Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

[dairyfloss]

Great savings and simplicity in this new VF offering... particularly for those in the corporate arena, if they'll extend the same or similar to them. The roaming data bundles are OK, but a bit of a pain to add and subtract the whole time (if you even remembered!).

VF AU Blog: Plans to let customers
AUS BT: Vodafone launches $5/day roaming to US, UK and New Zealand - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

GAMECHANGER: VODAFONE MOVES TO END INTERNATIONAL ROAMING RORT​

Plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day ​

Wednesday 31[SUP]st[/SUP] July: Vodafone has today announced the first step in ending widespread confusion and bill shock surrounding international roaming by introducing new plans next month that will allow its customers to use their existing call, text and data inclusions while travelling in the UK, US and NZ for just $5 a day.

 

[DeKa]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

Some of the other articles on this have much more useful information (the journalists listened at the press meeting?)
Vodafone announces $5 daily international roaming - Vodafone, bill shock, Telco, mobile, international roaming - Computerworld

Vodafone will begin selling the plan in August, the telco’s CEO, Bill Morrow, said today. For $5 a day, customers will get as much talk time, text messaging and data as they would have within the borders of Australia. If they go over their limits on their current plans, national--not international--overage charges apply.

So in essence, the $5/day is a fee to give you access to your plan's offering at Australian rates, when roaming. It looks like it is not a "$5 cap" as some reports have said.

 

[dairyfloss]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

So in essence, the $5/day is a fee to give you access to your plan's offering at Australian rates, when roaming. It looks like it is not a "$5 cap" as some reports have said.

Yes, definitely a $5 per day roaming premium, on top of your usual rates and charges. I just checked a recent invoice from Vodafone from when I was in the states, and on our corporate plan I would have got barely 2 mins of talk for $5... so to have effectively unlimited calls and data (based on what I get at home) for $5 extra per day is excellent! (is it wrong that I am so excited about how much I will save the company?)

 

[Fruitcake]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

Great offer by Vodafone - for people with a brain, at least. Unfortunately I bet that there will be a flood of negative stories three months from now because someone on a Vodafone plan went to the US and didn't lock their phone to AT&T, thus incurring massive roaming charges when their iPhone started chatting to a T-mobile tower.

 

[DeKa]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

I think it's a great idea, and hope they expand it to many more countries.

 

[dairyfloss]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

I think it's a great idea, and hope they expand it to many more countries.

Same here! I'm traveling to Asia, India and Continental Europe in addition to the already covered LOTFAP and probably NZ before year's end... and it would be nice to see it land in those places before I do! Some are on personal trips, so doubly keen for them so I can avoid bothering with a local SIM / plan!

Cheers.

 

[drewbles]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

Yes, definitely a $5 per day roaming premium, on top of your usual rates and charges. I just checked a recent invoice from Vodafone from when I was in the states, and on our corporate plan I would have got barely 2 mins of talk for $5... so to have effectively unlimited calls and data (based on what I get at home) for $5 extra per day is excellent! (is it wrong that I am so excited about how much I will save the company?)

Or if you're in the US you can pay $60 for a month of unlimited local calling/mobile and text messages (including to AU) and 1GB of data. It's cheaper if you don't have an iPhone.

NZ you can get a 2º SIM, pay a lot less for data and save money if you're there for more than 5 days.

$5/day is still a hefty premium to pay for the privilege of using your included data IMHO. Much better options. I guess it's handy for a day or two, but I would not be using it past that.

 

[travelislife]

Re: VF [Vodafone] plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per

This sounds awesome. I am a Vodafone customer and recently travelling in Europe noted my phone automatically roamed on VFs networks over there anyway, it would be great if they opened this up to most of Europe. I know it is just branding but with networks in many countries around the world I would have thought some integration and deal making would be easier than others.

 

[drewbles]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

Great offer by Vodafone - for people with a brain, at least. Unfortunately I bet that there will be a flood of negative stories three months from now because someone on a Vodafone plan went to the US and didn't lock their phone to AT&T, thus incurring massive roaming charges when their iPhone started chatting to a T-mobile tower.

Not if Vodafone are clever. It is actually possible to block registrations to a roaming partner based on the ICCID or IMSI of the SIM you're using. It's known as network steering, and is handled by the home carrier (in this case, Vodafone). When a subscriber attempts to register to a network, it has to 'phone home' for permission. At this time, the HLR can block it and force registration to another carrier.

Mobile networks are pretty interesting in the back end

 

[drewbles]

Re: VF [Vodafone] plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per

This sounds awesome. I am a Vodafone customer and recently travelling in Europe noted my phone automatically roamed on VFs networks over there anyway, it would be great if they opened this up to most of Europe. I know it is just branding but with networks in many countries around the world I would have thought some integration and deal making would be easier than others.

