What is Roaming?
Roaming
How Does Data Roaming Work?
Overlooking to turn off certain settings on your mobile phone when arriving in a foreign country can be a very costly experience. In short, if you are using the internet abroad with your own local SIM Card “Roaming” may impose certain charges. But what exactly is roaming?
It can be tricky if you want to use your smartphone and current SIM Card abroad. Is your phone unlocked? Can you change SIM Cards without any issues? What are the roaming service charges of your ISP? How fast is the internet going to be abroad?
The Definition Of Roaming
Local Internet Service Providers usually do not have its own network infrastructure in foreign countries. They rely on partnerships with other ISP’s to provide you with an extended coverage area. What does that mean? You have signed a contract with network operator A in country A. Now, when you travel abroad to country B you will be using network operator B’s internet network. This is because network operator B has agreed on a partnership with your home network operator A.
Both mobile operators have agreed on a partnership in which they can provide mobile services to both customers at a negotiated price. This price plus the additional markup is your roaming fee while both operators have no extra costs at all.
How Do I Get Charged?
Every single time you browse the internet, make a call or send an SMS & MMS abroad you will get charged. Every essential function of a smartphone will cost you in roaming fees. If you are planning to use your smartphone in any of the previously mentioned kind you should remember possible roaming charges.
Real Example
Roaming fees vary depending on your Internet Service Provider & the country in which you are roaming. It might result in a shocking bill at the end of the month if you do not look up the roaming rates before using it. This is an example of an American traveler who used roaming in the United Kingdom. The customer racked up almost US$5,000 (!!!) in mobile data charges without his knowledge.
Why Does Roaming Costs So Much?
Figuring out the exact retail prices for data roaming can be tricky. The lack of global regulations for roaming charges and a dedicated roaming network forces Internet Service Providers to negotiate their own terms and the rate at which they are offering to share their dedicated network with other partners
Most consumers tend to think about data in GB (Gigabytes) and not in MB (Megabytes). Yet all roaming charges apply per MB used. This makes many people underestimate the real cost of roaming. Below is an example for standard roaming charges in the United Kingdom.
If you use 500MB on roaming on a two-week holiday in Europe with roaming enabled, you would end up paying US$640 in the best case scenario. In worst case scenario you would be US$6,415 lighter.
UK Operator
Within Europe In-Bundle (per MB)
Worldwide In-Bundle (per MB)
Within Europe Out-of-Bundle (per MB)
Worldwide Out-of-Bundle (per MB)
We highly recommend to disable the roaming function on your smartphone
so you can avoid horror stories like the one above.
Disable Roaming
Go Wi-Fi Only
Get a Local SIM Card
Restrict Phone Usage Time
Keep Track of Data Usage
How Much Data Is Being Used For Each Activity?
Keep in mind that that your usage may vary depending on what you do on the internet. The following estimates are based on typical file sizes.
Whether you are off to discover the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, want to explore the Eiffel Tower in Paris with a freshly baked croissant or want to tick Australia & New Zealand of your bucket list for travel destinations, SimOptions helps you realize all those dreams.
SimOptions provides Prepaid Travel SIM Cards for more than 200 worldwide destinations. Pick your next dream destinations, choose a SIM Card and discover new cultures without paying any roaming charges.