Aus, NZ Govts consider decoupling mobile roaming

[Ewing]

About time something was done, what Aussie telcos charge for roaming in NZ is scandalous.

And it seems very much one-way.

I spend between 3-4 weeks a year in NZ so before one of my recent trips (I spent 2 weeks there) I finally bit the bullet and setup an NZ phone. I usually roam, but I won't use roaming data.

When I use my Australian phone in NZ I get charged $2.80/min to call back to Australia and $1.28/min to call within NZ. Data is a whopping $15/MB.

When I use my NZ phone in NZ i get charged NZD$0.44/min to call Australia and $0.44/min to call within NZ. When I bring that phone over here, guess what? The rates are the same - the only difference is that if I receive a call I also pay 44c/min.

If I use data on my NZ phone in Australia, I get charged NZD$0.95/MB - or less than 5% of what I get charged the other way around.

The amusing thing is, if Telstra actually made their roaming rates a bit more reasonable they'd get another $300/year out of me - which is roughly what I spend to maintain both my US and NZ phone accounts.

 

[ric_melb]

Arrivals from New Zealand are well ahead of all other countries. For departures from Australia, New Zealand is comfortably number one, though not as far ahead. So reducing roaming costs between the two countries does make sense.

 

[samh004]

I reckon I get a better deal with my NZ SIM over there as it is, but if I could continue using my Aussie SIM and not notice a difference in spend I’d be pretty happy. I don’t care if the telco’s work this out or the government helps them out, it would be much appreciated, but at the end of the day, I’m also happy not to roam and just use a local SIM. They’re not making extra money out of me, or ripping me off!