Getting stung by Optus on data roaming...its a Double Whammy!

[NM]

Compared to the AUS$149 for the Airport Express it is a steal. The ability to charge from a PC is a real bonus. Like you say at the price it is a disposable.

Note it can be "powered" from a PC, not "charged". There is no battery. It needs power, supplied through a mini-USB port (the same as my BB Bold), which can use the same cable as my BB to power from laptop via USB, or using the supplied power supply (UK plug in my case as purchased in HK).

 

[TonyHancock]

Note it can be "powered" from a PC, not "charged". There is no battery. It needs power, supplied through a mini-USB port (the same as my BB Bold), which can use the same cable as my BB to power from laptop via USB, or using the supplied power supply (UK plug in my case as purchased in HK).

No probs. Still more flexibility than Airport Express which needs to be plugged into a socket.

 

[Robert K]

The Telco industry knows full well about roaming charges and it is, to them, a cash-cow.

Until people stop data roaming, the telcos won't have an incentive to make deals with other telcos.

 

[sweens]

Originally Posted by NM This is exactly why I try to be smart with my BB when traveling outside AU. I have my BB mobile Network Options set for Data Service = On, While Roaming = Off.

Then I use WiFi access to sync my email, calendar etc. So when in the office, or Starbucks, Maccas, Airport Lounges, Hotel etc that have WiFi available, once setup for the WiFi access my BB just goes ahead and contacts the BES and syncs all my services.

Now this is good so long as you frequent places with suitable WiFi access. In my case its available in most places I frequent and I can always pop in somewhere for a coffee when necessary. And it means my roaming data costs are $0.

When roaming in different time zones my modus operandi has always been upon waking up in my hotel is to check the BB for any urgent emails then if I need to logon to the lap top I would handle the urgent matters if nothing urgent I could get on with my day.

Looks as though I'll now take your advice NM and go for the Wi Fi option and adjust my BB settings to score the big duck egg ZERO in roaming data charges from Optus...good advice...thanks!

 

[drewbles]

Working in the industry, I feel like pulling a violin out of my drawer every time I hear these stories (no offence to the OP; I appreciate the cost was high, but dem's da brakes, as they say).

I'll reference a post I made in another thread here:http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ernet-dongle-manchester-30779.html#post449224

Roaming costs carriers *a lot*. In terms of a percentage profit, carriers make a lot more from a roaming voice call than they do a data session.

It's stupidly expensive, yes, but that's not going to change any time soon. Data use takes a lot of resources in the current 2G/3G deployments world wide. BlackBerry devices use data no differently than others, it's just the fact they're primarily email and it's compressed which will lower usage, but not much. email does not use much as it is, and the compression technology used to reduce the size of images and the like also won't help much.

BlackBerry use two APN's, one for email and one for internet, each metered separately (which is why some carriers around the world do actually offer cheaper roaming packages for BB 'email' only; not internet usage).

AT&T and other networks globally are suffering under the strain that their home users are putting on data networks. Allowing anyone to roam for minimal cost will see these things even worse, for both the home network user and the connected roaming user.

I refuse to pay the high costs and simply do not use my local AU SIM when I'm overseas. I'll use my companies SIM for voice calls, and a suitable pre-paid SIM for Data (Vodafone UK for UK - £15 gets me 500mb in the UK and £2/day gets me 25mb in most big EU countries, or AT&T for the USA @ $25USD for 500mb, valid for 30 days).

pre-paid global roaming data is around, but it's still not cheap (and you'll often be relegated to GPRS speeds only). There are all-you-can-eat pre-paid in the USA, but once again, it's GPRS in most cases or 1700mHz and very few phones are supporting this.

Sorry for the rant, i'm just tired with all the media reports bashing telcos for charging for something the user failed to take into account (not the OP's case; i'm aware they were attempting to mitigate costs, but the only way to do so is not to use *any* roaming data).

