calling vodafone mobiles whilst roaming

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lance4k

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Topic # 3821 8-Apr-2005 11:37

hi,

i'm about to go to the uk with my vodafone mobile. i want to be able to call another person's vodafone mobile that is going to be in china. Roaming is all set up for both of us.. What would I Dial from my vodafone mobile in the UK to call someone's vodafone mobile in china? i know its not +6421 cuz that'll be if ur calling NZ.

freitasm

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Reply # 14078 8-Apr-2005 11:44

It doesn't matter. The number is global. So if both of you have Vodafone NZ numbers, regardless of where you are just call +6421[number] and the call will be routed to the proper location (providing roaming is really activated).

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

sbiddle

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Reply # 14079 8-Apr-2005 14:44

You just dial the +6421 number. One thing I have encountered however when two phones are roaming is absolutely shocking call quality with some really serious delay, it's obviously dependant on the routing of the calls but is something to be aware of. If you are going to call NZ from the UK you're better off using a cheap calling card if posible, roaming costs are between NZ$2.20 - $3.85 per minute and you can use a Telecom Yabba card and call a mobile in NZ for NZ$0.13c per minute.

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Reply # 14080 8-Apr-2005 14:47

edit: Just posted after sbiddle.

Just beaware - roaming in China isn't exactly reliable... Sometimes you can make international calls/recieve calls and othertimes you can only make local calls.

Get your friend to roam on China Mobile rather than China Unicom (had 10x problems with them) which appears on the network selection as CHN CMCC or just CMCC. China Unicom appears as CHN CU-GSM or CU-GSM.

In most cases it is cheaper to buy a local SIM in China, except you can't make international calls on prepaid easily... but you can call it from overseas easy enough, without incurring roaming charges from NZ.

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Reply # 14084 8-Apr-2005 16:59

On a slightly unrelated issue but on the roaming topic is anybody aware of any networks in Europe that offer cheaper calls for foreign roaming phones that are roaming on the same network? Singtel (Singapore) have a local direct dial service where you can add a #0 prefix to the foreign mobile no and your call is routed internally on their network rather than incurring you the costs of the call to your home country and the incoming roaming cost for the other phone. It also allows a Singtel customer to call a roaming phone in the same way and you're not incurring incoming roaming costs and the Singtel customer doesn't have to pay international call charges either.

I still can't understand why GSM operators charge such excessive prices for roaming, surely it's something that want to be encouraging and not discouraging!

freitasm

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Reply # 14085 8-Apr-2005 17:10

Probably same reason why Vodafone charges NZ$30 per megabyte on GPRS when roaming overseas, even on networks that have flat fee access for US$29.95/month (yes, I know, my pet peeve).

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

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Reply # 14087 8-Apr-2005 19:35

Or why you can roam in oz using Vodafone and pay the same price as NZ yet for a Vodafone oz customer to roam in NZ the prices are exuberant! Vodafone oz admitted to a friend after she complained that it was basically because Vodafone want NZ customers to roam on the Vodafone oz network but in NZ where there is only 1 GSM network they can charge whatever they want and have no plans to introduce the same system for oz customers travelling to NZ.

jcr976

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Reply # 14111 10-Apr-2005 00:28

Whats the point complaining you know the prices before you use the service and if you don't like the price don't use it, Its that simple.

noddy

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Reply # 14277 20-Apr-2005 19:33

Right. Where does VF tell you that their data prices are 300 times what anyone woudl reasonably expect for high speed data charges and at least 30 times what they charge on their NZ plans? Oh, that's right, hidden away on a web site, nice one Voda.

tonyhughes

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Reply # 14278 20-Apr-2005 20:00

Colgate dont advertise the price of their toothpaste on tv...

(1,000's more examples not listed).

You know its gonna be expensive, and all you have to do is ring an 0800 # and ask for the cost and capability.

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freitasm

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Reply # 14279 20-Apr-2005 20:13

C'mon... How can a company justify $30/MB on roaming when the user on the other network can have US$29.95 flat fee GPRS?

It's not even the case of not knowing the price before using the service. It is just plain unethical behaviour to charge that much for a service that will not even cost them to provide - other network will be doing the stuff for them.

