Vodafone mobile data roaming to Australia $5/MB

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freitasm

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#68500 23-Sep-2010 11:06

Vodafone has just announced a permanent drop in mobile data roaming price to Australia:

Vodafone sets the Benchmark Down under
New pricing and functionality means Vodafone customers can roam where they want to

As the market leader in roaming, Vodafone New Zealand is again taking the lead by offering customers who wish to take their mobile data devices to Australia a leading data rate.
From September 23, the price of data roaming in Australia will drop permanently from $10/MB to $5/MB.

The new rate is the lowest permanent price offered to customers for casual data roaming from either side of the Tasman.

Telecom customers in Australia pay $8/MB and Two Degrees customers pay a whopping $30/MB.

Vodafone’s General Manager of Business Marketing, Becky Lloyd, says the move is part of Vodafone’s ongoing commitment to wiping out “bill shock” for customers.

“Vodafone offers New Zealand’s best line-up of smartphones and we want our customers to be able to use the incredible power of these devices wherever they are in the world. We have trialled a reduced rate for data roaming to Australia and the response has been fantastic so we have lowered the price permanently.”

In addition, Vodafone has raised the bar in terms of new functionality that will allow customers to better monitor their usage while travelling overseas.

“Customers are using more data than ever before and they need to know what they’re using and how much they’re spending so we’ve introduced real time usage alerts to help customers monitor their own usage.”

Vodafone will send customers notifications at 2MB, 5MB and 10MB of usage to help them control their costs.

”Many customers simply don’t know just how much data they’re using when browsing the web, sending photos home or updating their Facebook status, so now they will know when they’ve spent $10 on data and again at $25 and $50,” says Lloyd.

“We hope this will go a long way to helping customers avoid any nasty surprise when they come home from a holiday or business trip and discover how much data they’ve used while away. This way they’ll know exactly what they’re spending while they’re travelling”

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#383525 23-Sep-2010 11:09

Well that certainly is good news. $5120 a GB is so much better.

kyhwana2

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#383593 23-Sep-2010 13:20

Better than $10240 a GB, I suppose!

graemeh

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#383597 23-Sep-2010 13:30

Yes, it's $5120 better :D

VFNZPaulBrislen

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#383599 23-Sep-2010 13:40

To put it in context:

Vodafone - $5/MB in Australia.

Telecom - $8/MB in Australia.

Two Degrees - $30/MB in Australia.

Is our new price more than our local price? Yes, I'm afraid it is. But it's a hell of a lot better than paying last year's prices for mobile broadband.

Also, we're introducing notifications for customers at 2MB, 5MB and 10MB in real time while roaming so you know when you've spent (in Australia) $10 then $25 then $50 so you have the choice as to whether you carry on or not. That's got to be useful.

The notifications go live in October.

We're trying to make it easier for customers to take their smartphones and to use them overseas. It's a journey but I think we're well on the way.

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

graemeh

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#383600 23-Sep-2010 13:47

PaulBrislen: Is our new price more than our local price? Yes, I'm afraid it is. But it's a hell of a lot better than paying last year's prices for mobile broadband.

Yes that is the issue and as you've correctly pointed out it is an industry issue, not an issue with just one company.

I know there is a lot of extra infrastructure required to support roaming but the effect it has on data and call costs seems out of proportion to the customer value delivered.

The real time traffic notifications are a great move from Vodafone. It certainly will save a lot of people from the "I didn't know" problem.

old3eyes

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#383613 23-Sep-2010 14:10

With roaming mobile pricing it sounds you you are sending printer ink across the ditch.

Regards,

Old3eyes

b0untypure1

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#383653 23-Sep-2010 15:46

old3eyes is a crack up :D

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Noodles

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#383677 23-Sep-2010 16:21

It's a shame it couldn't have stayed at $2/MB like the promotion over the last few months. $5/MB is still painful, but I guess it's less painful than $10/MB

graemeh

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#383705 23-Sep-2010 16:52

Noodles: It's a shame it couldn't have stayed at $2/MB like the promotion over the last few months. $5/MB is still painful, but I guess it's less painful than $10/MB

and a whole lot less painful than $30/MB

richms

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#383715 23-Sep-2010 17:07

They are all totally unacceptable prices. Who gives a crap if its 2 arms and a leg or just one arm and a leg? When a local sim over there is so cheap they have no excuse, particually when they have their own network over there to use as well.

Richard rich.ms

bongojona

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#383717 23-Sep-2010 17:14

At $30/mb would it not be cheaper to buy a local sim w/prepay pack ?

But I am thinking as a personal user, not for business. Maybe many of you use your smart phones for business so need to keep same number.

richms

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#383719 23-Sep-2010 17:20

It would be, which shows that its a farce that they are charging what they do just because you are roaming. the EU likes to meddle with business so were/are doing something about it, but I dont like govt screwing around with business's

Best way to get realistic roaming rates is to keep shaming them IMO.

Richard rich.ms

heavenlywild

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#383730 23-Sep-2010 17:50

I don't accept that this new rate of $5/mb is going to reduce "bill shock". As posters above have mentioned, it's still over $5000 per GB, or $500 per 100mb.

I might as well sign up with Vodafone Australia while overseas and pay $500 for over 80GB a year.

Realistically, you can't do much these days with 5mb, unless if you only receive text-based e-mail messages and don't do anything else.

I applaud that the price has been halved, however, it's far from being affordable and "bill shock" won't be eliminated.

zenourn

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#383744 23-Sep-2010 18:40

For casual travel to AU I've always found the best approach to get around the excessive roaming charges is to pick up a local Vodafone sim and each time recharge with AU$49 flexicap. Then:

- When arrive in AU with the NZ sim in your phone redirect to the AU sim number (hence all calls come though as normal, and only nominal NZ->AU forward charge on incoming calls that is no more than what you are charged with roaming incoming calls). Then put in AU sim.

- The $350 of Flexicap credit gives 175MB (thus equivalent to NZ$0.38/MB)

- Also 300 local vodafone minutes as well, reasonable costs for most services, ...

Negatives:

- Slightly more hassle (although have several non-techs who have no issue doing this!)

- Your outgoing number changes (but never had anyone complain)

heavenlywild

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#383755 23-Sep-2010 19:18

^zenourn,

Exactly, that's still the best way at the moment. Anyone who takes out a mobile broadband stick or smartphone overseas to Australia without converting the SIM to a local Aussie one would 9 out of 10 land in "bill shock" land.

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