Telstra seeking 4G roaming partners

[Flashback]

Telstra to offer 4G global roaming - Communications - Technology - News - CRN Australia

Telstra is pursuing international roaming agreements in countries that have 4G networks compatible with its own to allow customers access to faster data rates when they are overseas.

The telco has announced that it has signed its first reciprocal roaming agreement with CSL in Hong Kong, allowing Telstra 4G customers to roam on CSL's 4G network while in Hong Kong and vice versa for CSL's customers when they visited Australia.

Telstra is a part owner of CSL. In June last year the Hong Kong operator signed a world-first 4G roaming deal with SK Telecom in Korea.

Executive director of networks and access technologies, Mike Wright, said the CSL agreement means faster mobile data speeds for customers when they were in Hong Kong.

Wright indicated that 4G data usage would be charged at 3G roaming data rates.

In Hong Kong, Telstra charges 1.5c per kilobyte of data used, which equates to $15.36 per megabyte. Prepaid users can buy data 'plus packs' and monthly plans are also available.

Wright said Telstra "is working on similar agreements with operators in other countries" that run 4G networks in the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands.

 

[777]

Sheesh. Think how quickly you could rack up a thousand dollar roaming bill on 4g.

 

[schomers87]

Seeking agreements for access but not to reduce cost of data... hmmm. Does anyone know what the breakdown is of $15.36 - is it 50% to Telstra; 50% to OS provider?

 

[Ewing]

Sheesh. Think how quickly you could rack up a thousand dollar roaming bill on 4g.

At the speed I got when I ran a speed test at home on Telstra 4G, about 9.47 seconds.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

As an FYI it's approx $15,000 per GB while using overseas data - bit of a joke. Even $1500 for 100MB is over the top.

At 4G speeds you could get in a lot trouble very quickly....

 

[AVC]

What a joke. If you're still getting charged international roaming rates, how is it a reciprocal agreement? We already have roaming now. Albeit not on 4G.

My last 4G speedtest showed 41.99 Mbps or, in real money, about $645 per SECOND. Rrrriggghht...

 

[RooFlyer]

Seeking agreements for access but not to reduce cost of data... hmmm. Does anyone know what the breakdown is of $15.36 - is it 50% to Telstra; 50% to OS provider?

Both times I've gone into this in detail with Telstra (ie beyond the call centre) they've assured me that they are mearly collecting on behalf of the overseas carriers and the charge is what the overseas carriers charge.

Funny how the overseas carriers (billed through Telstra account) all see to charge about $15/MB and the rates don't vary with the exchange rate!!

4G speed at current roaming charges is simply an invitation for the unititiated to be ripped off to levels never previously dreamed of.

 

[chrisb]

Funny how the overseas carriers all see to charge about $15/MB and the rates don't vary with the exchange rate!!

I have to assume they're making a lot of money out of it both from Roaming and people buying $50 SIM cards, using them for a week and throwing them away.

I'm surprised the US and Canada haven't done something. $15/Meg on AT&T when you drive over a bridge into Canada. WTF.

It's good to see the European Union is winding in this stuff. My Ireland SIM roaming in france was 86c/Meg and they updated me every EUR-5 i spent in real time. Not great, but at least it was usable. $15/Meg with no real time usage info isn't usable.

 

[SeaWolf]

Seeking agreements for access but not to reduce cost of data... hmmm. Does anyone know what the breakdown is of $15.36 - is it 50% to Telstra; 50% to OS provider?

If you're a prepaid customer you can buy an overseas data roaming pack, which give you 10mb for $29. So, a rate of $2.90 per mb. I doubt Telstra is giving the data away at a loss with this discounted rate, so when someone pays $15 per mb I would think that Telstra's profit from this is huge.
Telstra - Pre-Paid Mobile Phone Plus Pack Plans

 

[markis10]

Both times I've gone into this in detail with Telstra (ie beyond the call centre) they've assured me that they are mearly collecting on behalf of the overseas carriers and the charge is what the overseas carriers charge.

I wonder how the other roaming can survive if thats the case such as the woolies product:

Woolworths Global Roaming Travel SIM