How to Handle Global Roaming

Date Posted:10 November 2013 

Australian telcos should pay attention to how T-Mobile handles global roaming, according to Gizmodo's Mario Aguilar and Luke Hopewell.

Many Australian consumers have felt stung by their phone provider, incurring unexpectedly large bills while travelling overseas.

T-Mobile has announced a roaming plan that offers users free text and data in over 100 countries. Calls are priced at 20 cents per minute. The downside is that users are moved from the company's 3G network to the particular country's 2G network. Although this will mean slower data speed, users can purchase additional speed with a range of data packages. For instance, $15 for 100MB per day or $25 for 200MB over 14 days. As a safeguard, the plan is limited to overseas trips of six weeks or less.

Given consumer anger over the issue, many Australian telcos are trying to respond. Vodafone recently launched a plan that capped roaming costs at $5 per day while Optus has simplified global roaming regions.