Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Roaming charge 'bill shock' isn't over yet

Mark Bridge writes:

In recent years we’ve seen many a newspaper headline about the high charges for mobile data when abroad. Horror stories that warned of bills exceeding £1000 per week.

As we’ve reported previously on The Fonecast, those days will soon be behind us. The European Commission’s new rules for mobile data ‘roaming’ will insist that networks introduce pre-set limits for data charges. Customers will have their maximum data costs in Europe capped automatically at 50 euro (around £50 by the time you've added VAT) unless they want a different figure.

However, as mobile internet security company AdaptiveMobile has recently pointed out, consumers need to pay attention to what their phones and laptops are doing if they don’t want to accidentally use all their data allowance.

Although a lack of awareness about higher charges for mobile phone use abroad is responsible for much of the ‘bill shock’ that’s reported, there are also occasions where users simply aren’t aware what their mobile connection is doing.

At least one of the high bills caused by downloading a TV show happened because a customer started downloading in the UK… and didn’t realise the download had continued when he reached his EU destination.

Gareth Maclachlan, AdaptiveMobile’s Chief Operating Officer, is now warning smartphone and 3G dongle users to watch out for software updates, especially if they’re set to happen in the ‘background’ with no prior warning.

He says “Despite awareness of the risks increasing, we are seeing time and again that consumers are still being hit by huge data bills – most of which can be avoided. One of the biggest culprits we see is automatic software updates. For example, a set of Window’s patch updates can be upwards of 40MB in size, iTunes updates are around 100MB and Apple’s latest OS update runs at over 700MB, all of which seriously drain data allowances and can lead to substantial costs for consumers.”

His suggestions include switching software updates to ‘alert’ rather than allowing automatic background updates, which would let users choose when – and where – their devices connect.

The EC’s new rules will certainly help cut the cost of bill shock… but without consumers checking their devices and without software companies making their products easier to understand, the annoyance of bill shock is likely to remain with us for a while.

 

Print
Author: The Fonecast
1 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Categories: Networks and operators, OpinionNumber of views: 14370

Tags: roaming data

1 comments on article "Roaming charge 'bill shock' isn't over yet"

0
0
Avatar image

Roman Pospisil

4/20/2010 7:56 PM

CMI Technologies has just released new version of unique application - Roaming Guard for Symbian S60 mobile telephones. Roaming Guard monitors the application access to data connections and, according to user-selected settings, enables or disables this access. Finally, owners may enable or disable access to MMS, electronic mail, web surfing, Mail for Exchange, Ovi Maps and other data.

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

The week's top mobile industry news stories, from Motorola to malware

Podcast - 5th February 2014

This week's podcast starts with Lenovo's purchase of the Motorola Mobility smartphone business. Was it a good deal for everyone?

We also talk about network infrastructure sharing in the UK, mobile malware, 3G coverage, misleading apps, mobile advertising, Samsung's retail plans and global tablet sales.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Mobile network disagreements, unexpected price rises, patents, takeovers and 4G data

Podcast - 29th January 2014

We start this week's podcast by looking at the new Ofcom rules that should end unexpected mid-contract price rises for UK mobile phone customers.

There's also talk about misleading mobile network advertising, patent agreements, takeover bids, satellite broadband and 4G data usage... plus a curious patent application from Google.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Mobile payments, connected contact lenses, secure smartphones and much more

Podcast - 22nd January 2014

In this week's podcast, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge talk about the new Zapp mobile payment scheme, Google's healthcare plans and an ultra-secure smartphone.

Also on the agenda are HP's new phablets, Jimmy Wales joining a UK MVNO, Apple's in-app purchases and plenty of research about tablets.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Google acquires Nest, O2 closes its Wallet, SMS usage falls... plus the rest of the week's mobile industry news

Podcast - 15th January 2014

This week's podcast starts with talk about money, as Google buys smart thermostat company Nest Labs while O2 UK closes its mobile Wallet product.

We're also looking at the decline of SMS text messaging in the UK, the end of the Cash4phones recycling business, an alleged security breach that wasn't what it seemed, mobile service on the Channel tunnel and the growth of 4G.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Predictions for 2014 and beyond with Florent Stroppa of OnMobile

Podcast - 10th January 2014

Mark Bridge talks to Florent Stroppa, General Manager Europe for mobile value-added service specialist OnMobile.

In today's programme Florent explains what 2014 holds for the mobile industry, what he thinks will happen in the slightly more-distant future - and what lessons we can learn from 2013.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First89101113151617Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«March 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
26272829123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
1234567

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement