[jonmorris]

I've thought for some time that it was crazy that operators (and handset manufacturers) regularly advised people to turn off roaming to save money.

What industry would actively seek to tell people to NOT do something, rather than coming up with reasonable fees to encourage usage. We've had roaming since December 1991 in the UK, but as time has gone on - more people were turning roaming off!

My theory is that for some time, the big operators (like Vodafone) were doing exceptionally well from business customers that happily paid the high fees, especially for data. As long as they paid, or bought bundles for silly money, who cared about anyone else? Chuck em some pathetic allowance of a few MB per day and they'll be fine - and if they use more, bill em hundreds or thousands - and just waive or adjust the bills for anyone that dares moan and doesn't just pay up.

But as time has gone on, especially with the negative publicity and horror stories in the media, I guess that revenue is shrinking - and more businesses are savvy enough to use Wi-Fi and other services.

I guess the operators only have themselves to blame, for not seeing that they couldn't fleece people forever. And I expect the EC has played a part in this, as we can still see huge roaming charges outside the EU.

[enapace]

Major benefit of Three is going be that we will be covered in entire EU and United States of America which is pretty much the major tourist destinations people in the UK go to. Obviously there is the occasional people who go places like Dubai but if you can afford go there u can afford roaming. Obviously Turkey still wouldn't be be in this but Turkey's EU bid has made considerable progression wouldn't be surprising if we saw Turkey in the EU within next 5-10 years.

[jonmorris]

Three also has Australia and Hong Kong.

In fact, I expect Three is planning to expand its range beyond the EU. Doing Turkey in time for the summer holidays would be another good move.

If it makes other operators follow, all the better. It's not just Three that is realising that offering free roaming will get more people to sign up.

[jabbamk1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

Doing Turkey in time for the summer holidays would be another good move.

They might be planning just that haha

Would be good for when I go on holiday there.

[enapace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

Three also has Australia and Hong Kong.

In fact, I expect Three is planning to expand its range beyond the EU. Doing Turkey in time for the summer holidays would be another good move.

If it makes other operators follow, all the better. It's not just Three that is realising that offering free roaming will get more people to sign up.

Yeah that is true they have mentioned expanding European countries and Turkey is part of Europe so is certainly a big possibility as after Spain it probably the next biggest tourist destination for UK Tourists. I had forgotten about Australia but your right Three Owns half of Vodafone Australia if I remember correctly. Roaming is in Macau as well if I remember right it's only main land china you would need to pay roaming for,

[Night Hawk]

Well if we're doing requests, I quite like Croatia...

[jonmorris]

Three started with places it has a network or association with, but I think we're going to see more that aren't.

Sadly, Spain isn't going to happen in time for Mobile World Congress, although I guess I can use the Euro Traveller pass at £5 a day. Last year I coped fairly well with Wi-Fi and a £35 bundle of data on EE (200MB I think). I had to restrict my usage rather heavily of course!

This year I'll probably get a local SIM and buy a gig of data, but that means carrying another phone and is a pain!

[enapace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

Well if we're doing requests, I quite like Croatia...

Croatia got EU membership last year so it is only a matter of time until roaming charges are done away with there anyway. Turkey is likely to get EU membership but not for a few more years they still not sort out some of the chapters though most them now are pretty close to being aligned with what they need to be.

Btw not sure if you bothered but Hutchinson has sold a fair amount of buildings in the last couple of months so he is clearly raising the money we will just have to see which telecom companies in Europe he goes after.

[jabbamk1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

This year I'll probably get a local SIM and buy a gig of data, but that means carrying another phone and is a pain!

Buying a local SIM is always the best thing to do when travelling abroad.

I buy dual SIM phones as well (which you can get cheap) so i don't have to carry around a phone.

[jonmorris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

Buying a local SIM is always the best thing to do when travelling abroad.

I buy dual SIM phones as well (which you can get cheap) so i don't have to carry around a phone.

Most dual SIM phones don't work for data on both do they? I only need the data, and also want fast data. I think that I can get a Vodafone 4G SIM for Spain with 1GB of data.