 

[Austman]

Working in the industry, I feel like pulling a violin out of my drawer every time I hear these stories (no offence to the OP; I appreciate the cost was high, but dem's da brakes, as they say).

So, is the OECD wrong?

More effective competition and better regulation needed to cut high mobile data roaming costs, says OECD

It's not just that roaming itself is expensive, it can have an over 500% price difference depending on where the roamer comes from.

Of course I expect both voice and data roaming to cost a fair bit more than my home cost. But charging appoximately 1,000 times my home cost (if it costs USD 10 per MB to roam while at home I pay USD 0.01 per MB ) is criminal.

But I know it's criminal and so far have not been caught. On an international trip, just before boarding, I disable the mobile data before I even turn on flight mode.

 

[sweens]

It's stupidly expensive, yes, but that's not going to change any time soon. .

Some great idea's here but having to go to all this trouble to get a reasonably priced data roaming sevice...or as suggested just turn it off, would seem as something akin to killing an ant with a slegehammer!

I agree it is stupidly expensive...but the actual point is that if you have an AU SIM it is stupidly more expensive than most other places in the world!

 

[nlagalle]

this issue has been widely reported ever since the iphone came out. surprised this still happens to people.then again, there are people who still sends money to nigeria.

It still happens because people don't realise. they don't know of the huge costs (especially data) and the carriers quite often have global roaming ON. Heck our GM had no idea of the costs of simply opening a webpage!

Although we may be savvy in this area, plenty of the masses aren't, as I am sure they may be savvy in areas we aren't :mrgreen:.

 

[Robert K]

It still happens because people don't realise. they don't know of the huge costs (especially data) and the carriers quite often have global roaming ON. Heck our GM had no idea of the costs of simply opening a webpage!

Although we may be savvy in this area, plenty of the masses aren't, as I am sure they may be savvy in areas we aren't :mrgreen:.

I wish optus would leave my global roaming on. I had to stop in taiwan and hong kong on my last trip. Called before my trip to have global roaming on, and the countries i'd visit. Get to hong kong, no reception, had to call optus via skype, told them to activate it in hongkong and every other country i was going. Was assured it was done.

Get to taiwan the next day, no reception again. grrrr

Optus really don't want my money.

 

[nlagalle]

I wish optus would leave my global roaming on. I had to stop in taiwan and hong kong on my last trip. Called before my trip to have global roaming on, and the countries i'd visit. Get to hong kong, no reception, had to call optus via skype, told them to activate it in hongkong and every other country i was going. Was assured it was done.

Three allow you to do it via their web portal. very easy

 

[notzac]

I have 7 sims infront of me, one for each country I regularly visit, all with huge amounts of data. AU mobile redirect to skype, which redirect to local sim#. Check voicemail on AU# once a day, costs $2 tops.

What I tried on my last international trip and will be doing for all future international trips:

• Configure my mobile to unconditionally forward all calls to my VoIP service
• Configure my VoIP router at home to immediately dump all inbound calls to voicemail and e-mail the voicemail messages to me
• Check my e-mail at least every few days at the hotel etc.

Appreciate that doing all this takes a bit of technology to make it work, but it works brilliantly. It also means that I don't have to worry about stray phone calls from family or friends at 3 in the morning! For extra bonus points, the diversions to my VoIP number come out of my cap because it's a local Australian number!

The only thing I haven't worked out is how to divert SMS messages (and I'm not sure that I actually can).

 

[trippin_the_rift]

The only thing I haven't worked out is how to divert SMS messages (and I'm not sure that I actually can).

Plug your au sim into a gsm modem at home and you can reroute everything although it will take a lot of setting up

 

[drewbles]

Plug your au sim into a gsm modem at home and you can reroute everything although it will take a lot of setting up

Problem is, most of them are expensive. The USB Dongles don't offer such a function.

I've played with a dozen or so GSM 'gateways' and none of them have decent SMS functionality.

I've got a good one installed for testing overseas that will email your SMS's to you as well as storing them on a web-interface, but, it'll set you back around $2k AUD