Warning: Vodafone $5 roaming

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Geektastic

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#1640056 24-Sep-2016 23:23

longwayfromhome:

sbiddle:

... You're also told clearly $5 daily usage applies in a TXT when you land...

Just back from a week in Sydney - the usual texts on landing did not appear - I am wondering if they have been discontinued, creating the (more-or-less correct) impression of a seamless service. Travelling to AU and USA regularly - the $5 deal is terrific.

I did not get those in Australia - although I may have had them in the US. Not sure - seems like ages ago already!

Geektastic

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#1640057 24-Sep-2016 23:25

sbiddle:

Geektastic:

sbiddle:

Geektastic:

I would like to see a day come when Vodafone operate a worldwide network, so that your phone is never deemed to be roaming if it is using a VF network regardless of where you are.

Vodafone are moving away from being a global provider but that's got nothing to do with this. A $5 charge exists simply because they can charge it - there is no reason or need for it. When Three launched in 2003 they had no roaming charges when you roamed on any Three network.

The whole irony of this is that a lot of work was done by VF Group in the mid 2000's towards scrapping roaming charges across all Group networks. This was seen as anticompetitive by the EU, and in this part of the world off the record both the ACCC and Commerce Commission took issue with this as well as zero rating of roaming between NZ/AU would have likely been deemed anti competitive.

Not sure it is anticompetitive - nothing stopping anyone else from doing it too!

There was lots stopping anybody else from doing it - the mere fact nobody else owned networks in all the countries being the most significant obstacle.

I presume Vodafone did not either until they built or bought them....

Geektastic

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#1640058 24-Sep-2016 23:35

Linux: Why would you build another mobile network to offer free roaming services?

You think the share holders are going to vote ' yes ' ? I don't think so

You build it to offer business in the country you're building it in...! The roaming is secondary. I'm sure VF did not build their non-UK networks just so UK users could roam. When VF bought Bell South in NZ they presumably did so because they wanted to offer us mobile services - the fact that Australians etc can roam on the network is a plus.

If a company in NZ decides it can neither raise funds to build a network somewhere, nor arrange a sharing arrangement at competitive cost with one of the operators there, that is surely not anti-competitive, it is just a fact of life caused by the structure and management of the business and their finances. It's not caused by a deliberate act of the larger telco. If that was anti-competitive, it would be anti-competitive that Ford would be bigger and able to make cheaper cars than a start up in Dunedin building solar-powered cars at the rate of 3 a year that cost $250,000 each, surely?

sbiddle

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#1640156 25-Sep-2016 11:19

longwayfromhome:

sbiddle:

... You're also told clearly $5 daily usage applies in a TXT when you land...

Just back from a week in Sydney - the usual texts on landing did not appear - I am wondering if they have been discontinued, creating the (more-or-less correct) impression of a seamless service. Travelling to AU and USA regularly - the $5 deal is terrific.

How regularly is "regularly"? The messages won't appear if you travel in and out of a country frequently within a certain period.

nathan

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#1640168 25-Sep-2016 11:37

sbiddle:
longwayfromhome:

sbiddle:

... You're also told clearly $5 daily usage applies in a TXT when you land...

Just back from a week in Sydney - the usual texts on landing did not appear - I am wondering if they have been discontinued, creating the (more-or-less correct) impression of a seamless service. Travelling to AU and USA regularly - the $5 deal is terrific.

How regularly is "regularly"? The messages won't appear if you travel in and out of a country frequently within a certain period.

I've not been able to figure this out. I left NZ a year ago, converted my VF 021 from postpaid to prepaid, and been roaming overseas in the US for a year. I get those Welcome to US texts too, it seems at random intervals. Sometimes I'll get it a day after I last used my phone sometimes a month after

It definitely seems random, even when watching which US networks I roam onto.

longwayfromhome

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#1640179 25-Sep-2016 11:55

sbiddle:

longwayfromhome:

sbiddle:

... You're also told clearly $5 daily usage applies in a TXT when you land...

Just back from a week in Sydney - the usual texts on landing did not appear - I am wondering if they have been discontinued, creating the (more-or-less correct) impression of a seamless service. Travelling to AU and USA regularly - the $5 deal is terrific.

How regularly is "regularly"? The messages won't appear if you travel in and out of a country frequently within a certain period.

Say, every 2 months...

nathan

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#1640207 25-Sep-2016 13:04

longwayfromhome:
sbiddle:

longwayfromhome:

sbiddle:

... You're also told clearly $5 daily usage applies in a TXT when you land...

Just back from a week in Sydney - the usual texts on landing did not appear - I am wondering if they have been discontinued, creating the (more-or-less correct) impression of a seamless service. Travelling to AU and USA regularly - the $5 deal is terrific.

How regularly is "regularly"? The messages won't appear if you travel in and out of a country frequently within a certain period.

Say, every 2 months...

Sounds about right.

I've been in the US for 12 months now and would've received these messages from VFNZ about 6 times since then. This SIM card has never been in or out of the US over that time.

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hairy1

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#1640208 25-Sep-2016 13:11

I've been in the US for 12 months now and would've received these messages from VFNZ about 6 times since then. This SIM card has never been in or out of the US over that time.

Probably about time to buy a local Sim Nathan! ;-)

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