In the early days of cell phones, consumers often got hit with "roaming" charges when they left their home area and made or received calls using another network. With today's nationwide networks, domestic roaming charges are pretty much a thing of the past.
But international roaming changes are still around, and becoming a bigger issue for consumers who leave their country's borders.
Kristina, of Alexandria, Va., recently took a cruise to the Bahamas and as a precaution, called her carrier, T-Mobile, to find out about charges. She said she was told that voice calls would carry a $2.99 per minute roaming charge and data would be billed at $15 per kilobyte.
"So I decided I would not use my phone for Internet at all," Kristina told ConsumerAffairs.com. "I made one call that was about 11 minutes and two other calls that were about four minutes. No Internet, no texting, no checking voicemails. My bill was $200 higher than normal."
Still receiving
The reason? Kristina did not turn off her cell phone. Though she wasn't "using" it, it was still receiving data. She said a T-Mobile rep explained that she paid a roaming charge anytime someone sent her an email or left a voicemail message.
Sometimes you don't even have to leave the country to get hit with an international roaming charge. Vijay, a Sprint customer from San Francisco, said he was visiting San Diego in early January and was stunned the next month to find a $949 roaming charge on his bill. It showed up as a roaming charge through a Mexican carrier.
"I never left the country, but they said the broadband Internet card picked up the signal from Mexico," Vijay told ConsumerAffairs.com." I told them, that's not my problem, I don't control from which tower the signal is picked up."
But at last report, it was his problem, as he has been unable to resolve the issue over nearly the last two months.
International roaming charges have become a much bigger issue only recently, as smart phones, which send and receive email as well as make voice calls, have become more common. A traveler in Europe, for example, can unknowingly use hundreds of megabytes of roaming service if her phone is turned on.
Why so expensive?
Why is international roaming so expensive? There can be a number of reasons, according to wireless providers and their critics. For starters, mobile phone companies say they must create agreements with wireless providers in almost every country on the globe. That's a lot of lawyers.
At the same time, these agreements tend to be long-term contracts, which provide little flexibility for dropping prices. For example, an agreement signed four years ago reflects the prevailing rates of 2006.
Add in currency exchange rates and the fact that almost no wireless companies have viewed international service as an attractive market - at least up until now - and there simply isn't any motivation to try and lower the rates and compete for business.
But that may be changing. A number of critics, including some players within the industry, are calling for more competition in the international service arena.
In Europe FreeMove, an alliance between four wireless providers, has developed a new range of data offers for wireless users who travel among 32 countries. Consumers can select a daily pass for a fixed fee, a monthly bundle for frequent travelers using laptops for a flat fee, and a bundle for less frequent travelers using laptops or smartphones on a pay-as-you-go basis. The partner network is automatically selected when the user is roaming.
The service is targeted at business travelers and, though cheaper, may still be considered steep for some consumers. Some industry analysts think competition, if it grows, will continue to make international roaming more affordable.
Until then, consumers might be best advised to carefully question their service provider about roaming charges before leaving home and, if you have a smart phone, turn it off once your cross the border.
