The earth isn't flat - at least that's what we were taught in school. Yet there seems to be a growing trend in corporate spin which may as well be telling us that it is. And sometimes we just swallow it all up.
Vodafone have taken corporate spin to new levels with their published international mobile phone broadband roaming rates and their"Vodafone Roaming Data Bundles". Thanks to Aaron for pointing this out to us - sadly, he learnt the hard way how much Vodafone actually charge to roam overseas with your iPhone or 3G device.
Check out some of this baloney from Vodafone themselves, who argue that "you still want to manage your costs and you don’t want to get back home to a hefty bill!". Ah, yeah...
Generous allowances to suit your download demands
Highly competitive rates per MB
a generous bundle of data overseas
Discounted rates should you go over your bundle allowance
So they are highly competitive, they offer a generous bundle of data overseas and also discounted rates for going over your allowance. Hmm. Putting it in writing doesn't always make it true. Just look at half of the stuff i write. But i digress.
If you sign up to their basic plan, it will cost you $49 per month. They call this a light roaming data bundle. You get a measly 25mb of data per month. That's almost $2 a MB. Anyone who uses their iPhone or other 3G device to surf the web or download emails knows that 25mb is about as pissy as it gets.
But here's the real kicker. If you go over your allowed 25mb in the month, Vodafone will charge you an excess fee, per MB. How much? Well this is where their "discounted rate" comes in. 20% off the standard rate.
It is a tidy $8.19 for every MB over the allowance. That's right. Eight Dollars and 19 cents per MB.
Imagine receiving a dozen or so emails with attachments. Perhaps they were photos or pdfs. You could be up for hundreds of dollars just to read your email.
Many data allowances for plans for the iPhone are around 1gb a month - you can pick the plan up for around $60 Australian for a month. That's 1000 mb data allowance. But if you were to uses the same data overseas with Vodafone and you could be up for many thousands of dollars - just for one month.
Vodafone do have other plans:
The heavy roaming data bundle gets you just 120mb of data a month for $199. If you go over that cap - yes, $8.19 per mb.
The super roaming data bundle gives you 200mb per month for $329. And again, excess charges are $8.19 per mb.
Feel free to ask them about their 1gb or 2gb data roaming bundles. Or instead, perhaps just buy the company.
Make sure you do your research before using your mobile phone overseas. If in doubt, just don't use it. Or better still, pick up an international sim card or buy a pre paid sim card in the country you are travelling. I'm sure there must be some now that come with a data allowance.
Good luck and happy travels.
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