I’ve had enough of being ripped off for mobile data roaming so I’ve sent this to Orange UK and Vodafone Au. You’d think that as a Vodafone client my data costs would be the same both here and in the UK, or anywhere else for that matter.
Running an international SaaS (Software as a Service) business I know that ‘international’ data doesn’t cost 10 times ‘local’ data, imagine Cleartext charging clients in the USA ten times what we charge people in Australia… it’s time the mobile data rip off was stopped, much like the EU’s hammered telcos for voice roaming recently. So here it is;
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Attn: Customer Service management, Product Management.
bcc: Vodafone Au, Orange UK and my blog.
re: international mobile data roaming is still painful, it shouldn’t be.
I’d like to lodge a complaint about the amount of our latest Vodafone (mobile number 0*** ***1) bill attached, and the quality of technical and customer service (rude, unhelpful staff) at Orange (mobile number 0*** ***5) High Wycombe store.
Before travelling to the UK from Australia I enquired about mobile broadband via my iPhone and was informed that I could purchase a mobile data roaming plan for about $300 that gave me a couple of hundred megs of data. Obviously running a small business and staying online whilst in the UK this is just not economical so I decided to get a mobile broadband dongle in the UK. For example about $80 gets 2-3Gb of data,
On arriving in the UK we chose a dongle from Orange because the Vodafone staff in a retail outlet told us that coverage was not good in our locations, Orange said they had good coverage. The reality was that Orange had almost no 3G coverage so we returned the product and purchased a Vodafone dongle, this worked very well and we were happy with the results.
However during the period that the Orange dongle was less than useful I had to connect and used my Vodafone iPhone with mobile data roaming. I did this for about a week, (recall we were snowed in) switching data on and off as needed. The end result is not nice with a bill for ten times my usual monthly bill for 3G data.
Orange: Your service did not worked as explained by your retail staff, our plan was cancelled, but we were still billed via our credit card, this has now been corrected. BUT your staff would not refund the cost dongle, even returned in good packaging. What use is a dongle with no service, what would your industry body or trading standards think of failing to address a faulty product/service combination?
Vodafone: Having been a customer for many years I’d like some negotiation on this invoice and a credible explanation of the excessive charges incurred, especially in the contexts of the European Unions recent ruling on mobile roaming. Running an international Software as a Service business I fail to understand these excessive data costs, even allowing for differences in international market pricing for data I’d still only expect a maximum of double the fees.
Overall not much has changed over the last 10 years with regard to mobile roaming, either voice or data. I’d have thought that by know I could simply plug my iPhone into my laptop and get a data connection anywhere Vodafone has coverage, globally, without feeling like I’ve been ripped off. Charge a premium yes, but 10 times, that’s just outrageous.
Looking forward to some constructive dialogue on this issue.
best regards,
David Banes
Director & CEO, Cleartext
Director & Secretary, Internet Industry Association
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