$5 a day or $75 an hour? Aussies caught out by mobile roaming gaps

A spokesperson for Vodafone advised customers to check the list of countries covered before travelling and keep an eye on their messages for SMS alerts about roaming charges, as well as using the telco’s app to activate and deactivate roaming.

Customers need to check if their destination is covered before they travel, according to associate professor Mark Gregory, a technology expert at RMIT University.

“That information is generally available on the carrier website,” said Gregory, and once you get a huge bill, there’s no coming back.

“You won’t get any relief because under the international agreements the telcos are required to make that payment, so they will go after customers to get that money back,” said Gregory.

Rates for destinations not eligible for these value deals can run significantly higher. As an example for how quickly costs can soar, Vodafone charges $1 for every megabyte of data used, and it’s possible to use up 1.5MB for every minute spent on social media. Telstra tips the scales further at $3 per MB of data. Phone calls can cost $5-$6 a minute.

“Watching videos will use up data the most. And it’s those stopovers that are going to get you every time, those countries that are not covered under the telco plans,” said Gregory.

International roaming disputes have risen above pre-pandemic levels since July 2022, despite overall telco complaints dropping, according to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).

“The proportion of complaints about problems with international mobile roaming have increased slightly, suggesting that complaints about this problem are not declining at the same rate other complaint issues,” said Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert.

A similar issue exists with cruise ships, with the main telcos excluding maritime roaming from value plans.

Cairns-based retiree Phillip Hobbs learnt this the hard way, on a seven-day P&O sea cruise last November.

Even with three decades of working in marine tourism under his belt, he was shocked to come home to a $1000 international roaming bill, despite the fact his cruise ship didn’t leave Australian waters.

“We had land data contact the whole time, so I didn’t understand how this was international roaming,” said Hobbs, who disputed the amount and later received a one-off credit from Telstra, reducing the charges to $200.

Why the hefty bill? According to a Telstra spokesperson: “A mobile device may try to connect to the strongest signal which may be the cruise ship’s mobile service. If this occurs, you’ll be roaming at pay-as-you-go rates, even if the nearest country is eligible for day pass.”

Customers should receive a notification of this roaming connection detailing the higher charges being incurred.

“It is a premium profit-making product, and therefore people need to look at alternatives,” said Gregory.

For those roaming in gap destinations, the options are fraught; buying a local SIM card would have solved the dilemma for a time, but today most overseas transactions trigger an SMS authentication code to your Australian number, regardless of whether you notify your telco about your travel plans.

While telco roaming value deals offer the easiest, albeit not the cheapest, way to address the issue around overseas mobile number verification codes, this isn’t an option for those travelling to roaming black spots.

Some local providers offer international roaming packs that let you keep your Australian phone number while abroad.

Gregory suggests keeping your device in flight mode and connecting to Wi-Fi when authentication is required – though cautions antivirus software with VPN capability is a must, to protect against hacking and malware.

Travellers looking to dispute a roaming charge should talk to their provider first before escalating it with the TIO.

“If they can’t work it out together, the customer can contact our office for help,” said Ombudsman Gebert. Just prepare to offer evidence: details of the charges, the phone plan, any roaming packs purchased before leaving Australia, notifications received about the charges, and relevant correspondence with your telco about the problems, including emails and call logs.

The Telecommunications Service Provider (International Mobile Roaming) Determination was last revised in December 2019 by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Under the new rules implemented in July 2020, mandatory notifications about roaming charges were extended to include any roaming device (not just those that can receive SMS), and consumers were to be notified earlier about the maximum charges applicable after reaching plan service limits – within 10 minutes of activating a service.