Phone advice please - family trip to Oz

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › Phone advice please - family trip to Oz

1 | 2 | 3

Linux

11432 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1819981 11-Jul-2017 23:23

That answers that thanks, You are making assumptions about roaming been difficult when it sounds like you have not left your home country and actually used international roaming

Linux

Batman

Mad Scientist
29769 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1819985 11-Jul-2017 23:32

never. trying to understand the charges alone gives me a headache. and locals who don't want to pay $$$ won't be able to contact me.

NzBeagle

962 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1819987 11-Jul-2017 23:43

I've maintained a Telstra SIM for a few years for data only. Previously I've tried the Amaysim and Voda Au options. Then on to Telstra where I went with both a bundle plan and a data only plan. Ended with Telstra when the consensus was better internet speed and further coverage, and stuck with it. Acknowledge that each network will make advances but it's only used a couple of times a year so not bothered changing.

Roaming has improved significantly, and at times I'm happy with that option, depending on where I go. But usually, my usage profile changes significantly when traveling. I'll base it on the time I'm away for, where I'm going and what I might need etc. I don't travel nearly as much as others but that's my 10c

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1820013 12-Jul-2017 07:47

cadman:

Roaming is a rort. Local SIM with plenty of data is the way then use Skype or Viber or similar to make your international calls.

Whether roaming is a rort depends entirely on your needs.

As somebody who's normally out of NZ around a dozen times per year I couldn't disagree more and think roaming is the best thing since sliced bread. Buying a local SIM doesn't give me the ability to easily receive and make calls back to NZ or send and receive SMS messages from people using my number. I'd hate to have to rely on 3rd party OTT services to simply make a call.

There are situations however where a local SIM does make sence. Having just got back from a quick 2 week trip in Europe I had a Vodafone UK SIM (and my NZ SIM in a secondary phone) as there is now zero rated roaming across Europe. Financially it only saved me probably $10 vs using $5 roaming but it gave me the benefit of significantly better data performance. Having 350ms extra latency is a real killer when it comes to using data roaming over there.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29769 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1820048 12-Jul-2017 09:17

Why does roaming have a higher data latency?

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1820053 12-Jul-2017 09:24

Batman:

Why does roaming have a higher data latency?

Because data all has to route back via the home GGSN/SGSN .

Batman

Mad Scientist
29769 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1820056 12-Jul-2017 09:27

Oh wow I would have thought with technology you would just use whatever roaming provider you're on. So the calls are also routed round the globe in the same way?

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Linux

11432 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1820058 12-Jul-2017 09:29

This will change as VodafoneNZ is testing break out roaming at the moment and this saves internet traffic routing via the home GGSN and makes routing of traffic far more efficient

Linux

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1821070 12-Jul-2017 10:08

Batman:

Oh wow I would have thought with technology you would just use whatever roaming provider you're on. So the calls are also routed round the globe in the same way?

Local breakout roaming is a newish feature that's part of the 3GPP spec but not yet commercially deployed.

Data roaming has always worked by routing via the home network and there are *lots* of challenges that need to be overcome for local breakout roaming. Private APN's need to be supported for example, and many corporate customers roaming know that it's safe to whitelist IP ranges for their provider for remote access for example. When that roaming device suddenly has an IP range in a different country it makes things a lot more complex.

1 | 2 | 3