Just a quick post for today.
I am on assignment in Singapore this week for work which means that the question of international roaming raises its head once again not just for phone calls and SMS but for data. Some of those data charges are frightfully expensive so unless you take joy in burning through your money most of us will likely not use mobile data at all let alone phone calls.
Anyway, if you think you absolutely need to have mobile data whilst overseas (and Wi-Fi hotspots won’t cut it for you either) then it may be worth checking out if your carrier has data roaming packs available for the country to which you are travelling. Whilst the cost for the pack may seem high for what you get it may be a substantially better deal than what you would otherwise receive if you slugged it out without one.
Of course, it is always a good idea to read the fine print and, if you have any doubts or questions, give your carrier a call to make sure you’ve got the right end of the stick. You can never be too careful and particularly when money is involved there is no such thing as a dumb question!
1 comment
I can attest to the huge bills that can be charged for roaming data. 36 hour business trip to NZ saw me generate a $2.2k data bill!
(A mail to the ombudsman reduced this to $50)
I’m currently in the UK WITH a roaming pack – it wasn’t made clear that this ONLY covered the UK…. My FaceTime calls whilst in transit in Abu Dhabi for three hours (during which I also used free wifi) managed to cost me $700.
(Back to the ombudsman!)
One option I found great with the UK was a free SIM that I picked up at the airport – Lycamobile. I charged this with £40 – and this got me free national AND INTERNATIONAL calls, texts and data for 30 days.
I’ve hammered the voice and data – at least an hour of FaceTime and international mobile to mobile calls (cross network) – and other than the occasional dropped line: all good!