We’ve become increasingly dependent on our mobile phones to call, stay in touch via social networks and access the internet on the go. Most cellphone service providers (SP) have roaming deals with their international counterparts to make using your phone outside your home range seamless.
It’s very convenient, but with hugely inflated interconnection fees and, in some cases, high data costs, travellers have to take precautions or suffer a very expensive and disturbingly common condition SPs have dubbed bill shock.
What leads to bill shock?
The privilege of placing and receiving calls while travelling internationally isn’t free. You’ll be charged an inflated roaming rate, depending on the option you chose prior to departure.
Roaming agreements between SPs are seldom, if ever, a good deal and can result in abnormally high bills when you make calls or use data. For example, you’ll be charged for accessing usually free voicemail or customer service call centres while travelling internationally.
How to avoid it
There are numerous ways of minimising the cost of using your phone abroad. I recommend taking a second device.
Hang on to an old handset when it’s time to upgrade or purchase a cheapie. (You could also take along a SIM card-capable tablet in place of a second handset.) Once you arrive at your destination, buy and activate a local pre-paid starter pack SIM card and load this secondary handset with airtime.
If you’re looking to access the internet on your secondary device, you’ll have to activate data and allocate a portion or all of your pre-paid airtime to data. We’ve found that in most SADC countries, the local call and data rates are surprisingly inexpensive when compared with South Africa’s offerings and certainly way cheaper than even the best roaming deals on offer.
What to do with your primary phone
You’ll need to take action on your primary handset SIM to limit costs.
Before you go, activate roaming. Most SPs websites have information on the availability of voice, data or SMS services in international destinations and what the costs will be. Pay special attention to these prices and manually select your SPs international roaming partner (on the phone’s network settings) on arrival.
To save on roaming costs, divert all incoming calls to voicemail prior to leaving South Africa. You’ll be able to make outgoing calls.
Your data connection will still be active so set up your email application to download the header of the message, then manually download only the email you want.
Close all unused applications. Even if you aren’t actively accessing the internet while roaming, applications send multiple requests to update banner ads and check for email and software updates. Remember to turn off the device’s automatic firmware updates too. If you’re still concerned about applications surreptitiously accessing the internet, it’s probably better to simply turn off Data Roaming on your primary cellphone (Settings > General > Network > Data Roaming and deactivate).
For the greatest peace of mind, activate SMS roaming. This disables voice and data and allows only sending and receiving of SMSs. SMS roaming rates still apply and all incoming calls will be diverted to voicemail.
And finally, just talk less and SMS more.
Spending a little time, not money
Explore your options on the web and chat to your service provider for the best solutions for and better, cheaper connectivity.
Tips:
- Once you’ve arrived at your destination, consult locals to find out which SPs offer better coverage as well as the best call and data deals in the area.
- Transfer your important contacts to the secondary handset’s memory so it’s readily available when you need it. Insert your primary phone’s SIM card and copying information across.
- Leave an extended absence greeting telling callers to contact you by SMS. Also, give your local SIM number in the message so callers can contact you on the secondary phone.
- Check with your service provider on how to change voicemail messages from abroad. You will incur call costs at roaming rates to do this.
Have your own call cost-saving tips to share? Email [email protected].
Photograph courtesy of MorgueFile.
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