(That's another issue with roaming right now too - no 4G roaming, although that is changing this year).

[jabbamk1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

Most dual SIM phones don't work for data on both do they?

Of course they do mate Granted, depending on the phone you can't get data on both SIMS at the same time. But it's possible to switch between them.

My current dual sim phone cost me under £120 and has roughly the same specs as the Samsung Galaxy S3 with DC-HSPA+ support. There are cheaper more powerful phones out there now.

At the moment there are no 4G Dual SIM phones but Qualcomm have a solution with their Snapdragon 405 platform and Mediatek will be launching their MT6290 solution this year. So we should start seeing Dual Sim, Dual Active 4G phones.

Here is Mediatek demonstrating the dual active functionality of their hardware.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEwyNLl_LwQ

[qasdfdsaq]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

Last year I coped fairly well with Wi-Fi and a £35 bundle of data on EE (200MB I think). I had to restrict my usage rather heavily of course!

Yikes. Would have been better moving onto a roaming tariff for one month (£5 extra back then, now free on certain packages), and paying the £25 for 1GB of data, and cancelling when you got back. You'd have had free unlimited international calls and messages that way too.

A lot of networks are now including non-EU countries in their roaming deals. EE's already has Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azores (Portugal), Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, China, Columbia, Croatia, Cyprus (excluding North Cyprus), Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Islands, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, USA and Vatican all free except data on their 4G Xtra plans.

[qasdfdsaq]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

Buying a local SIM is always the best thing to do when travelling abroad.

No it isn't.

If you have a plan that offers free roaming while abroad, either totally inclusive or for a minimal fee, the inclusive minutes you get often work out a lot cheaper than paying for those same minutes on a local SIM.

Particularly so if you're visiting multiple countries for just a few days at a time - my EE SIM last summer gave me free, unlimited, international calls when I visited Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and France last summer, for just £5 in total. Just buying a SIM for each country and paying the minimum top-up would have cost lots more than that, not to mention international calling charges on top.

[jabbamk1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

No it isn't.

If you have a plan that offers free roaming while abroad, either totally inclusive or for a minimal fee, the inclusive minutes you get often work out a lot cheaper than paying for those same minutes on a local SIM.

Well yeh, I was trying to say that If there is an inclusive add on (such as feel at home) then obviously a local sim is pointless.

But in the case of Spain where there is no add on, or only expensive add ons then a local sim is always the best case.

[qasdfdsaq]

Yes, in any case where your network doesn't have a good roaming deal, then a local SIM is worth it but it's not necessarily the case "always" as you suggested. If you're on 3, then Spain isn't included, if you're on EE or Vodafone, then it is.

Long-term stays and heavy data use will often work out cheaper getting a local SIM, short term stays or heavy call/SMS use may not, especially if you're in a habit of making international calls to your next destination. Especially when you consider a lot of European countries have higher native mobile charges than we do.

Frankly, the ability to call from Germany to Switzerland for free on EE saved me far more money than I would have saved getting a local SIM for data, given I'd then end up paying 0.4-1.50€ per minute for my calls.

Things are exceptionally cheap now compared to a decade ago. Most of the time I go abroad these days, my mobile charges these days are a tiny fraction of the overall cost of the trip. And I'm a heavy user.

[wavejockglw]

Lots of people go to Turkey for holidays and it's worth knowing that a)It's not in the EU, b) Roaming charges there are expensive (apart from Vodafone who have now greatly reduced their prices - they own a network there 100%!).

The thing is that a local SIM is not an option in Turkey as your phone will only work for a short time with a local SIM installed. To use a phone brought from the UK it has to be registered at the Turkish tax office at a cost of 115TL and you will need a passport and proof of phone ownership to register. Presently you can only use an Avea SIM in a phone registered in this way, unless you are a resident. Only one phone can be registered per passport every two years.

The Turks have been plagued with tourist phones being stolen and use this method to make theft less attractive.

So if you go to Turkey check out the cheapest options using a UK SIM before you go!