Voda UK roaming promotion

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Voda UK roaming promotion

BrentR

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#34013 15-May-2009 10:49

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/05/14/vodafone-uk-to-do-away-with-european-roaming-charges-from-june-through-august/

"In a move that is sure to give executives and customer service reps from other carriers a major headache, Vodafone UK has announced that it will be doing away with all roaming charges. The change applies to both Pay As You Go and Pay Monthly customers from June 1st until the end of August, and applies to over 35 European countries. The only catch is that customers must sign up for Vodafone Passport in order to enjoy calling, texting and picture messaging at the same rates as at home. As for which countries are included in the Summer promotion, it seems that every major European destination is covered: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Vatican City, New Zealand, and Australia."

Now THAT is a great idea....

I wonder if Vodafone NZ may follow a similar route???

Jarno

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#215109 15-May-2009 17:34

Given that Vodafone NZ does not have an equivalent for Passport, I doubt it. Maybe only for Traveller zone 1.

simon14

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#215135 15-May-2009 20:17

So does that mean if a Vodafone UK customer had bestmate with another Vodafone UK customer and came to NZ, they could sit there and talk to their bestmate in the UK while roaming on Vodafone NZ and it woulnd't cost them a cent?

How can they possibly offer that?

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#215199 16-May-2009 10:23

simon14: So does that mean if a Vodafone UK customer had bestmate with another Vodafone UK customer and came to NZ, they could sit there and talk to their bestmate in the UK while roaming on Vodafone NZ and it woulnd't cost them a cent?

How can they possibly offer that?

For a start Vodafone UK don't have BestMate. But you are right that two Vodafone UK customers could call each other in NZ and pay their regular home rate for calls and SMS's with no inbound roaming costs or SMS surcharges.

You also have to understand that their roaming rates are slightly different to here in that inclusive plan minutes ARE used while roaming if you have Passport. This differs to NZ where Vodafone NZ charge your regular out of bundle airtime rate + a roaming charte which means your included minutes are unused while roaming.

With passport you normally just pay a 75p connection fee for all calls (inbound or outbound) and then your normal rate. The 75p also covers the inbound call - you don't pay per minute for inbound roaming on Passport and never have done but there is a 60 min limit per call.

All that Vodafone have done is flagged the 75p connection fee that applies for every voice call and 25p for SMS's so you pay your regular rate for all calls.

Vodafone NZ still really fail when it comes to roaming - they've had the roaming market to themselves so could charge what they wanted. These Vodafone UK plans and the Vodafone AU roaming offerings really do make you realise how much less roaming should be costing.

Roll on competition!

Good news for me while I'm in Europe though - I'll be picking up a free VF SIM when I land in the UK!