Foreign travel with your Business Mobiles
The press is routinely reporting, Ofcom and the networks themselves see our international call roaming charges prices quickly falling. Will there be a real change in the future or is it more of the same old story?
At the moment, financial departments of both large and small companies are looking for ways to reduce the costs of a business mobile and international roaming.
One of the problems with using business mobile phones abroad is the lack of information we are given as businesses and consumers. What will be the cost to us? Can we use our minutes abroad? Are there any alternatives and ways of saving money?
Lets take a brief overview at what is on offer in the market place.
Orange business customers cane call from the UK to 28 other countries from their minute bundle. This offer is comparable to those of o2 and T-mobile. Orange also offer ‘Business World Traveller’ which will give up to 50% off standard voice roaming rates and up to 25% off roaming data.
Vodafone, on the other hand, has Passport which has the same features. When travelling abroad, the charges will be reduced. At only 75p connection charge each call when in another country, you can call people while paying your regular UK fees. Dial 5555 from your Vodafone handset to talk to Vodafone about receiving the service.
o2 have what’s called ‘International Traveller Service’ which allows customers to call from Europe to the UK for £0.30p per minute. However, if you are calling from other parts of the world then the charges can vary from between £0.81p to £1.20 per minute.
T-mobile also have competitive roaming offers. T-mobile charge between £0.38p and £0.55p per minute to call the UK from Europe. Receiving calls with T-mobile have recently fallen meaning the cost is between £0.13p to £0.20p for Europe.
Just tell us where you need to make your call to and we will set you up today.
If you are regularly visiting a country and using your business mobile phone to call the UK, one option is to buy a local SIM card. Local numbers would be provided for you whenever you are visiting in all the different countries. Some countries require that you be a registered resident to access this.
Other options include purchasing international PAYG/Prepaid SIM cards in the UK which offer roaming savings, in some cases up to a 50% to 60% reduction in call charges.
Competition is beginning to heat up in the International roaming market, consequently networks are fighting for our business. I anticipate there will be increased competition in regard to the price of roaming throughout the globe. Since the networks are all competing with each other for your loyalty, prices will decrease.
Finally, whilst the networks are bombarded with bad press for over charging on roaming I believe they are reacting in a positive way that will benefit business mobile users in the UK.
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