And don't tell me "It's the other network's cost", because even if you roam on Vodafone (in Europe and Australia) it is still $30/MB. The strangest thing is, regardless of what network one uses, it's still $30/MB - Vodafone or non-Vodafone.

It's like petrol. All companies charge the same price - sometimes one cent difference only. I can't believe all companies have the same costs. They have different infrastructures, margins, etc.

It's all very dodgy.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

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Reply # 14281 20-Apr-2005 21:10

And it's quite ironic to read reports from the 3GSM conference where delegates complain about the poor uptake of roaming services.

The whole issue of data charging in obviously a big issue for mobile operators and I wonder what they are actually trying to do. Do they actually want people to use a service or for it to remain something that the average user cannot afford? While everybody talked about data being the future it certainly isn't going to grow unless more people follow the lead of Telstra with their CDMA EV-DO pricing in Australia - A$29 per month for 10 hours access (billed per 15 min session) up to A$149 for 100 hours access. Having said that you can also choose mer MB pricing and pay anything from 50c - $5.00 per MB for data on a casual plan. It makes you wonder how they can justify such big differences when you consdier how much data you could transfer for $2.90 in an hour!

noddy

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Reply # 14288 21-Apr-2005 08:20

The Colgate example above is, of course, ridiculous. I know what I pay for a tube well before I use it. Also, it is not priced so that if I take it to France I suddenly start paying 30 times as much per dab of paste. If we are talking about false advertising, how about advertising an ISP service that effectively allows people to run up a bill of over $5000 in an hour! (Connection speed of 384kbps, allows downloads of a maximum of 178 meg an hour, times $30...).

It is unusable, so why sell it? This not just unethical, completely contrary to expectations set and is borderline criminal.

tonyhughes

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Reply # 14292 21-Apr-2005 13:54

wow - some high emotions running here, lets all take a deep breath before reading my post and tearing me apart :-)

Companies cant tell you about -every- conceivable part of their products/services in advance before you buy it - its just not reasonable. To do this would see the average sale of a prepaid phone take around 12 hours (go through every possible cost for every possible service in every possible place), then all the ins and outs of -every- feature of the hardware, rf signal danger, oos of the thumbs etc etc.

I agree wholeheartedly with jcr976
I think the real point is that you have to register for roaming, you know its gonna cost more, if you ask they tell you, if you dont want to pay that, you dont use it.

BTW - I think the prices are digustingly high, and I will never use the services at those costs. (I do go overseas now and again, and I use only WiFi).

Why dont we take our cars to Australia when we go on holiday? - Because of the cost - we all know that.

Did Mitsubishi tell me in advance it would cost $5000 or more to get it over there? Nope.

Criminals I say!!

Noddy: How is that false advertising? - They tell you the price.... you use the service, you pay the advertised price..

Noddy "(If we are talking about false advertising, how about advertising an ISP service that effectively allows people to run up a bill of over $5000 in an hour! (Connection speed of 384kbps, allows downloads of a maximum of 178 meg an hour, times $30...).)"

"The false advertising example above is, of course, ridiculous. " (tongue in cheek)

Who actually uses data roaming? if yes, why? (i know why people -dont- LOL )
Who uses wifi overseas? if yes OR no, why?

Mauricio - are you travelling around right now?>??? (your flag changes...)

freitasm

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Reply # 14294 21-Apr-2005 14:14

I do use GPRS roaming while overseas, most of the times only to check e-mails headers. I did have to use GPRS roaming a few months ago while in Melbourne because I couldn't connect to Wi-Fi where we were staying. That was around $600 in a single one week trip. Not happy, but had to use due to business needs.

This is the thing - most of the uses will be for business needs, and companies should be prepared to cough up the cost - but I am a small company, just me!

I have a T-Mobile Hotspot prepaid account, so I can use Wi-Fi while in the USA - Starbucks, Borders, airports, etc. I found out that T-Mobile Wi-Fi roaming (with Telstra for example) is only available with post-paid accounts, but I'll not change and pay for it if I'm not going to the USA every month.

Yes, I'm in Brisbane this week (and then again in a couple of weeks) - part of my last project with Unisys. And you see my flag as US when I post through CDMA EV-DO - this is the range of IP addresses Telecom NZ uses for the service. And I am using broadband at the hotel - $19.95 a day, but at least is a fast connection via ethernet or Wi-Fi.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)