Angus Kidman16 July 2008, 3:00 PM
After years of being rorted for telephone and data charges every time we leave the country, Australians might finally be in line for some decent deals when they travel.
Pressure is mounting for more reasonable global roaming packages.
A longstanding rule of thumb for Australians travelling with their mobile phone is to use it as little as possible and only send text messages if you do have to get in touch with someone. Overseas texting isn't necessarily cheap relative to local deals, but with a fixed cost it's one of the few ways to avoid a hideously shocking bill when you get home. (The other option is to purchase a cheap SIM at your destination, but then you lose the convenience of having your own number.)
Relief from this situation may finally be at hand. An investigation by the House of Representatives Communications Committee into international roaming began in late May. The committee will investigate whether current charges reflect actual costs to service providers, if consumer information on roaming is adequate, and if new technology could help lower those costs. If you want to make a submission to the committee before the August 15 cut-off date, you can find details here.
A campaign for lower costs has also been launched by the Australian Telecommunications User Group (ATUG) to help inform the investigation. "There is no legitimate reason why it costs end users many, many times more to make a call or send an SMS or access the web when they are travelling than when they are at home," ATUG said in a press release campaigning for better prices. "It is time for end users to tell their 'bill shock' horror stories and for the Australian Government to act." The group is holding public meetings across Australia during July to collect war stories, and has also set up a blog for people to share their experiences.
Other countries are also pushing for less expensive travel communications. In the European Union, carriers are not allowed to charge excessive fees for voice services between member countries, and pressure is growing to regulate data charges as well.
Of course, government recommendations can take some time to have any impact, especially in the telecommunications sector. However, there are some small signs that carriers are offering slightly better deals in this space, especially for data users.
For existing data users, Vodafone offers its broadband roaming packs. While these aren't cheap ($49 a month for 25MB or $199 a month for 120MB), that's still a lot lower than its casual overseas rates, and a good deal for travelling in Europe. For Asian travel, Optus' Bridge Alliance data roaming packs cover 10 local countries and are cheaper than Vodafone, but offer slightly lower limits (15MB for $40 or 40MB for $80).
To date, carriers have generally resisted lowering data charges, if only because cheap mobile broadband makes it possible to use VOIP services such as Skype and thus cuts revenue from calls. And if they believe they can sell a service at a high price, they will — as Optus' charges of $149 a month for a 1GB iPhone data plan (compared to $89 for 850MB) demonstrate all too clearly.