Vodafone is a bit like Virgin, it's all marketing. Most Vodafone's around the world are not even the same company. This makes is effectively no different when roaming to using say O2 in the UK rather than Vodafone if you're a Vodafone AU customer. What deals are struck between Voda AU and Voda UK may be the same as O2.

 

[dairyfloss]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

Or if you're in the US you can pay $60 for a month of unlimited local calling/mobile and text messages (including to AU) and 1GB of data. It's cheaper if you don't have an iPhone.

NZ you can get a 2º SIM, pay a lot less for data and save money if you're there for more than 5 days.

$5/day is still a hefty premium to pay for the privilege of using your included data IMHO. Much better options. I guess it's handy for a day or two, but I would not be using it past that.

I'd need to be in the states for at least 12 days in a month to beat the Vodafone deal, as I'm post-paid, and so continue to pay for the same service at home in any case. My [corporate] plan offers a lot, including more data than I will ever use on my mobile in a month (6GB). I'd also lose my number with a local SIM. The NZ offer looks alright on price for longer stays, but again takes away that simplicity and the ability to keep my number when traveling... All Comes down to what you've got at home with Vodafone, and what your needs are likely to be while o/s, I suppose.

Cheers.

 

[erkpod]

Re: VF [Vodafone] plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per

Note that this will be for NEW plans only as I understand it.

 

[drewbles]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

I'd need to be in the states for at least 12 days in a month to beat the Vodafone deal, as I'm post-paid, and so continue to pay for the same service at home in any case. My [corporate] plan offers a lot, including more data than I will ever use on my mobile in a month (6GB). I'd also lose my number with a local SIM. The NZ offer looks alright on price for longer stays, but again takes away that simplicity and the ability to keep my number when traveling... All Comes down to what you've got at home with Vodafone, and what your needs are likely to be while o/s, I suppose.

Cheers.

You can pay less. The $60 is an 'all you can eat' for voice, text and 1GB for data (on AT&T, and that's for "smart" phones, there's ways around that and put on the $50 plan quite easily).

As an example, an MVNO no T-Mobile, Simple Mobile, do $40/month with 500mb of data or $50 with 2.5Gb. That's only a 10 day stay, and an extra 2.5GB.

Use one of the various Android Smart Phones around with dual SIM, you can have inbound SMS to your AU SIM, and use the other for data and calling. There's lots of options.

Personally, I'll still be sticking with local SIM cards for more than 2-3 days. I have no desire to pay $2/minute to receive a call on my AU number, and I use iMessage for texts (very few people I message regularly have non-iPhone handsets).$40-50 for me represents better value with the ability to place calls included in that.

If it were $5 per day for an additional data allowance, I'd say it's a good deal. There's also a very very good chance that it this will be so throttled it'll be almost unusable for anything but checking email, but i'm happy to stand corrected of course

 

[Simo]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

It sounds good...

My big concern is what is the catches.

1. You have to be with Vodafail in Aust.

I will let you fill the rest in.

 

[DeKa]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

It sounds good...

My big concern is what is the catches.

1. You have to be with Vodafail in Aust.

I will let you fill the rest in.

It's not exactly a fail anymore. The new network(s) are excellent. If you need coverage in remote locations, then they aren't the right choice (but they never were for remote locations).

 

[pauly7]

Re: Vodafone plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per day

It's not exactly a fail anymore. The new network(s) are excellent. If you need coverage in remote locations, then they aren't the right choice (but they never were for remote locations).

Plus they are still losing tens of thousands of customers due to their network issues so the burden on their networks is reducing, probably increasing reliability for those still stuck with them!

 

[AaronBradford]

Vodafone $5/day roaming plans

Just saw the released detail of Vodafone's $5 per day roaming plans, and it looks alright. Pity I'm not on one of the qualifying plans though. Might be useful to other travellers.

Also interesting to note is that calls will be handled in Hobart of all places.

Vodafone Red global roaming data plans - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

 

[BoyZeus]

Re: Vodafone $5/day roaming plans

For approx $150 per month that's not too bad, though in saying that with Skype and Viber I'm currently paying $0 and backing off what seems to be a plethora of wifi hotspots in the EU.

 

[DeKa]

Re: VF [Vodafone] plans to let customers “Roam Like Home” in UK, USA & NZ for $5 per

So the plans have been announced and are available tomorrow. I think the $50 BYO offer is great value.

http://www.ausbt.com.au/vodafone-s-new-red-global-roaming-data-plans-from-50-unlimited-talk-text

http://eftm.com.au/2013/08/vodafone...th-1-5gb-data-is-their-best-kept-secret-12208

 

[Homer]

Re: Vodafone $5/day roaming plans

Also interesting to note is that calls will be handled in Hobart of all places.

I've dealt with quite a few Tasmanian call centres lately (I always ask where people are because I used to have a call centre). Simple answer: lower wages.