TECH: KEEP ROAMING CHARGES ON A SHORT LEASH
A few tips can help callers avoid the post- holiday shock of a crushing cellphone bill
If you’re heading off somewhere for spring break with your cellphone in hand, don’t make the mistake of Vancouver’s John Graeb.
He turned off roaming on his smartphone when he travelled to Japan, but was still surprised to come home and find he had run up 361 minutes of talk time at $ 3 a minute — a pricey way to catch up with old friends.
When Graeb made plans to visit his daughter in Japan he checked his carrier’s website to see what it would cost him to use his mobile phone there, concluded it would be too expensive, and resolved to turn off roaming and use the phone only while he was on Wi- Fi.
Friends told him he could make phone calls on Wi- Fi, but the 71- year- old pensioner didn’t realize they meant Skype, Apple Facetime or other Internetbased calls — not the regular cellular network.
And so Graeb, who used to live in Japan, took delight in calling and catching up with old friends, running up more than $ 1,000 on his bill.
“It’s so confusing and especially if you’re not really up on the terms,” said Graeb. “They call it roaming, but there is data roaming and there is other roaming that applies to phones but I didn’t realize there was a difference.”
Graeb’s experience demonstrates that despite the CRTC’s new Wireless Code of Conduct — which includes mandatory notification for customers when they are roaming in a different country — it is still up to consumers to educate themselves about their options and possible pitfalls if they use their Canadian- carrier mobile phone when travelling.
With spring approaching and many families heading out of the country for a holiday, it’s a good time to do your homework to ensure you don’t come home to the kind of cellphone bill shock that Graeb experienced.
Graeb was fortunate. Hearing of his plight, his carrier, Rogers, changed his bill to what it would have been if Graeb had opted to buy a travel package. The $ 1,000- plus chat was dropped to about $ 250.
“It was an innocent mistake,” said Rogers spokeswoman Luiza Staniec. “We applied a travelling package he could have taken if he had called us earlier so his fees would have been much lower. Basically, we downsized the invoice and educated him about what he can do to avoid that in the future.”
But you can avoid the scare by doing some research before you leave the country.
• My top recommendation is to get a local SIM card in the country you’re visiting and get a local pay- as- you- go package. Rates and options vary by country. There’s a useful Pay As You Go Sim with Data wiki online ( at prepaidwithdata.wikia.com) that lists options by country.
You need an unlocked phone, but that has become easier now that the CRTC has ruled that carriers must unlock phones 90 days into a contract or immediately if you pay for the phone in full. Carriers like Telus had already implemented such a policy but now it’s standard across the board, so before you pack your bags, call your carrier or visit a store to get your phone unlocked. Fees vary but it should cost $ 50 or less, which is considerably cheaper than buying a new iPhone or other smartphone.
• You can buy a travel pack from your carrier but while it saves switching to a different phone number during your travels, you pay dearly for the convenience. If your kid decides to watch videos or play online games, the bill could still be crushing.
• If you’re travelling to the United States, Vancouver’s fast- growing start- up Roam Mobility is curing cell sticker shock one case at a time with its SIM cards, phones and mobile hot spot that you can use as you need, paying online and at rates comparable to those locals pay.
Founder and CEO Emir Aboulhosn has returned from the U. S. to find cellphone bills in the thousands and the experience prompted him to launch Roam Mobility, a player in an increasingly crowded wireless market and one that’s bypassing expensive spectrum auctions and capital intensive networks to undercut traditional wireless carriers’ pricing for travellers.
Roam, which is currently available for travellers to the U. S., plans to add Europe this summer — a move that could boost the fortunes of both vacationers and Roam Mobility.
Roam Mobility has been helped by the new wireless code that took effect last December and forces carriers to unlock phones. The unlocking service means you can take the mobile phone you use in Canada, switch the SIM card for a new one when you cross the border, and instead of paying a premium to use your phone outside the country, you can have unlimited talk- and- text and hefty data plans for prices comparable to what you pay for service at home.
Roam, which has about 100,000 customers, has a $ 19.95 SIM card that accounts for 85 per cent of its business. It also sells a $ 90 Roam Mobility hot spot and a $ 50 phone that will work with SIM cards anywhere in the world.
Its U. S. travel plans range from $ 2.95 a day for unlimited talk and text to $ 39.95 with a three- month minimum for Canadian snowbirds who get unlimited talk and text, free calls to Canada and one gigabyte of data.
“It had a big impact on our business,” said Aboulhosn of the phone unlocking rule. “It took out the biggest barrier. We’re seeing it now. Just in this last week we had a big surge of customers; spring break is a peak time for air travel and it keeps up through the summer.”