The data + voice roaming thread

dawiz · #1 11.06.2010, 09:55

It's vacation time - so I thought I'd quickly compile some of the options Swiss travelers have this summer for getting a break on their data roaming costs. Please add additional options if you know of any.

Orange:

Orange: Travel Data Daily

Gives you 2mb of data traffic for 4 Fr. per day + 2 Fr. per additional mb. Billed in 30k increments. Meaning each e-mail will be billed as (at least) 30k, even if it only consists of a single character.

Spotnik Peek:

Unlimited push e-mail (5 e-mail addresses max) all over Europe for 19 Euro per month (no contract, can be canceled at any time. Initial device price of 99 Euro already includes 6 months of free roaming). More info: https://peek.spotnik.net/
Unfortunately, this will only give you e-mail. No voice, no SMS, no chat, no web.

Swisscom:

World Option Flex - costs 9 Fr. per month (only billed if you use the phone abroad at least once during any given month). Greatly reduced voice prices, data charged at 2 Fr. per MB. Billed in 30k increments. Meaning each e-mail will be billed as (at least) 30k, even if it only consists of a single character.
http://www.swisscom.ch/res/mobile/in...flex/index.htm

Sunrise:

Sunrise Global: costs 9 Fr. per month (no matter if you use your phone abroad or not). Reduced voice prices (but a 1 Fr. per call set-up fee), data at 4 Fr. per mb. Billed in 100k increments. Meaning each e-mail will be billed as (at least) 100k, even if it only consists of a single character.

Personally, I'm really not sure what I should choose. I'll be visiting some European countries this summer. I have to say that even with those options, roaming is still insanely expensive. I thought about getting the Peek, but I'm not sure just how useful e-mail-only is going to be fore me. EU customers can have their data roaming costs capped (at 60 Fr., for example, after that, the connection is severed to protect the customer from enormous roaming bills). In Switzerland, that's not possible. I asked Swisscom about this and they said they had no intention to introduce such an option and they won't reduce their roaming tariffs to the new European maximum. I also recently read that Switzerland has the highest roaming prices in all of Europe (for European travelers). It's safe to assume that the European providers will charge Swiss customers the same tariffs.

What do you think? Are there any Blackberry options that allow for semi-decent roaming prices? I think the increment sizes are the main problem - if each BB e-mail is billed as at least 30k, it's insanely expensive :-/ BBs also send keep-alive packages all the time so even just leaving your BB running without getting or sending any emails can be extremely expensive very quickly.

Peter

kiwiguy08 · #2 31.01.2011, 10:45

I have an issue with sunrise as I do not get a signal when outside Switzerland. Before August when i was out of the country, I had no isssues getting a connection and I would be able to receive calls and messages. Since then it has mysteriously disappeared. It's like I have lost the right to connect to a foreign network. I have tried it in Italy, germany, france, the uk, and the USA and nothing happens. I cannot even manually connect to a foreign network. It is not my telephone as I have tried 3 mobiles with no luck. I cannot explain it.

dawiz · #3 31.01.2011, 10:49

	Quote:	kiwiguy08
	I have an issue with sunrise as I do not get a signal when outside Switzerland. Before August when i was out of the country, I had no isssues getting a connection and I would be able to receive calls and messages. Since then it has mysteriously disappeared. It's like I have lost the right to connect to a foreign network. I have tried it in Italy, germany, france, the uk, and the USA and nothing happens. I cannot even manually connect to a foreign network. It is not my telephone as I have tried 3 mobiles with no luck. I cannot explain it.

have you called the hotline? perhaps they blocked your number for roaming-access?

Peter

st2lemans · #4 31.01.2011, 10:50

Strange, I've never had a problem with Sunrise in other countries.

Tom

kiwiguy08 · #5 31.01.2011, 11:05

	Quote:	dawiz
	have you called the hotline? perhaps they blocked your number for roaming-access? Peter

I guess that is what I will have to do. I don't prefer that option because I am not a fan of the customer service here.. I thought there might be some other reason for it.

The thing is that it worked for the first 6 months i had sunrise and since then it just stopped. Its not as if I ran up any large bills. Maybe 10 chf maximum in 6 months.

jrspet · #6 31.01.2011, 11:24

Go-Sim also charges in 100kb increments.

Rate calculator is here.

Ms.Welsh · #7 31.01.2011, 12:28

Perhaps someone here has some insight on this - I would love to have a phone that I don't have to deal with a provider and can just use at wifi spots while traveling - this way I can use my Skype connection - which is really inexpensive - of course it means I have to be somewhere with a wifi connection - but wondering - is there a phone that acts like a computer that I could just leave the sim card out of? I've started internet searching - if I find something myself I'll post - but just saw this thread so thought I would check if someone here knows. Thanks!

jrspet · #8 31.01.2011, 12:35

My Nokia N97 does that ie operate wifi without a SIM card in it ( useful when travelling abroad ). I'm quite sure the iPhone and several Samsung Smartphones work too.

dawiz · #9 31.01.2011, 13:33

	Quote:	Ms.Welsh
	Perhaps someone here has some insight on this - I would love to have a phone that I don't have to deal with a provider and can just use at wifi spots while traveling - this way I can use my Skype connection - which is really inexpensive - of course it means I have to be somewhere with a wifi connection - but wondering - is there a phone that acts like a computer that I could just leave the sim card out of? I've started internet searching - if I find something myself I'll post - but just saw this thread so thought I would check if someone here knows. Thanks!

first of all, you'll need something that Skype works on. That pretty much leaves you with an Android 2.2+ handset or the iPhone. The iPhone needs to be activated using a working SIM-card. So unless you can use one from your friends, that's not an option for you. Apart from that: pretty much any Android phone will do just fine - just make sure it comes with Android 2.2 or newer.

kiwiguy08 · #10 31.01.2011, 14:09

	Quote:	dawiz
	first of all, you'll need something that Skype works on. That pretty much leaves you with an Android 2.2+ handset or the iPhone. The iPhone needs to be activated using a working SIM-card. So unless you can use one from your friends, that's not an option for you. Apart from that: pretty much any Android phone will do just fine - just make sure it comes with Android 2.2 or newer.

Actually my Android 2.1 will work just fine with Skype. I have the option for all calls if I want to use skype or the telephone.