best practice guide

How to Prevent International Roaming Charges from Hitting Your Organisation’s Pocket

Most users aren’t aware that they’re consuming international data, while others simply rely on their carriers to inform them of their options. Generally, carriers haven’t done a good job of educating their users about plan options when travelling internationally. A couple of weeks overseas without the appropriate plan, and users can be costing their companies thousands of dollars! It’s evident that many users aren’t aware of their international rate plan options.

It’s very common to hear horror stories about people who have travelled overseas and been hit with a huge wireless bill. This is primarily due to data usage.

best practice guide | How to Prevent International Roaming Charges from Hitting Your Organisation’s Pocket

Why are international rates so expensive?

The price that users pay is determined by the local carrier. They negotiate roaming agreements with their carrier peers so that users are able to roam on another carrier’s network. It’s important to note that the power of negotiation between carriers is usually determined by the size of the company, as is the case in most industries. International roaming provides carriers with dual revenue streams in the following ways:

1. payments from their own subscribers (high retail prices for the user means higher profits for the carriers)

2. payments from their international carrier partners (this payment can be based on the usage of partner’s subscribers, the volume purchased from the local carrier, or a combination of both)

While the terms of these contracts are confidential, it’s well known in the telecom industry that the international roaming margins are high (in some cases profit margins are around 90%), resulting in higher revenues to carriers.

Plan options in the US

International roaming – voice: AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless offer monthly rate plans that reduce the per-minute call in several countries. This means that a user has to pay a monthly fee to be eligible for a discounted rate. However, user beware, even the discounted plans contain high rates. Subscribing to an international voice plan could result in money saved due to a lower rate, but these savings will not be significant, given the high retail prices. Alternatives to be considered are the use of free apps, discussed in more detail under best practices.

CarrierData plan

monthly costData included Notes

AT&T USD 30 120MB Additional plans available

Verizon USD 25 100MB Only plan available

Sprint* n/a n/a Pay-per-use with a data rate from USD 0.002/KB to USD 0.008/KB in CDMA countries and USD 0.019/KB in GSM countries

T-Mobile** USD 0 Unlimited 2G technology supported. Expect network speeds at around the same level as if you were throttled – around 128kbps, which is sufficient to handle emails, social network status updates, and music streaming, but limited to no video streaming

T-Mobile** USD 100 100MB around 128kbps, which is sufficient to handle emails, social network status updates, and music streaming, but limited to no video streaming

* Sprint does not offer any international data plans for their customers.

** T-Mobile includes international roaming in more than 100 countries for customers on the Simple Choice Plans at no extra charge.

It’s important to note that organisations still have access to these unlimited international plans if they go through a successful negotiation with the carriers.

Watch your international data consumption – no more unlimited international data plans: As carriers try to increase their revenue, they’ve moved away from the ‘all you can eat’ plans. For example, AT&T and Verizon offer international data packages that can reduce the international data cost, but users often consume their data allowance quickly, and could be charged thousands of dollars after just a few hours of videoconferencing or downloading presentations.

best practice guide | How to Prevent International Roaming Charges from Hitting Your Organisation’s Pocket

Best practices

Below are some tips that should help reduce, or prevent, any unwanted international charges.

1. Negotiate your contracts.

Organisations can reduce their international rates significantly by reviewing their usage patterns. Review three consecutive months of international usage in order to identify the top international destinations. Then target these destinations by negotiating contracts with the carriers. Remember, carriers are making a profit of around 90%, so there’s plenty of room for negotiation.

2. Activate the international feature before travelling overseas.

For the not-so-frequent traveller, switching the international feature off, and on, is a good idea. In the event that an international feature was not added before a trip, it’s possible to request that a carrier activate an international plan retroactively, provided the request occurs within the billing cycle. This could potentially save the user 40-50% over not having a plan in place.

3. Use free apps.

3.1 Use voice-over-IP (VoIP) – low rates for voice calls.

Applications such as Skype and Google Voice allow you to make phone calls from your computer or smartphone, anywhere and at any time, for low rates. There are no international roaming charges added, so you can talk for as long as you want without high per-minute charges.

3.2 Mobile messaging apps.

WhatsApp Messenger and Viber are cross-platform mobile messaging apps that are supported on most Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Nokia, and Windows smartphones. They allow you to send and receive messages, pictures, audio, video, location, and contacts, with a contact or group chat. If you don’t have a data plan, use WhatsApp when Wi-Fi hotspots are available and communicate from anywhere at no cost. Keep in mind that this application doesn’t have a logout mechanism, so it will always be connected, even when it’s not being actively used.

Therefore, it’s important that you disable your international data connection, and only use Wi-Fi, unless you have an unlimited data plan.

4. Turn off data connection and messaging services.

Disabling the data connection on the device will help the consumer avoid any accidental data or text charges. Most people aren’t aware that their devices have automatic syncing functions, or that the frequent updates from friends on their social apps can be quite costly. Another service to consider disabling is text messaging. Most people are aware that they pay for sending a message, but don’t realise they’re billed for all incoming messages too, whether the messages are opened or not.

5. Take advantage of Wi-Fi.

Use Wi-Fi hotspots, whenever and wherever possible. This is a great alternative even for those who have a data plan, as it helps maintain an available data allowance to use when a Wi-Fi network isn’t accessible or available. There are several companies that offer global Wi-Fi hotspots, including Boingo Wireless, which offers access to more than a million international hotspots and is priced at USD 7.95 per month for two devices in the Americas.

Dimension Data encourages travellers to follow these guidelines on their next trip overseas. Most users can cost thousands of dollars in international expenses when they’re not informed of their rate plan options, or if the team managing the telecom expenses isn’t taking the necessary measures to avoid them. For more information on mobility savings methodologies and support services, please visit: http://clm.dimensiondata.com/

best practice guide | How to Prevent International Roaming Charges from Hitting Your Organisation’s Pocket

Remember, it only takes one user without a data plan to cause a significant overage in your telecom budget.

best practice guide | How to Prevent International Roaming Charges from Hitting Your Organisation’s Pocket

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