobile internet or some 200 billion text messages that are sent a year in western Europe."

Has anyone noticed a 60% reduction in roaming charges after September last year. If there hasn't been a reduction, can someone please explain the reasons.

Here are some links to read:
EU agrees to slash ‘roaming’ charges
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bb579a12-03e6-11dc-a931-000b5df10621.html?nclick_check=1

and here's the link to the above story:
http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/06/020411.htm
 
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