Before we head out on a vacation, Canadians have learned to buy travel insurance; we don’t expect our provincial health plans to provide coverage when we travel, so we make arrangements in advance.
People need to do the same with their phone service. Despite years of horror stories, there are certain to be people who will return from vacations this winter with outrageous roaming bills, caused by teenagers talking to friends from cruise ships – nothing beats marine satellite rates – or claims that the consumer didn’t know what was meant by voluntarily removing restrictions.
Rather than undertake an education program to help teach travelers to make arrangements for international mobile services, the CRTC’s Wireless Code attempts to deal with the issue by putting a cap on roaming data charges:
the Commission requires WSPs to suspend national and international data roaming charges once they reach $100 within a single monthly billing cycle, unless the customer explicitly and knowingly consents to pay additional charges.
I think that a better solution would have been education and ensure clear information is made available to consumers. Unfortunately, some consumers relying solely on protections in the Wireless Code may still be subject to surprise charges while vacationing next month, since hard limits apply only to roaming data, not voice. Hopefully, the wireless industry, consumer groups and the media will start a conversation to help educate consumers as we head into a prime vacation period.
Consumers are informed with various messages when they land. For example, last week, I received a text message when I turned on my phone:
Welcome to Israel! FYI: a call home is $4/min, a text is $1.5 & data is $20/MB. For CS dial +1… & for VM press & hold 1 as usual. Enjoy your visit!
Part way through the trip, I received a warning message:
You are using pay per use data while off the *** network. To limit future charges, visit ***.ca/myaccount and disable data while roaming.
And later on, I received a message warning me that I was approaching the Wireless Code limits:
You are approaching the data roaming limit. Data will be disabled at $100. Remove this limit at ***.ca/myaccount. You are responsible for roaming charges.
There are lots of warnings for data, but voice is a different matter. If you don’t make other arrangements, if your phone is on and if you accept an incoming call, the meter is running at $4 per minute. The carriers have ranges of packages available for travelers and there are often pay-per-use services available in the destination country. For example, I have pay-as-you-go SIM cards that I keep active for the United States, England and Israel.
Still, for many Canadians, shopping for a SIM is not at the top of their list of plans when they are changing out of boots and into flip-flops for the beach. For others – who still have 12:00 flashing on their obsolete VCR – swapping out a SIM card is beyond their level of technical training. There are companies like Roam Mobility with a variety of plans available for Canadians heading to warmer weather in the US. Today, Roam Mobility announced a Snowbird Plan, designed for Canadians who spend 3 months or more in US.
When we are planning a trip, we make lots of advance arrangements: we have someone check the house and clear the snow, set the lights, get travel insurance, buy sunscreen. Depending on the destination, we may need to get shots and medications. Before leaving the country, I even notify our bank to expect foreign withdrawals, check the limits on my ATM card and credit cards.
Canadians need to take responsibility for their mobile devices and services and add that to their pre-travel check list.
Be sure to understand what is included in your communications services plan. There are options when traveling. Be sure to shop around and make arrangements in advance.
Update: [December 9, 10:30 am]
Rogers has produced a video “Roaming Myths Debunked.”
Update: [December 13, 11:30 am]
TELUS has launched a “mobile data travel tracker” to help its customers manage data usage and costs in real-time while traveling outside of Canada.